Then, week after week, all kinds of dreadful things came one upon another. Once there were lice, like the dust of the ground; then there were such swarms of flies that nobody could eat or sleep; after that, the horses and cattle were all sick. Then people had boils; and there was a very grievous hail, and thunder and lightning so that fire ran along upon the ground. The locusts came, blown by the east wind, and ate all the leaves and the grass. And after the locusts there was a storm of sand, and for three days it was so dark, that people could feel it with their hands. And every time, when the trouble was worst, Pharaoh said to Moses, “Take it away, and I will let the people go.” But when the plague was over, Pharaoh said, “I don’t believe that God did it. It was only the weather or the wind.” And he broke his promise. Thus there were nine plagues. Then Moses said to the Children of Israel, “The tenth plague is at hand. This very night, Pharaoh will beg you to go. Get yourselves ready. There is a long journey before you. Let every family prepare supper. Kill a lamb and roast it, and bake bread. But the time is short; you cannot wait for the bread to rise; make it without leaven” (or, as we say, without yeast). “Do not even sit down at the table: stand up, with your coats and hats on, and eat in haste. For to-night, God will send a sudden sickness upon the Egyptians, and in every house there will be one dead. You must mark your houses. Take of the blood of the lamb and strike it on the upper post and on the two side posts of your doors. Then God will pass over you when He comes to punish the Egyptians.” And at midnight so it was. And there was a great cry through all the land of Egypt. And Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron. “This is the end,” he said; “get you gone out of the land, you and all your people.” And the Egyptians hurried them. “Quick!” they said, “go out of Egypt before we all die.” But the Children of Israel said, “Shall we go with empty hands after all the work which we have done for you? What will you give us?” And the Egyptians gave them jewels of gold and jewels of silver. So they departed. There was a full moon that night, and in the light of it they made their way out of all the cities where they lived, and they turned their faces toward Arabia. But now they went not only to meet God at the mountain, but to be a new nation, and never again to live as slaves in Egypt. XI THE RED SEA