He considered him worthy of the aid his name promised--adjured them to
rely on God's omnipotence, his words produced a very different effect
from those uttered by Aaron whose monitions they had heard daily since
their departure.

When Joshua had spoken, many youthful lips, though parched with thirst,
shouted enthusiastically:

"Hail to the chief! You are our captain; we will obey no other."

But he now explained gravely and resolutely that the obedience he
exacted from them he intended to practise rigidly himself. He would
willingly take the last place in the ranks, if such was the command of
Moses.

The stars were still shining brightly in a cloudless sky when the sound
of the horns warned the people to set out on their march. Meanwhile the
vanguard had been sent forward to inform Moses of the condition of the
tribes, and after the review was over, Ephraim followed them.

During the march Joshua kept the warriors together as closely as though
an attack might be expected; profiting meanwhile by every moment to
give the men and their captains instructions for the coming battle, to
inspect them, and range their ranks in closer order. Thus he kept them
and their attention on the alert till the stars paled.

Opposition or complaint was rare among the warriors, but the murmurs,
curses, and threats grew all the louder among those who bore no weapons.
Even before the grey dawn of morning the thirsting men, whose knees
trembled with weakness, and who beheld close before their eyes the
suffering of their wives and children, shouted more and more frequently:

"On to Moses! We'll stone him when we find him!"

Many, with loud imprecations and flashing eyes, picked up bits of rock
along the road, and the fury of the multitude at last expressed
itself so fiercely and passionately that Hur took counsel with the
well-disposed among the elders, and then hurried forward with the
fighting-men of Judah to protect Moses, in case of extremity, from the
rebels by force of arms.

Joshua was commissioned to detain the bands of rioters who, amid threats
and curses, were striving to force their way past the warriors.

When the sun at last rose with dazzling splendor, the march had become a
pitiful creeping and tottering onward. Even the soldiers moved as though
they were paralysed. Only when the rebels tried to press onward, they
did their duty and forced them back with swords and lances.

On both sides of the valley through which the