Help thou
the king! I return not. Farewell."
He kissed the scribe on the lips, and freeing himself from his clinging
hands, ran through the broken line of the royal guards.
The army was already a compact cluster in the center of a rolling cloud
of dust to the south.
When Nechutes had aroused him before daybreak, the cup-bearer had
brought Hotep with him, and while the messenger broke his fast, he had
availed himself of the scribe's presence to learn many things. Not the
smallest part of his information was the fact that the Pharaoh's scouts
had located Israel encamped on a sedgy plain at the base of a great
hill on the northern-most arm of the Red Sea. Meneptah's army had
marched twenty-five miles due south of Pithom and pitched its tents for
the night. It was twenty-five miles from that point to Baal-Zephon or
the hill before which Israel had camped. The fugitives had chosen the
smoothest path for travel, keeping along the Bitter Lakes that their
cattle might feed. Their track led in a southeasterly direction.
But Har-hat, making off with the army, had struck due south. He had
chosen this line for more than one advantage it offered. The Arabian
desert approached the sea in a series of plateaux or steps.
Pages:
639
640
641
642
643
644
645
646
647
648
649
650
651
652
653
654
655
656
657
658
659
660
661
662
663