Joshua saw him make the intelligent animals smell Ephraim’s gnawed bonds and resting-place, and beheld them instantly rush to the ravine.  Gasping for breath, he also noted that they remained in it quite a long time, and at last—­the moon meanwhile scattered the clouds more and more—­darted out of the ravine, and dashed to the water.  He felt that it was fortunate Ephraim had waded through instead of passing round it; for at its edge the dogs lost the scent, and minute after minute elapsed while the commander of the guards walked along the shore with the eager animals, which fairly thrust their noses into the fugitive’s steps, in order to again get on the right trail.  Their loud, joyous barking at last announced that they had found it.  Yet, even if they persisted in following the runaway, the captive warrior no longer feared the worst, for Ephraim had gained a long advance of his pursuers.  Still, his heart beat loudly enough and time seemed to stand still until the chief-warder returned exhausted and unsuccessful.

The older man, it is true, could never have overtaken the swift-footed youth, but the youngest and most active guards had been sent after the fugitive.  This statement the captain of the guards himself made with an angry jeer.

The kindly-natured man seemed completely transformed,—­for he felt what had occurred as a disgrace which could scarcely be overcome, nay, a positive misfortune.

The prisoner who had tried to deceive him by the shout of ‘jackal!’ was doubtless the fugitive’s accomplice.  Prince Siptah, too, who had interfered with the duties of his office, he loudly cursed.  But nothing of the sort should happen again; and he would make the whole band feel what had fallen to his lot through Ephraim.  Therefore he ordered the prisoners to be again loaded with chains, the ex-chief fastened to a coughing old man, and all made to stand in rank and file before the fire till morning dawned.

Joshua gave no answer to the questions his new companion-in-chains addressed to him; he was waiting with an anxious heart for the return of the pursuers.  At times he strove to collect his thoughts to pray, and commended to the God who had promised His aid, his own destiny and that of the fugitive boy.  True, he was often rudely interrupted by the captain of the guards, who vented his rage upon him.

Yet the man who had once commanded thousands of soldiers quietly submitted to everything, forcing himself to accept it like the unavoidable discomfort of hail or rain; nay, it cost him an effort to conceal his joyful emotion when, toward sunrise, the young warders sent in pursuit returned with tangled hair, panting for breath, and bringing nothing save one of the dogs with a broken skull.

The only thing left for the captain of the guards to do was to report what had occurred at the first fortress on the Etham border, which the prisoners were obliged in any case to pass, and toward this they were now driven.