But the people became silent all at once, for from the depth of the garden came a man with shaven head; from this man's shoulders depended a panther skin.
"A prophet! A holy father!" murmured some in the crowd. Those sitting on the wall began now to spring down from it.
"People of Egypt," said the priest, calmly, "with what right do ye raise hands on the property of the erpatr?"
"The unclean Jewess dwells here, who stops the rise of the Nile. Woe to us! misery and famine are hanging over Lower Egypt."
"People of weak mind or of evil faith," said the priest, "where have ye heard that one woman could stop the will of the gods? Every year in the month Thoth the Nile begins to increase and rises till the mouth peak. Has it ever happened otherwise, though our land has been full at all times of strangers, sometimes foreign priests and princes, who groaning in captivity and grievous labor might utter the most dreadful curses through sorrow and anger? They would have brought on our heads all kinds of misfortune, and more than one of them would have given their lives if only the sun would not rise over Egypt in the morning, or if the Nile would not rise when the year began. And what came of their prayers? Either they were not heard in the heavens, or foreign gods had no power in presence of the gods of Egypt. How then is a woman who lives pleasantly among us to cause a misfortune which is beyond the power of our mightiest enemies?"
"The holy father speaks truth. Wise are the words of the prophet!" said people among the multitude.
"But Messu (Moses), the Jewish leader, brought darkness and death into
Egypt!" said one voice.
"Let the man who said that step forth," cried the priest. "I challenge him, let him come forward, unless he is an enemy of the Egyptian people."
The crowd murmured like a wind from afar blowing between trees, but no man came forward,
"I speak truth," continued the priest; "evil men are moving among you like hyenas in a sheepfold. They have no pity on your misery, they urged you to destroy the house of the heir and to rebel against the pharaoh. If their vile plan had succeeded and blood had begun to flow from your bosoms, they would have hidden before spears as they hide now before my challenge."