But now Joshua had grown to be an old man. He knew that the end of his life was near at hand. So he called the people together and told them, even as Moses had told them, of all the wonderful things that had happened to God's chosen people in all the four hundred years since they had come out of Egypt. Then he appealed to them in the name of God, who had led them safely into the land of Canaan; he begged them never to forget that they were the Children of Israel, and that the religion of the people into whose land they had come, an idolatrous religion, was not for them. Then the people all promised to be true to the religion of their fathers; and Joshua, taking the great book of the law, wrote their promise in it. More than that, he rolled a great stone up beneath an oak tree and said, "Look at the great stone. It has heard your promise that you will serve always the one God. Guard that stone; and let it be a remembrance to you of the promise you have made." The people went away sad at heart; for they knew they should never look again upon their patient leader and teacher, who had been so faithful and true to them in all the years he had been with them. [Illustration: DEBORAH] EHUD AND DEBORAH. For a few years the Israelites remembered their promise; but alas! they were very prone to sink back into the idolatry which surrounded them. And it was not very long before they were worshipping idols, even as were the heathen tribes round about them. And again God sent cruel enemies to fight against them; again they cried to Him, and He heard them. For eighteen years they served Eglon, the cruel, wicked king of Moab. But at last God sent the Israelites a man to help them, whose name was Ehud. Ehud told them to send a present to Eglon, and he would be its bearer. The Israelites did this, and Ehud, making a dagger, and hiding it under his clothes, went to Moab. When he came to the king he said, "I have a secret to tell and must see the king alone." So Eglon sent away his servants. When they were alone, Ehud took out his dagger and thrust it into the king's body. Then Ehud ran out from the room, locked the doors after him, and so escaped. No one saw Ehud go; and when the servants found the doors locked, they thought their master had fallen asleep, and so they made no attempt to go in. Many hours passed. At last the servants began to wonder why the king did not send for them. Night came on. Still the king did not awake; and so, at last, they took a key and opened the door. What did they see? There lay the king upon the ground,--dead! Ehud, meantime, had come back again, bringing many soldiers with him; and the Israelites fought against the Moabites and conquered them.