These were part of the mixed multitude that went with Israel.
The dust of their going had hardly settled before a drove of
hosannahing Israelites approached from the direction of the Nile. The
soldier saw them without seeming to see and, moving toward the tablet,
a four-foot stela of sandstone, planted himself against its inscribed
face, and, resting his pike, contemplated the west.
The ragged rout approached, singing and shouting, noisy and of doubtful
temper. A cloud of dust came with them and the odor of stall and of
quarry sweat.
Want plays havoc with the Oriental's appearance. It acutely
accentuates his already aggressive features and reduces his color to
ghastliness. The approaching Hebrews were studies of sharp angularity
in monochrome, and the soul which showed in the eyes was no longer a
spiritual but a ravenous thing.
Being something distinctly Egyptian, the soldier brought their actual
temper to the surface. They had suffered long, but their time had come.
The foremost flung themselves into his view and halted, hushed and
amazed. When those behind them tried to press forward with jeers, they
turned with a frown and a significant jerk of the head in the direction
of the man-at-arms.
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