How he longed for some noise, even the faintest, from the ravine!  The silence was terrible.  But now!  Oh, would that it had continued!  Now the sound of falling stones and the crash of earth sliding after echoed loudly through the still night air.  Again the moonlight burst through the cloud-curtain, and Joshua perceived near the pool a living creature which resembled an animal more than a human being, for it seemed to be crawling on four feet.  Now the water sent up a shower of glittering spray.  The figure below had leaped into the pool.  Then the clouds again swallowed the lamp of night, and darkness covered everything.

With a sigh of relief Joshua told himself that he had seen the flying Ephraim and that, come what might, the escaping youth had gained a considerable start of his pursuers.

But the latter neither remained inert nor allowed themselves to be deceived; for though, to mislead them, he had shouted loudly:  “A jackal!” they uttered a long, shrill whistle, which roused their sleeping comrades.  A few seconds later the chief warder stood before him with a burning torch, threw its light on his face, and sighed with relief when he saw him.  Not in vain had he bound him with double ropes; for he would have been called to a severe reckoning at home had this particular man escaped.

But while he was feeling the ropes on the prisoner’s arms, the glare of the burning torch, which lighted him, fell on the fugitive’s rude, deserted couch.  There, as if in mockery, lay the gnawed rope.  Taking it up, he flung it at Joshua’s feet, blew his whistle again and again, and shouted:  “Escaped!  The Hebrew!  Young Curly-head!”

Paying no farther heed to Joshua, he began the pursuit.  Hoarse with fury, he issued order after order, each one sensible and eagerly obeyed.

While some of the guards dragged the prisoners together, counted them, and tied them with ropes, their commander, with the others and his dogs, set off on the track of the fugitive.

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.