y toward the Bitter Lakes. He left it and entered the
rougher country. Thereafter no great bursts of speed were possible,
because the runner had to pick his way. He ran, not with a steady
pace, each stride equal to the preceding, but with bounds, aside and
forward, dimly calculating the safety of the footfall.

Suddenly a column of sand rose under his feet, and he dashed through
it. Blinded and choking, he cleared his eyes, caught his breath and
ran on. A gust of wind, like a breath of flame, met him from the east
and passed. Then he realized that the atmosphere had thickened, as if
an opaque cloud of heat had enveloped the earth. He glanced at the sky
and saw that it was strewn with fragmentary clouds, but a little south
and east of him was the pillar, unmoving and gilded royally.

There was storm in the air.

Finally the region began to grow level, proving the proximity to the
sea. In another moment he came upon the old sea bed. It was sandy,
sedge-grown, with here and there a palm, and tremendously trampled.

Israel had passed this way.

The clash and ring of meeting metal fell on his ear. He looked and saw
ahead of him two men fighting with a third. Three horses with empty
saddles nervously watched the fray.

The single combatant was a soldier in the uniform of a common fighting
man. One of the pair was a tall Nubian in a striped tunic; the other
was an Egyptian, short, fat, purple of countenance--Unas!

With a furious exclamation, Kenkenes slackened his pace only long
enough to undo the falchion at his side and rushed to the fight. It
did not matter to him who the soldier was or what his cause. The fact
that he was fighting the emissaries of Har-hat was sufficient
indorsement of the lone soldier. But even as he sprang forward, Unas
sank on the sand, moved convulsively once or twice and lay still.

The soldier staggered back from the second servitor and fell. The
Nubian, standing over him, swung his heavy weapon aloft, but Kenkenes
thrust his falchion over the fallen man and caught the blow, as it
descended, upon the broad back of the blade.

"Set receive your cursed soul," the Nubian snarled. Kenkenes leaped
across the prostrate soldier, and simultaneously the weapons went up,
descended and clashed. Then followed a wild and fearful battle.

The Egyptian falchion was nothing more than a sword-shaped ax.
Therefore, these were not tongues of steel which would whip their
supple length one a