himself that he was going to meet great perils. His fairest hopes were
destroyed, yet deep grief struggled with glad exaltation. A new and
lofty emotion, which pervaded his whole being, had waked within him and
was but slightly dimmed, though he had experienced a sorrow bitter enough
to darken the light of any other man's existence. Naught could surpass
the noble objects to which he intended to devote his blood and life--his
God and his people. He perceived with amazement this new feeling which
had power to thrust far into the background every other emotion of his
breast--even love.

True, his head often drooped sorrowfully when he thought of his old
father; but he had done right in repressing the eager yearning to clasp
him to his heart. The old man would scarcely have understood his
motives, and it was better for both to part without seeing each other
rather than in open strife.

Often it seemed as though his experiences had been but a dream, and while
he felt bewildered by the excitements of the last few hours, his strong
frame was little wearied by the fatigues he had undergone.

At a well-known hostelry on the road, where he met many soldiers and
among them several military commanders with whom he was well acquainted,
he at last allowed his horse and himself a little rest and food; and as
he rode on refreshed active life asserted its claims; for as far as the
gate of the city of Rameses he passed bands of soldiers, and learned that
they were ordered to join the cohorts he had himself brought from Libya.

At last he rode into the capital and as he passed the temple of Amon he
heard loud lamentations, though he had learned on the way that the plague
had ceased. What many a sign told him was confirmed at last by some