t
permitted the pleasure of watching him long; dense clouds of dust soon
hid the vehicles.

The scorching desert wind which, during the Spring months, so often
blows through the valley of the Nile, had risen, and though the bright
blue sky which had been visible by night and day was still cloudless, it
was veiled by a whitish mist.

The sun, a motionless ball, glared down on the heads of men like a blind
man's eye. The burning heat it diffused seemed to have consumed its
rays, which to-day were invisible. The eye protected by the mist could
gaze at it undazzled, yet its scorching power was undiminished. The
light breeze, which usually fanned the brow in the morning, touched it
now like the hot breath of a ravening beast of prey. Loaded with the
fine scorching sand borne from the desert, it transformed the pleasure
of breathing into a painful torture. The air of an Egyptian March
morning, which was wont to be so balmy, now oppressed both man and
beast, choking their lungs and seeming to weigh upon them like a burden
destroying all joy in life.

The higher the pale rayless globe mounted into the sky, the greyer
became the fog, the more densely and swiftly blew the sand-clouds from
the desert.

Ephraim was still standing in front of the tent, gazing at the spot
where Pharaoh's chariots had disappeared. His knees trembled, but he
attributed it to the wind sent by Seth-Typhon, at whose blowing even the
strongest felt an invisible burden clinging to their feet.

Hosea had gone, but he might come back in a few hours, then he, Ephraim,
would be obliged to go with him to Succoth, and the bright dreams
and hopes which yesterday had bestowed and whose magical charms were
heightened by his fevered brain, would be lost to him forever.

During the night he had firmly resolved to enter Pharaoh's army, that
he might remain near Tanis and Kasana; but though he had only half
comprehended Hosea's message, he could plainly discern that he intended
to turn his back upon Egypt and his high position and meant to take
Ephraim with him, should he make his escape. So he must renounce his
longing to see Kasana once more. But this thought was unbearable and an
inward voice whispered that, having neither father nor mother, he was
free to act according to his own will. His guardian, his dead father's
brother, in whose household he had grown up, had died not long before,
and no new guardian had been named because the lad was now past
childhoo