shepherd dogs barked afar off, or now and then a wakened bird cheeped
drowsily, or the waters in the canals rippled over a pebbly space.

But these sounds ceased unaccountably, at last, and a silence settled
down till the atmosphere was tense with stillness. A deadening hand
seemed to cover the night.

The silence roused Kenkenes and he realized the solemnity of the earth,
the vastness of the sky and the majesty of the solitude. Mysteriously
affected, he withdrew within himself and humbly acknowledged the One
God.

At midnight a chill struck the breeze and he drew his mantle about him
while he rode. The wind freshened and a heated counter-current from
the desert met it and they whirled away, rustling through the grassy
country.

The Arab reduced his gallop so suddenly that Kenkenes was jolted. The
small peaked ears of the horse went up and he showed a disposition to
move sidewise into the meadow growth beside the way.

"A wild beast hath taken the road," Kenkenes thought.

The horse brought up, with a start, his prominent muscles twitching,
and sniffed the air strongly.

A high oscillation in the atmosphere descended on Kenkenes.

The Arab reared, snorting, and then crouched, quivering with wild
terror in every limb.

Unconscious, even of the movement, Kenkenes threw up his arm as if to
ward off the blow and bent upon his horse's neck.

Gust after gust of icy air swept down on his head, as if winnowed by
frozen wings. Then with a backward waft, colder than any wind he had
ever known, the hovering Presence passed.

Instantly the horse plunged and took the road toward Tanis as if stung
by a lash. Kenkenes, shaken and full of solemn dread, did well to keep
his saddle. He grasped the stout leather bridle with strong hands, but
he might have curbed the hurricane as easily. The Arab stretched his
gaunt length, running low, and the haunted night reechoed with the
sound of his hoofs. The land of Goshen lay east and west, with a
slight divergence toward the north. The road to Tanis ran due north.
It was not long until Kenkenes' flying steed brought him in sight of
the un-Israelite Goshen. Illuminated windows starred the plain and the
wind shrilling in Kenkenes' ears bore uncanny sounds. A turf-thatched
hovel at the roadside showed a light as they swept by and a long scream
clove the air, but the Arab was not to be halted.

The murmurous wind did not soothe him, and the wakeful night had a
terror for h