Consternation possessed him the instant he roused
himself sufficiently to realize and speculate. He had saved the king
and exposed Har-hat, but the accomplishing of this temporary good had
forced the probable commission of a great evil. If death in some form
did not overtake the fan-bearer he could enrich and strengthen himself
from Israel. Then, even if Meneptah's army did not continue to follow
him, he would be enabled to buy mercenaries and return equipped to do
battle with Meneptah, even as he had vowed. The flower of the military
was with him; the Pharaoh was incapable and Egypt demoralized. The
success of the traitor seemed assured. What then of Rachel, of his own
father, of the faithful ministers, of all whom Kenkenes had loved or
befriended? The thought filled him with resolution and vigor.

"If the Lord God of Israel overtake him not," he said, returning to the
king, "then must I! For, in my good intent, it seems that I have
undone thee. Hotep," he continued, taking the scribe's hands, "let my
father know that I died not with the first-born. Also, thou seest the
danger into which the nation hath descended in this hour. Help thou
the king! I return not. Farewell."

He kissed the scribe on the lips, and freeing himself from his clinging
hands, ran through the broken line of the royal guards.

The army was already a compact cluster in the center of a rolling cloud
of dust to the south.

When Nechutes had aroused him before daybreak, the cup-bearer had
brought Hotep with him, and while the messenger broke his fast, he had
availed himself of the scribe's presence to learn many things. Not the
smallest part of his information was the fact that the Pharaoh's scouts
had located Israel encamped on a sedgy plain at the base of a great
hill on the northern-most arm of the Red Sea. Meneptah's army had
marched twenty-five miles due south of Pithom and pitched its tents for
the night. It was twenty-five miles from that point to Baal-Zephon or
the hill before which Israel had camped. The fugitives had chosen the
smoothest path for travel, keeping along the Bitter Lakes that their
cattle might feed. Their track led in a southeasterly direction.

But Har-hat, making off with the army, had struck due south. He had
chosen this line for more than one advantage it offered. The Arabian
desert approached the sea in a series of plateaux or steps. The most
westerly was surmounted by a ridge of high hills, high