headquarters were built.

"As for thee and me--" Rachel urged her. Deborah motioned in the
direction she gazed. "Come, let us make ready," she said; "they are
beginning."

The Egyptian masters over Israel of Pa-Ramesu were emerging from the
quarters. They were, almost uniformly, tall, slender and immature in
figure. Dressed in the foot-soldier's tunic and coif, they looked like
long-limbed youths compared with the powerful manhood of the sons of
Abraham.

Among them, in white wool and enameled aprons, was a number of scribes,
without whom the official machinery of Egypt would have stilled in a
single revolution.

The men advanced, sauntering, talking with one another idly, as if
awaiting authority to proceed.

That came, presently, in the shape of an Egyptian charioteer. The
vehicle was heavy, short-poled, set low on two broad wheels of six
spokes, and built of hard wood, painted in wedge-shaped stripes of
green and red. The end was open, the front high and curved, the side
fitted with a boot of woven reeds for the ax and javelins of the
warrior. Axle and pole were shod with spikes of copper and the joints
were secured with tongues of bronze. The horses were bay, small,
short, glossy and long of mane and tail. The harness was simple, each
piece as broad as a man's arm, stamped and richly stained with many
colors.