At Naashon's bidding ladders had been brought
and, in the twinkling of an eye, hundreds climbed up the building from
every direction and, after a short, bloodless struggle, the granaries
fell into the Hebrews' hands, though the Egyptians had succeeded in
still retaining the fort. During the passage of these events the desert
wind had subsided. Some of the liberated bondsmen, furious with rage,
had heaped straw, wood, and faggots against the gate of the courtyard
into which the Egyptians had been forced. It would have been a light
task for the assailants to destroy every one of their foes by fire;
but Hur, Naashon, and other prudent leaders had not suffered this to be
done, lest the provisions still in the store-rooms should be burned.

It had been no easy matter, in truth, to deter the younger of the
ill-treated bondsmen from this act of vengeance; but each one was a
member of some family, and when Hur's admonitions were supported by
those of the fathers and mothers, they not only allowed themselves to
be pacified, but aided the elders to distribute the contents of the
magazines among the heads of families and pack them on the beasts of
burden and into the carts which were to accompany the fugitives.

The work went forward amid the broad glare of torches, and became a new
festival; for neither Hur, Naashon, nor Eleasar could prevent the men
and women from opening the wine-jars and skins. They succeeded, however,
in preserving the lion's share of the precious booty for a time of need,
and thus averted much drunkenness, though the spirit of the grape-juice
and the pleasure in obtaining so rich a prize doubtless enhanced the
grateful excitement of the throng. When Eleasar finally went among them
for the second time to tell them of the Promised Land, men and women
listened with uplifted hearts, and joined in the hymn Miriam began to
sing.

Devout enthusiasm now took possession of every heart in Succoth, as it
had done in Tanis during the hour that preceded the exodus, and when
seventy Hebrew men and women, who had concealed themselves in the temple
of Turn, heard the jubilant hymn, they came forth into the open air,
joined the others, and packed their possessions with as much glad
hopefulness and warm trust in the God of their fathers, as if they had
never shrunk from the departure.

As the stars sank lower in the heavens, the joyous excitement increased.
Men and women thronged the road to Tanis to meet their approachin