people, and with them his father and Miriam,--who had caused him such
keen suffering, yet to whom he was indebted for having found the way
which, even in prison, he had recognized as the only right one--seemed to
him marked out for a bloody doom; for, however powerful might be the God
whose greatness the prophetess had praised in such glowing words, and to
whom he himself had learned to look up with devout admiration,--untrained
and unarmed bands of shepherds must surely and hopelessly succumb to the
assault of this army. This certainty, strengthened by each advancing
division, pierced his very soul. Never before had he felt such burning
anguish, which was terribly sharpened when he beheld the familiar faces
of his own troops, which he had so lately commanded, pass before him
under the leadership of another. This time they were taking the field
to hew down men of his own blood. This was pain indeed, and Ephraim's
conduct gave him cause for fresh anxiety; since Kasana's appearance and
interference in behalf of him and his companions in suffering, the youth
had again lapsed into silence and gazed with wandering eyes at the army
or into vacancy.

Now he, too, was freed from the chain, and Joshua asked in a whisper if
he did not long to return to his people to help them resist so powerful a
force, but Ephraim merely answered:

"When confronted with those hosts, they can do nothing but yield. What
did we lack before the exodus? You were a Hebrew, and yet became a
mighty chief among the Egyptians ere you obeyed Miriam's summons. In
your place, I would have pursued a different course."

"What would you have done?" asked Joshua sternly.

"What?" replied the youth, the fire of his young soul blazing. "What?