. A Bedouin made off with it, I doubt not."

Ranas stood speechless for an instant, and then he rushed up to the new
taskmaster.

"His name?" he demanded fiercely. "The Hebrew! What was he like?
Where does he dwell?"

"A murrain on the maniac!" Horemheb exploded.

"He called himself Aaron!"

Ranas staggered against the wall for support and beat the air with his
arms.

"Aaron, the brother of Mesu! O ye inscrutable Hathors!" he babbled.
"A Bedouin made off with it! Oh! Oh! What idiocy!"

CHAPTER IX

THE COLLAR OF GOLD

The next morning after his meeting with the golden-haired Israelite,
Kenkenes came early to the line of rocks that topped the north wall of
the gorge and, ensconced between the gray fragments, looked down unseen
on her whenever she came to the valley's mouth. All day long the
children came staggering up from the Nile, laden with dripping hides,
or returned in a free and ragged line down the green slope of the field
to the river again.

Vastly more simple and time-saving would have been one of the capacious
water carts. But what would have employed these ten youthful Hebrews
in the event of such improvement? There was to be no labor-saving in
the quarries. Therefore, through the dust, up the weary slanting
plane, again and again till the day's work amounted to a journey of
miles, the Hebrew children toiled with their captain and co-laborer,
Rachel.

At the summit of the wooden slope the beautiful Israelite, who had
preceded her charges, passed up the burden of each one to the Hebrews
on the scaffold. From his aery Kenkenes watched this particular phase
of her tasks with interest. She was not too far from him for the
details of her movements to be distinguishable, and the posture of the
outstretched arms and lifted face fulfilled his requirements. He
abandoned the modeling of her features for that day and copied the
attitude. Once in the morning and once in the afternoon a countryman
of hers, strong, young and but lightly bearded, stepped down from his
place on the scaffold and relieved her. The sculptor noted the act
with some degree of disquiet, hoping that the graceful protests of the
girl might prevail. When the stalwart Hebrew overrode her
remonstrances, and motioned her toward a place at the side of the
frame-work where she might rest, the young sculptor frowned
impatiently. But his humane heart chid him and he waited with some
assumption of grace till she should