Joseph tried to picture to himself the scene when Moses, on the summit of the mountain, received the tables of stone from Jehovah.  Then a cloud slowly covered the mountain top as if to veil the secret.  Joseph was ashamed of his presumption and kept silence.  Before he departed he cut a bough from the thorn-bush and pulled off the leaves and twigs, so that it formed a pilgrim’s staff for the rest of the journey.  They were always meeting new dangers.  And one day a hunter of the desert came running after them.  They were not frightened of his tiger skin, but of what he had to tell them.  If they had come from Judaea with their boy, they had better hasten into the land of Egypt, for Herod’s men were on their track.  So they had no rest until at last they came to the land of the Pharaohs.  But one day they found themselves not on its frontier, but on the seashore.  They were dumb with astonishment.  There lay the sea, its waves dashing against the black, jagged cliffs, and beyond them was a smooth, level plain as far as the eye could see.

Once in the past fugitives had stood on the other side of the sea, their enemies behind them.  And Joseph lifted up his arms and called upon the God of his forefathers to divide the waters of the sea once again and make a passage for them.  Belief in the God of ancestors is strong.  He appealed also to his ancestors themselves and entreated them to come to his assistance, for are we not one with them and strong in the same faith?  But the sea lay in calm repose and divided not.  Six horsemen came riding over the sand, shouting for joy at the thought of their reward, when they saw those they had so long pursued standing by the water, unable to proceed farther.  Quickly they approached the shore, and were about to let fly the stones from their slings against the couple who had the little King of the Jews with them, when they saw the fugitives descend the wave-dashed cliffs and go out upon the surface of the sea.  The man led the ass on which sat the woman with the child, and just as they passed over the sand of the desert, with even steps, they passed over the waters of the sea.

Their pursuers rode after them in blind rage, urged their horses into the sea, and were the first to reach—­not Egypt, but the other world.

CHAPTER VI

The family of the poor carpenter from Nazareth stood on the soil of ancient Egypt.  How had they crossed the sea?  Joseph thought in a fishing boat, but it had all happened as in a dream.  He opened his eyes, and sought the mountains of Nazareth, and saw the dark grove of palm-trees with their bare trunks and sword-shaped leaves, and he saw the gate flanked by enormous stone figures which, lying on their bellies, stretched out two paws in front of them and lifted huge human heads high in the air.  He saw the triangular form of the pyramids rise against the yellow background.  Strange odours filled the air, as well as shrill noises made by fantastic figures, and every sound struck hard and sharp on the ear.  Joseph’s heart was heavy.  His home was abandoned, and they were in a strange land in which they must certainly be lost.