The tribe of Ephraim, nay the whole Hebrew nation had hailed these tidings with the utmost joy.

Eliab would give him fuller details; she herself had been well nigh dazed with weeping and anxiety.

He would earn the richest blessings if he would only follow her.
The soldier realized at once that he must fulfil this desire, but he was obliged to defer his visit to the old slave until the nest morning.

The messenger, however, even in her haste, had told him many incidents she had seen herself or heard from others.
At last she left him.

He rekindled the fire and, so long as the flames burned brightly, his gaze was bent with a gloomy, thoughtful expression upon the west.