Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-10-06
JOSH O A.
CONTINUED from Ninth Pnas.1


ordered the going of his beasts, and be and
mis- were to be the first victims of the popu-
lar rage.
The swiftest runners had already reached
his spacious farm, and among them Horn
echt, the captain of the archers. There Law
the house and buildings in the first bright
beams of the morning sun, and a brawny
smith kicked violently at the closed door;
but there was no bolt, and it flew open so
readily that he had to clutch at the door
post to save himself from falling. Others
pushed by him into the courtyard. among
them the archer. .chief.
But what was the meaning of this?
Had some new charm been wrought to
show the power of Mesu, who had brought
such terrible plaques already on the land.
and display the might of his god?
The yard was empty, absolutely empty;
only in the stalls lay few cattle and sheep,
slain because they had suffered SOME injury,
while lame lamb hobbled away at the sight
OF the intruders. Even the carts and bar
rows had vanished. The groaning and
bleating crowd, which the star-gazer had
taken to be the spirits Of the damned, was
the host of the Hebrews, who had fed BY
night with all their herds, under the guild
ance of Moses.
The leader dropped his sword, and it
might have been thought that the scene
before him was to him an agreeable sur
prise, but his companion, scribe from the
Kings treasury, looked round the deserted
courtyard with the disappointed air of a
man who has been cheated.
The tide of passions and schemes which
had risen high during the night ebbed un-
der the broad light of dayl Even the SOL
dier's easily stirred ire had subsided to
comparative calm. The mob might have
done their worst to the other Hebrews, but
not to Nun, whose son Hosea (Joshua) had
been his comrade in battle, one of the most
esteemed captains in the field, and a private
friend OF his own. If Hornecht had fore
seen that his fathers farmstead would be
the first spot to be attacked he would never
had led the mob to their revenge, and once
more in his life he bitterly rued that he had
been carried away by sudden wrath to
forget the calm demeanor which beseemed
his years. And now, while some of the
crowd proceeded to rifle and pull down
Nuns deserted dwellings, men and women
came running in to say that no living soul
was to be found in any of the other houses
near. Some had to tell OF yelling cats
squatting on vacant hearths, OF beasts past
service found slaughtered, and broken
household gear, till at last the angry crowd
dragged forward Hebrew with his family
and gray-haired, half-witted woman whom
they had hunted out among some straw.
The old woman laughed foolishly and said
that her people had called her till they were
hoarse, but Mehela knew better; and as for
walking, walking forever, as her people
meant to do, she could not; her feet we're too
tender, and she had not even pair of san
dals
The man, a hideous Hebrew, whom few
even of his own race would have regarded
with pity, declared first with humility bor-
dering on servility, and then with the inso-
lent daring that was natural to him, that he
had nothing to do with the god OF lies in
whose name the imposter Moses had tempted
away his people, but that he and his wife
and child had always been friends with the
Egyptians. As a matter of fact he was
known to many, being an usurer, and when
the rest OF his tribe had taken up their
slaves he had hidden himself, hoping to
pursue his dishonest dealings and come to
no loss.
But some Of his debtors were among the
furious mob; and even without them he had
not chance for his life, for he was the first
object on which the excited multitude could
prove that they were in earnest in their re-
venge. They rushed on him with yells of
rage, and in few minutes the bodies of the
hapless wretch and his iamily lay dead on
the ground. No one knew who had done
the bloody deed; too many. had fallen on the
victims at once.
Others who had remained behind were
dragged forth from houses or novels, and
they were not a few, though many had time
TO escape into the country. These all fell
victims to the wrath of the populace; and
while their blood was flowing, axes were
heaved, and doors and walls were battered
down with beams and posts to destroy the
dwellings of the detested race from the face
Of the earth.
The glowing embers which some furious
women had brought with them were extin-
guished and trodden out, for the more pru-
dent warned them of the danger which must
threaten their own adjoining dwellings and \
the whole city of Tanis if the strangers
quarter were set in flames.
Thus the homes OF the Hebrews were
spared from fire, but as the sun rose higher
the site OF the dwellings they had deserted
was wrapped in an 1mpenetrable cloud of
white dust from the ruins. and on the spot |
where but yesterday thousands of human |
beings had had happy home, and where |
7ast herds had slaked their thirst by fresh |
heaps of rubbish and stone, while broken /
imber and splintered woodwork strewed |
he scorching soil. Dogs and cats. aban-
ioned by the fugitives, prowled among the
'uins, and were presently Joined by the
women and children who herded in the beg
,ars' novels on the skirts of the neighboring
and who now, with their hands
,ver their mouths, poked among the chok-
ng dust and piles of lumber for any vessels
'r broken victuals which the Hebrews might
lave left behind and the plunderers have
overlooked.
In the course Of the afternoon Bale was
,orne in his litter past the scene Of de-
vastation. He had not come hither to least
lis eyes on the sight of the ruins, but be-
'ause they lay in the nearest way from the
;ity OF the dead to his own home. Neverthe-
ess, a smile of satisfaction curled his grave
ips as he noted how thoroughly the popu.
ace had done their work. What he himself
lad hoped to see had not indeed been car
led out; the leader OF the fugitives had
vaded their revenge, but hatred, though it
s never satiated, can be easily gratified.
even the smaller woes of an enemy are joy,
nd the priest had just quilted the mourn
ng Pharaoh, and though he had not yet
in freeing him completely from
be bonds laid upon him by the Hebrew
Oothsayer, yet he had loosened them.
Three words had the proud, ambitious
IAN murmured to himself again and again
stiff-necked man, not wont to talk to him
elias ne sat alone in the sanctuary. medi-
ating on what had happened and on what
ad to be done; and those three words were:
Bless me also"
1t was Pharaoh who had spoken them,
ddressing the petition to another. and that
ther not old Rule, the pontiff and high
riest, nor Bale himself, the only men liv-
,g whose privilege it could be to bless the
ling; nojbut the worst of the accursed, the