Dan let her go in search of the messenger and moved around the room hoping (he knew not why) that the messenger would not overtake the caravan, the which he very nearly missed doing, for while Rachel was instructing the messenger, Joseph was asking Azariah if he might have a stick to belabour his mule into a gallop.  The cavalcade, he said, needed a scout that would report any traces of robbers he might detect among the rocks and bushes.  But we aren’t likely to meet robber bands this side of Jordan, Azariah said, they keep to the other side; and he told Joseph, who was curious about everything, that along the Jordan were great marshes into which the nomads drove their flocks and herds in the spring to feed on the young grass.  So they are there now, Joseph replied meditatively, for he was thinking he would like better to ride through marshes full of reeds than through a hilly country where there was nothing to see but the barley-fields beset by an occasional olive garth.  But hooves were heard galloping in the rear and when the messenger overtook the caravan and blurted out Rachel’s instructions, Joseph’s face flushed.  Now what can a woman know, he cried, about a journey like this?  Tell her, he said, turning to the messenger, that I shall ride and rest with the others.  And as an earnest of his resolve he struck the messenger’s horse so sharply across the quarters that the animal’s head went down between his knees and he plunged so violently that the messenger was cast sprawling upon the ground.  The cavalcade roared with laughter and Joseph, overjoyed at the success of his prank, begged Azariah to wait a little longer, for he was curious to see if the messenger would succeed in coaxing his horse.  At present the horse seemed in no humour to allow himself to be mounted.  Whenever the messenger approached he whinnied so menacingly that everybody laughed again.  Is there none amongst ye that will help me to catch the horse? the poor messenger cried after the departing travellers.  We have a long day’s march in front of us, Azariah said; and he warned Joseph not to beat his mule into a gallop at the beginning of the journey or he would repent it later, words that came true sooner than Joseph had expected, for before midday he was asking how many miles would bring them to the caravansary.  In about another hour, Azariah answered, and Joseph said he had begun to hate his mule for it would neither trot nor gallop, only walk.  Thou’rt thinking of the nomads and would like to be after them flourishing a lance, Azariah said, and—­afraid that he was being laughed at—­Joseph made no answer.

After the rest at midday it seemed to him to be his duty to see that his mule had been properly fed, and he bought some barley from the camel-driver, but while he was giving it to his mule Azariah remarked that he was only depriving other animals of their fair share of provender.  It is hard, he said, to do good without doing wrong to another.  But the present is no time for philosophy:  we must start again.  And the cavalcade moved on through the hills, avoiding the steep ascents and descents by circuitous paths, and Joseph, who had not seen a shepherd leading his flock for some years, became all of a sudden delighted by the spectacle, the sheep running forward scenting the fresh herbage with which the hills were covered as with dark velvet.