Deeply disturbed and tortured by such thoughts, Miriam walked toward
Amminadab’s house to seek repose; but just as she was in the act of
crossing the threshold, she paused and again listened for sounds coming
from the north.
Hosea must arrive from that direction.
But she heard nothing save the footsteps of a sentinel and the voice of
Hur, who was patrolling the camp with a body of armed men.
He, too, had been unable to stay in the house.
The night was mild and starry, the time seemed just suited for dreams
under the sycamore. Her bench beneath the venerable tree was empty, and
with drooping head she approached the beloved resting-place, which she
must leave forever on the morrow.
But ere she had reached the spot so close at hand, she paused with
her figure drawn up to its full height and her hand pressed upon her
throbbing bosom. This time she was not mistaken, the beat of hoofs
echoed on the air, and it came from the north.
Were Pharaoh’s chariots approaching to attack the camp? Should she shout
to wake the warriors? Or could it be he whom she so longingly expected?
Yes, yes, yes! It was the tramp of a single steed, and must be a new
arrival; for there were loud voices in the tents, the dogs barked, and
shouts, questions, and answers came nearer and nearer with the rider.
It was Hosea, she felt sure. His riding alone through the night,
released from the bonds that united him to Pharaoh and his comrades
in arms, was a sign of his obedience! Love had steeled his will
and quickened the pace of his steed, and the gratitude of answering
affection, the reward she could bestow, should be withheld no longer.
In her arms he should blissfully perceive that he had resigned great
possessions to obtain something still fairer and sweeter! She felt as
though the darkness around had suddenly brightened into broad day,
as her ear told her that the approaching horseman was riding straight
toward the house of her host Amminadab. She now knew that he was obeying
her summons, that he had come to find her. Hosea was seeking her ere he
went to his own father, who had found shelter in the big empty house of
his grandson, Ephraim.
He would gladly have dashed toward her at the swiftest pace of his
steed, but it would not do to ride rapidly through the camp. Ah, how
long the time seemed ere she at last saw the horseman, ere he swung
himself to the ground, and his companion flung the reins of the horse to
a man who followed him.
It was he, it was Hosea!
But his companion--she had recognized him distinctly and shrank a
little--his companion was Hur, the man who a few hours before had sought
her for his wife.
There stood her two suitors side by side in the starlight, illumined by
the glare of the pitch torches blazing beside the carts and household
utensils which had been packed for the morrow’s journey.
The tall figure of the elder Hebrew towered over the sinewy form of the
warrior, and the shepherd prince bore himself no whit less erect than
the Egyptian hero. Both voices sounded earnest and manly, yet her
lover’s seemed to Miriam stronger and deeper. They had now advanced so
near that she could understand their conversation.
Hur was telling the newcomer that Moses had gone on a reconnoitring
expedition, and Hosea was expressing his regret, because he had
important matters to discuss with him.
Then he must set out with the tribes the next morning, Hur replied, for
Moses intended to join them on the way.
Then he pointed to Amminadab’s house, from which no ray of light gleamed
through the darkness, and asked Hosea to spend the remainder of the
night beneath his roof, as he probably would not wish to disturb his
aged father at so late an hour.
Miriam saw her friend hesitate and gaze intently up to the women’s
apartments and the roof of her host’s house. Knowing what he sought, she
could no longer resist the impulse of her heart, but stepped forth from
the shadow of the sycamore and gave Hosea a cordial and tender welcome.
He, too, disdained to conceal the joy of his heart, and Hur stood beside
the reunited lovers, as they clasped each other’s hands, and exchanged
greetings, at first mutely, then with warm words.
“I knew you would come!” cried the maiden, and Hosea answered with
joyful emotion.
“You might easily suppose so, oh Prophetess; for your own voice was
among those that summoned me here.”
Then in a calmer tone, he added: “I hoped to find your brother also;
I am the bearer of a message of grave import to him, to us, and to the
people. I see that you, too, are ready to depart and should grieve to
behold the comfort of your aged hosts destroyed by hasty acts that may
yet be needless.”
“What do you mean?” asked Hur, advancing a step nearer to the other.
“I mean,” replied Hosea, “that if Moses persists in leading the tribes
eastward, much blood will flow uselessly to-morrow; for I learned at
Tanis that the garrison of Etham has been ordered to let no man pass,
still less the countless throng, whose magnitude surprised me as I rode
through the camp. I know Apu, who commands the fortifications and the
legions whom he leads. There would be a terrible, fruitless massacre
of our half-armed, untrained people, there would be--in short, I have
urgent business to discuss with Moses, urgent and immediate, to avert
the heaviest misfortune ere it is too late.”
“What you fear has not escaped our notice,” replied Hur, “and it is
in order to guard against this peril that Moses has set forth on a
dangerous quest.”
“Whither?” asked Hosea.
“That is the secret of the leaders of the tribes.”
“Of which my father is one.”
“Certainly; and I have already offered to take you to him. If he assumes
the responsibility of informing you....”
“Should he deem it a breach of duty, he will keep silence. Who is to
command the wandering hosts tomorrow?”
“I.”
“You?” asked Hosea in astonishment, and Hur answered calmly:
“You marvel at the audacity of the shepherd who ventures to lead an
army; but the Lord of all armies, to whom we trust our cause, is our
leader; I rely solely on His guidance.”
“And so do I,” replied Hosea. “No one save the God through whom Miriam
summoned me to this spot, entrusted me--of that I am confident--with the
important message which brings me here. I must find Moses ere it is too
late.”
