ive bed. The monolith was already on the brink of
the wooden incline, and every man was at the windlasses by which the
cables controlling its descent were paid out. Kenkenes saw at a glance
that none of the water-bearers was present, and he knew the lovely
Israelite was with them. He did not pause.

Before the sound of the quarry stir had been left behind he heard a
sharp report, the frightened shrieks of women and shouts of warning.
He looked back in time to see the huge stone turn part way round on the
chute and rush, end first, earthward. Expectant silence fell, broken
only by the vicious snarl of a flying windlass crank. But in an
instant the great slab struck the earth with a thunderous sound that
reverberated again and again from the barren hills about. A vast
all-enveloping cloud of dust and earth filled the hollow quarry like
smoke from an explosion. But there was no further outcry, and through
the outskirts of the lifting cloud men were seen making deliberate
preparations to repair the parted cable. Assured that no calamity had
occurred, Kenkenes went on.

In a few steps he met the children water-bearers flying to the scene of
the accident. Not one of them bore a water-skin. The excited young
Hebrews did not stop to question the sculptor, but ran on, and were
swallowed up in dust.

Half-way to the Nile he came upon her whom he sought. She was standing
alone in the midst of ten sheepskins, and the grain was wetted with the
spilled water. He pointed to the discarded hides about her.

"The camp will go thirsty if the runaways do not return," he said.
"Thy burden is too heavy for even me to-night."

"They will return," she answered.

"Aye, it was naught but a parting cable and a falling rock. I was near
and saw no evidence of disaster. Had the children asked me, I should
have told them as much."

"They will return," she repeated, and Kenkenes fancied that there was a
dismissal in this quiet repetition. But he did not mean to see it. He
went on, with a smile.

"I am glad they did not stop, for I wanted to see thee, with that
frightened longing of a man who hath resolved on confession and meeteth
his confessor on a sudden. Now that the moment hath arrived I marvel
how I shall make my peace with Athor, whose command I most deliberately
broke."

She raised her beautiful eyes to his face and waited for him to
proceed. The pose of the head was exactly what he wanted. Rapidly he
compared eve