At the second halt the troubled father became franker still.  An ardent thirst for vengeance filled his soul, and he attributed the same feeling to his stern-eyed companion, whom he saw had plunged into misfortune from a high station in life.  The ex-inspector of the stables had a sister-in-law, who was one of Pharaoh’s concubines, and through her and his wife, her sister, he had learned that a conspiracy was brewing against the king in the House of the Separated.—­[Harem].  He even knew whom the women desired to place in Menephtah’s place.

As Joshua looked at him, half questioning, half doubting, his companion whispered.  “Siptah, the king’s nephew, and his noble mother, are at the head of the plot.  When I am once more free, I will remember you, for my sister-in-law certainly will not forget me.”  Then he asked what was taking his companion to the mines, and Joshua frankly told his name.  But when the Egyptian learned that he was fettered to a Hebrew, he tore wildly at his chain and cursed his fate.  His rage, however, soon subsided in the presence of the strange composure with which his companion in misfortune bore the rudest insults, and Joshua was glad to have the other beset him less frequently with complaints and questions.

He now walked on for hours undisturbed, free to yield to his longing to collect his thoughts, analyze the new and lofty emotions which had ruled his soul during the past few days, and accommodate himself to his novel and terrible position.

This quiet reflection and self-examination relieved him and, during the following night, he was invigorated by a deep, refreshing sleep.

When he awoke the setting stars were still in the sky and reminded him of the sycamore in Succoth, and the momentous morning when his lost love had won him for his God and his people.  The glittering firmament arched over his head, and he had never so distinctly felt the presence of the Most High.  He believed in His limitless power and, for the first time, felt a dawning hope that the Mighty Lord who had created heaven and earth would find ways and means to save His chosen people from the thousands of the Egyptian hosts.

After fervently imploring God to extend His protecting hand over the feeble bands who, obedient to His command, had left so much behind them and marched so confidently through an unknown and distant land, and commended to His special charge the aged father whom he himself could not defend, a wonderful sense of peace filled his soul.

The shouts of the guards, the rattling of the chain, his wretched companions in misfortune, nay, all that surrounded him, could not fail to recall the fate awaiting him.  He was to grow grey in slavish toil within a close, hot pit, whose atmosphere choked the lungs, deprived of the bliss of breathing the fresh air and beholding the sunlight; loaded with chains, beaten and insulted, starving and thirsting, spending days and nights in a monotony destructive alike to soul and body,—­yet not for one moment did he lose the confident belief that this horrible lot might befall any one rather than himself, and something must interpose to save him.