This account had certainly
the appearance of truth; for it was already known by the narrative of
the slave who recognized Chebron that the person who rescued him was a
youth and a stranger to him, and that it was this youth who had been
pursued while Chebron himself had escaped. Still there was murmuring
that the prince should in so important a matter have suffered the
youth to depart without a more searching examination. Some said that
even if the boy's story was true he deserved punishment for attacking
the slave who had arrested Chebron, while others said that as he had
certainly been beaten almost to death, he had been punished
sufficiently. All agreed that no doubt the whole affair would be
investigated.

"I hurried back again with the news, and all night we watched for you,
and when morning came without your arrival we were almost as anxious
as before, fearing that you had been too badly injured to rejoin us,
and that to-day you would almost certainly be recaptured. As the
search for Chebron would assuredly be actively carried out, I insisted
on his remaining quiet here while I made frequent journeys down to the
city for news; but beyond the certainty that you had not been
recaptured, although a diligent search had been made for you as well
as for Chebron, I learned nothing. Now, Amuba, I have relieved you of
the necessity for much talk; you have only to fill in the gaps of the
story and to tell us how it was that you persuaded this Egyptian
prince of your innocence."

"It is rather a long story, Jethro; but now that I have had a meal I
feel strong enough to talk all night, for I have had nearly
twenty-four hours' sleep. First, I will tell Chebron that when I took
the pursuers off his track I had no idea of sacrificing myself, for I
made sure that I should be able to outrun them, and I should have done
so easily had it not been for fresh people constantly taking up the
pursuit and at last running me down."

Amuba then related the whole story of his flight, his attack with
the peasants and his rescue, and then recited the whole of his
conversation with his rescuer and his proceedings after leaving his
house. "So you see," he concluded, "that strangely enough it was the
teaching of your father, Chebron, and the tale that Ruth told us, and
that her grandfather before told you, of the God of their forefathers,
that saved my life. Had it not been that this prince of Israelitish
birth also believed in one God, it c