as happened? Is it
true or did I go mad?"

The Israelite smoothed her hair. "It is a plague," she said.

"Then the hand of Amenti is on us," the Egyptian shuddered. "Whither
shall we flee?"

"Ye can not flee from the One God," the voice from the crypt said
grimly.

"Nay, but what have I done to vex the gods?" Masanath insisted. "O let
me go hence. Where are my servants?"

"It is better for thee to bide here," the voice went on relentlessly.
"For outside the sheltering neighborhood of the chosen people, the hand
of the outraged God shall overtake Egypt and scorch her throat with
thirst and make her veins congeal for want of water."

Masanath gained her feet, crying out wildly:

"My servants! Where are they? Let me forth."

The Israelite put an assuring arm about her. "Thou wilt not dare to
face the Nile again," she warned. "Stay with us."

"To starve! To perish of thirst! To die of pestilence! The gods have
left us. We are undone!"

"Aye, the gods have left you," the voice continued harshly. "Ye are
given over to the vengeance of the God of Abraham. Howl, Egypt! Rend
thyself and cover thy head with ashes. Thy destruction is but begun.
For a hundred years thou hast oppressed Israel. Now is the hour of the
children of God!"

Masanath wrung her hands, but the voice went on.

"As the Nile flows, so hath the blood of Israel been wasted by the hand
of Egypt. Now shall the God of Abraham drain her veins, even so, drop
for drop. For the despoiling of Israel shall her pastures and stables
be filled with stricken beasts--for the heavy hand of the Pharaohs
shall the heavens thunder and scourges fall. And the wrath of God
shall cool not till Egypt is a waste, shorn of her corn and her
vineyards and her riches, and foul with dead men."

Nothing could have been more vindictive than this disembodied voice.
Masanath thrust her fingers through her hair, and drawing her elbows
forward, sheltered her face with them.

"When have I offended against the Hebrew?" she cried, sick with terror.
"Why should your awful God destroy the innocent and the friend of
Israel among the people of Egypt?"

Rachel, who had stood beside her, with an increasing cloud on her face,
now spoke in Hebrew. There was mild protest in her tones.

"The plague will pass," the voice from the inner crypt continued.
"Seven days will it endure, no more."

"Deborah is mystic," Rachel added softly, "and is gifted with prophetic
eyes.