CHAPTER VIII.
The men who stepped from the chariots were old acquaintances of Hosea.
They were the head chamberlain and one of the king's chief scribes, come to summon him to the Sublime Porte.
[Palace of the king.

The name of Pharaoh means "the Sublime Porte."] No hesitation nor escape was possible, and Hosea, feeling more surprise than anxiety, entered the second chariot with the chief scribe.

Both officials wore mourning robes, and instead of the white ostrich plume, the insignia of office, black ones waved over the temples of both.

The horses and runners of the two-wheeled chariots were also decked with all the emblems of the deepest woe.

And yet the monarch's messengers seemed cheerful rather than depressed; for the eagle they were to bear to Pharaoh was ready to obey his behest, and they had feared that they would find his eyrie abandoned.
Swift as the wind the long-limbed bays of royal breed bore the light vehicles over the uneven sandy road and the smooth highway toward the palace.
Ephraim, with the curiosity of youth, had gone out of the tent to view a scene so novel to his eyes.