seemed to him quite natural that all things should love joseph you see he continued the are screaming and dancing on their waiting for you to scratch their joseph complied and then dan wearied of the which were absorbing joseph s attention and drove them away you haven t told me that you re glad to be back in in front of that beautiful lake has its temple but god made the lake but you don t seem as pleased to be back as i d like father it is of thee i m thinking and not of temples or lakes joseph answered and for a moment dan could not speak so deep was his happiness and so intense overcome by it they walked a little way and joseph followed his father up the tall stairs on to the balcony and when they had drunk some and joseph had vowed he had not tasted any like it dan interposed suddenly but thou hast not told me joseph how thou earnest by thy beautiful horse he came from egypt joseph answered casually and was about to add that he was an egyptian horse but on second thoughts it seemed to him that it would be well not to speak the word egypt again to do so might put another question into his father s mouth he would not commit himself to a rank lie and to tell that he had gone to egypt could not do else than lead him into an intricate story which would his father to listen to s projects or at least dan s mind from a calm judgment of them so he resolved to omit all mention of and egypt and to begin his narrative with an account of his meeting with the driver but the driver seemed to be the last person that dan was interested in but he s my partner joseph exclaimed and it was he who sent me to i ll tell thee about the afterwards and the brook feeling that he had at last succeeded in fixing his father s attention on that part of the story which he wished to tell him joseph said an excellent governor one who is ready to listen to all schemes for the of commercial enterprise in he has the hills of the robbers and his account of the summer in the desert with the roman soldiers smoking out nest after nest and putting on crosses those that were taken alive interested the old man i wish he would start on dan mentioned casually and joseph replied and he will as soon as he is certain that he can rely on the help of men like thee s favour is worth winning father and it can be won i doubt thee not but wilt tell how it may be won my boy by falling in with his projects joseph answered and began his relation and when he had finished dan sat meditating casting up the account s good will is desirable he said but a large sum of money will have to be advanced but father the carrying trade has been a great success well let us go into figures joseph and they balanced the profits against the losses without doubt thou hast done well this last half year dan said and if business don t fall away but father joseph interrupted think of the profit my account would have shown if we had not lost two the loss has already been very nearly paid off there are no more robbers and the demand for is steady in much earlier say no more joseph my money is thy money and if fifty be wanted thou shalt have them tis the least i can do for thee for thou hast ever been a son joseph and art deserving of all i have so has heard of my and maybe that was why he met thee on such fair terms that has much to do with it joseph replied and he watched the look of satisfaction that came into his father s face but tell me joseph has all this long time been spent smoking out robbers tell me again of their well u the brook father the often opened on to and we had to lower the soldiers in baskets and the tale how one great was amused the old man till he was nigh to clapping his hands with delight and to reminding joseph of the time when he used to ask his grandmother to tell him stories were she here she d like to hear thee telling thy stories thou in her thoughts to the last and now we shall never see her any more however great our trouble may be and in the midst of a great silence they fell to thinking how the same black curtain would drop between them and the world she has gone away to joseph whence we came and whither i shall follow her we go forward a little way but to go back again but i can t talk of deaths and graves go on telling me about and the robbers for i ve been busy all day in the counting house adding up figures and to listen to a good tale is a rare distraction yet i wouldn t talk of them either joseph but of and thy horse that all the country will be talking about the day after tomorrow when thou lt ride him into the town and now say it joseph ye are a bit tired isn t that so nay father not a bit we have come but twenty miles from the last halt and as for the telling of my story maybe the loose ends which i ve forgotten for the moment will themselves while we re talking of fish � of the many extra barrels you ve sent out now father say how many at it joseph as before times 