resistible strength, yet as gently as a mother
touches her fallen child, and from his lips mild, gentle words, full of
forgiveness, echoed in her ears. The very touch of his right hand had
assured her that he was no longer angry.

She still felt the pressure of his hand, and heard his assurance that
from no lips would he more gladly hear the name of Joshua than from
hers.

With the war-cry "Jehovah our standard!" he at last turned his back upon
her; for a long time its clear tones and the enthusiastic shouts of his
soldiers echoed in her ears.

Finally everything around her had lapsed into silence and she only knew
that never had she shed such bitter, burning tears as in this hour. And
she made two solemn vows in the presence of the God who had summoned her
to be His prophetess. Meanwhile both the men whom they concerned were
surrounded by the tumult of battle.

One had again led his troops from the rescued camp against the foe; the
other was watching with the leader of the people the surging to and fro
of the ever-increasing fury of the conflict.

Joshua found his people in sore stress. Here they were yielding, yonder
they were still feebly resisting the onslaught of the sons of the
desert; but Hur gazed with increasing and redoubled anxiety at the
progress of the battle; for in the camp he beheld wife and grandson, and
below his son, in mortal peril.

His paternal heart ached as he saw Uri retreat, then as he pressed
forward again and repelled the foe by a well-directed assault, it
throbbed joyously, and he would gladly have shouted words of praise.

But whose ear would have been sharp enough to distinguish the voice of
a single man amid the clash of arms and war-cries, the shrieks of women,
the wails of the wounded, the discordant grunting of the camels, the
blasts of horns and trumpets mingling below?

Now the foremost band of the Amalekites had forced itself like a wedge
into the rear ranks of the Hebrews.

If the former succeeded in opening a way for those behind and joined
the division which was attacking the camp, the battle was lost, and the
destruction of the people sealed; for a body of Amalekites who had not
mingled in the fray were still stationed at the southern entrance of the
valley, apparently for the purpose of defending the oasis against the
foe in case of need.

A fresh surprise followed.

The sons of the desert had fought their way forward so far that the
missiles of the slingers and b