The Yoke: A Romance of the Days when the Lord Redeemed the Children of Israel from the Bondage of Egypt
John Stuart Mill · en
The priest shook his head. His excitement had not carried him beyond
the limits of caution.
"Save for my mystic knowledge, I have no proof against him, and if I
balk him not and offend him, he hath a heavy and a vengeful hand."
"And thou hast not named him in the writing?"
Again the priest shook his head.
"Then," said the young man firmly, "then will I name him to the
Pharaoh!"
Jambres looked at Kenkenes with profound admiration, not unmixed with
apprehension.
"Let not thy youthful zeal undo thee," he cautioned. "Perchance thou
dost mistake the man."
"The gods did not bestow all the art upon the mystics when they endowed
thee with divining powers. They gifted every man with a little of it,
and it speaketh no less truthfully because it is small. Come, thy
board has been generous and I am satisfied. I have another and a
fiercer hunger I would appease. Give me the message and let me be
gone."
Silent, the priest led the way again into the sanctuary. Taking the
scroll from its hiding-place once more he said, as he gave it into the
messenger's hands: "Go first to Tanis, and if thou findest not the king
in his capital, seek until thou dost find him. And have a care to
thyself."
Kenkenes hesitated a moment, and said at last:
"It may be that I shall not return, but I would have my father know
that I died not with the first-born. Wilt thou tell him, when thou
canst?"
"The word shall go to him by sunset to-morrow if I carry it myself."
Kenkenes expressed his thanks and the priest went on.
"Be not rash, I charge thee. Farewell, and thy father's gods attend
thee."
Without the dwarf pylons, Kenkenes bent for the old man's blessing and
turned away. Walking rapidly to the northern limits of the town, he
took the dusty highway again, and struck into an easy run.
The road sloped up toward the north, but the rise was gradual and the
ascent was not wearying. The miles slipped behind swiftly, for he
covered them as naturally as the unloitering bird traverses the air.
In two hours he had reached the pinnacle of the upland. To the north
the road led continuously down to the sea. He paused and looked back
over the long gentle declivity toward the south and west.
A sharp pain pierced him. In that moment, he realized that he was
expatriated. After he had warned Meneptah, Egypt dropped out of his
aims. Thereafter he had the rescue of Rachel, or her avenging to
accomplish, and the results following upon the necessity of either of
these alternatives would not permit him to return into the land of his
fathers. There was no turning back now, nor any desire in him to do
so. His conscience had been witness to the renunciation of his nation
and his faith, and it did not chide him.
Still he stretched out his arms to the limitless, featureless, velvety
dusk that was Egypt by day, and wept.