“You have already heard that he will be beyond the reach of any one,
myself included, until to-morrow, perhaps the day after. Will you speak
to Aaron?”
“Is he in the camp?”
“No; but we expect his return before the departure of the people, that
is in a few hours.”
“Has he the power to decide important matters in Moses’ absence?”
“No, he merely announces to the people in eloquent language what his
illustrious brother commands.”
The warrior bent his eyes with a disappointed expression on the ground,
and after a brief pause for reflection eagerly added, fixing his gaze on
Miriam:
“It is Moses to whom the Lord our God announces his will; but to you,
his august maiden sister, the Most High also reveals himself, to you...”
“Oh, Hosea!” interrupted the prophetess, extending her hands toward him
with a gesture of mingled entreaty and warning; but the chief, instead
of heeding her monition, went on:
“The Lord our God hath commanded you to summon me, His servant, back to
the people; He hath commanded you to give me the name for which I am to
exchange the one my father and mother bestowed upon me, and which I have
borne in honor for thirty years. Obedient to your summons, I have cast
aside all that could make me great among men; but on my way through
Egypt,--bearing in my heart the image of my God and of you,--braving
death, the message I now have to deliver was entrusted to me, and I
believe that it came from the Most High Himself. It is my duty to convey
it to the leaders of the people; but as I am unable to find Moses, I
can confide it to no better one than you who, though only a woman,
stand,--next to your brother--nearest to the Most High, so I implore you
to listen to me. The tidings I bring are not yet ripe for the ears of a
third person.”
Hur drew his figure to a still greater height and, interrupting
Hosea, asked Miriam whether she desired to hear the son of Nun without
witnesses; she answered with a quiet “yes.”
Then Hur turned haughtily and coldly to the warrior:
“I think that Miriam knows the Lord’s will, as well as her brother’s,
and is aware of what beseems the women of Israel. If I am not mistaken,
it was under this tree that your own father, the worthy Nun, gave to my
son Uri the sole answer which Moses must also make to every bearer of a
message akin to yours.”
“Do you know it?” asked Hosea in a tone of curt reproof.
“No,” replied the other, “but I suspect its purport, and look here.”
While speaking he stooped with youthful agility and, raising two large
stones with his powerful arms, propped them against each other, rolled
several smaller ones to their sides, and then, with panting breath,
exclaimed:
“Let this heap be a witness between me and thee, like the stones named
Mizpah which Jacob and Laban erected. And as the latter called upon the
Lord to watch between him and the other, so do I likewise. I point to
this heap that you may remember it, when we are parted one from the
other. I lay my hand upon these stones and bear witness that I, Hur, son
of Caleb and Ephrath, put my trust in no other than the Lord, the God of
our fathers, and am ready to obey His command, which calls us forth from
the kingdom of Pharaoh into a land which He promised to us. But of thee,
Hosea, son of Nun, I ask and the Lord our God hears thee: Dost thou,
too, expect no other help save from the God of Abraham, who has made
thy race His chosen people? And wilt thou also testify whether thou wilt
ever regard the Egyptians who oppressed us, and from whose bondage the
Lord our God delivered us, as the mortal foes of thy God and of thy
race?”
The warrior’s bearded features quivered, and he longed to overthrow
the heap and answer the troublesome questioner with wrathful words, but
Miriam had laid her hand on the top of the pile of stones, and clasping
his right hand, exclaimed:
“He is questioning you in the presence of our God and Lord, who is your
witness.”
Hosea succeeded in controlling his wrath, and pressing the maiden’s hand
more closely, he answered earnestly:
“He questions, but I may not answer; ‘yea’ or ‘nay’ will be of little
service here; but I, too, call God to witness, and before this heap you,
Miriam, but you alone, shall hear what I propose and for what purpose
I have come. Look, Hur! Like you I lay my hand upon this heap and bear
witness that I, Hosea, son of Nun, put my sole trust in the Lord and God
of our fathers. He stands as a witness between me and thee, and shall
decide whether my way is His, or that of an erring mortal. I will obey
His will, which He has made known to Moses and to this noble maiden.
This I swear by an oath whose witness is the Lord our God.”
Hur had listened intently and, impressed by the earnestness of the
words, now exclaimed:
“The Lord our God has heard your vow and against your oath I, in the
presence of this heap, take another: If the hour comes when, mindful of
this heap of stones, you give the testimony you have refused me, there
shall henceforward be no ill-will between us, and if it is in accordance
with the will of the Most High, I will cheerfully resign to you the
office of commander, which you, trained in many wars, would be better
suited to fill than I, who hitherto have ruled only my flocks and
shepherds. But you, Miriam, I charge to remember that this heap of
stones will also be a witness of the colloquy you are to hold with this
man in the presence of God. I remind you of the reproving words you
heard beneath this tree from the lips of his father, and call God to
witness that I would have darkened the life of my son Uri, who is the
joy of my heart, with a father’s curse if he had gone among the people
to induce them to favor the message he brought; for it would have turned
those of little faith from their God. Remember this, maiden, and let me
say again:
“If you seek me you will find me, and the door I opened will remain open
to you, whatever may happen!”
With these words Hur turned his back upon Miriam and the warrior.
Neither knew what had befallen them, but he who during the long ride
beset by many a peril had yearned with ardent anticipations for the hour
which was to once more unite him to the object of his love, gazed on the
ground full of bewilderment and profound anxiety, while Miriam who, at
his approach, had been ready to bestow upon him the highest, sweetest
gifts with which a loving woman rewards fidelity and love, had sunk to
the earth before the ominous pile of stones close beside the tree and
pressed her forehead against its gnarled, hollow trunk.