Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-11-24

under the sycamore but the young girls low
sobbing and the impatient step of the war
rior, who, while struggling for composure
himself, did not venture to address her. he
could not fully understand what this was
that had suddenly come like mountain be-
tween him and the woman he loved.
He had learned from Hur's speech that
Moses and his own father had each,
severally, rejected all mediation; and yet to
him the promises be was empowered to
make seemed grace and gift from Heaven.
As vet none of his nation had heard them,
and if Moses were the man he believed him,
the Lord must Of a surety open his eyes and
show him that he had chosen Joshua to
guide the people to q happier future; nor
did he doubt that he could easily win over
his father, Nun, It was in full conviction
that he had again sworn that it was indeed
the Most High who had shown him this
way; and after thinking ali this over, as
Miriam at length rose, he went toward her
with renewed hope, The love in his heart
prompted him to clasp her in his arms; but
She drew back, and her voice, usually so
pure and full, sounded harsh and husky as
she asked him wherefore he had tarried so
long, and what it was that he purposed to
reveal to her.
AS she knelt under the sycamore she had
not merely been praying and struggling for
composure; she had looked into her soul.
She loved Joshua, but her heart misgave
her that he had some proposal to make such
as Urls, and old Nuns wrathful words
rang in her ears louder than ever. Her
fear lest her lover had gone astray into an
evil way, and Hur's startling proceedings,
had lulled the surges of her passion; and her
spirit, brought back to calmer reflection,
now craved above all else to know what
could have SO long detained him whom she
had sent for in the name OF the Lord, and
wherefore he had come alone, without
Ephraim. The clear sky, glorious with
stars, instead of looking down on the bliss
of a pair of reunited lovers, was witness
only to the anxious questionings of terri
fed woman and the impatient answers of
hot-spirited and bitterly-disappointed man.
He began by urging his love, and thathe
had come to make her his wife, but she,
though she suffered him to hold her hand,
implored him to postpone his wooing and to
tell her first all she wanted to know.
On his way hither he had heard news of
Ephraim from fellow-soldier from Tanis.
He was therefore able to tell her that he had
gone into the town in disobedience to orders,
sick and weary as he was, and moved, it
would seem, by curiosity, and that he had
found care and shelter under friendly roof
This, however, did not comfort Miriam, who
blamed herself as she thought of the mex
perienced and fatherless lad, who had grown
up under her own eyes, and whom she her
self had sent forth among strangers, as a
guest under an Egyptians roof. However,
Joshua assured her that he would take upon
himself to bring the boy back to his people,
and when she still was not satisfied he asked
her whether he had indeed lost all her trust
and love. But she, instead of giving him
word of comfort began to question him
further, desiring to know what had delayed
his coming, so he was forced to tell his tale,
though greatly disturbed and cut to the
heart, beginning in fact with the end of his
story.
While she listened to him, leaning against
the trunk of the sycamore, he, distraught by
love and impatience, paced up and down, or
else, hardly able to control himself, stood
close to her, face to face. At this moment
nothing seemed to him worthy to be clothed
in speech but the passion and the hopes
which filled his being. Had he been con-
WINGED that her heart was estranged from
him he would have fed from the camp as
soon as he had unburdened his soul to his
father, and have ridden away into the un-
known in search of Moses. All he cared for
was to win Miriam and to keep clear of dis
honor; and important as the events and
hopes of the last few days had been, he an
swered her questions hastily, and as though
the matters involved we're but light thing.
He began his tale in broken sentences, and
the ofTener she interrupted him the more i'm
patient he became and the deeper the frown
which knit his brows.
Joshua had been riding southwark for
some few hours, in high spirits and full of
blossoming hopes, when shortly before dusk
be perceived large crowd of men march
ing on in front of him. At first he had
taken them to be the rear guard of the fugi