seemed to touch the sky met his view. Here and there it was
dotted with dark patches which were, Rabah told him, clumps of
waterfowl, and in the shallow water near the margin, which was but a
quarter of a mile away, he could see vast numbers of wading birds,
white cranes, and white and black ibises, while numbers of other
waterfowl, looking like black specks, moved about briskly among them.

Sometimes with loud cries a number would rise on the wing, and either
make off in a straight line across the water or circle round and
settle again when they found that their alarm was groundless.

"It is lovely, is it not?" he exclaimed to Amuba, who was standing
beside him leaning on his bow and looking over the water.

Amuba did not reply immediately, and Chebron looking up saw that there
were tears on his cheeks.

"What is it, Amuba?" he asked anxiously.

"It is nothing, Chebron; but the sight of this wide water takes my
thoughts homeward. Our city stood on a sea like this, not so large as
they say is this Great Sea we are looking at, but far too large for
the eye to see across, and it was just such a view as this that I
looked upon daily from the walls of our palace, save that the shores
were higher."

"Maybe you will see it again some day, Amuba," Chebron said gently.

Amuba shook his head.

"I fear the chances are small indeed, Chebron. Jethro and I have
talked it over hundreds of times, and on our route hither we had
determined that if we fell into the hands of harsh masters, we would
at all hazards try some day to make our escape; but the journey is
long and would lie through countries subject to Egypt. The people of
the land to be passed over speak languages strange to us, and it would
be well-nigh impossible to make the journey in safety. Still we would
have tried it. As it is, we are well contented with our lot, and
should be mad indeed to forsake it on the slender chances of finding
our way back to the land of the Rebu, where, indeed, even if we
reached it, I might not be well received, for who knows what king may
now be reigning there?"

"And if you could get away and were sure of arriving there safely,
would you exchange all the comforts of a civilized country like Egypt
for a life such as you have described to me among your own people?"

"There can be no doubt, Chebron, that your life here is far more
luxurious and that you are far more civilized than the Rebu. By the
side of your palaces our houses are b