Thereupon my brother, with his characteristic modesty, said—
"Not mine! not mine, my brother! Breathe into my heart no such ambitious pride! Yet I felt moved and animated by God to do this. Therefore do I justify the act to man and my own conscience."
The next day, my brother visited the lake again, intending to make its circuit, and see certain elders to whom he wished to make himself known,—men wise and good, who were superintending the work of others of their own people. On his way he perceived two Hebrews striving together, and as he came up, one of them struck the other with his working tool, so that he staggered from the blow.
"Sirs, ye are brethren," he said; "why do ye strive together, seeing ye are brethren?"—and then added, sternly and sorrowfully, to the one who had struck the blow—
"Friend, why hast thou done this wrong? He whom thou hast stricken is a Hebrew. Do not your taskmasters beat you enough, that you must strike each other?"
Whereupon the man who did the injury to his fellow, said fiercely, looking narrowly upon my brother—
"Thou art Remeses, the Hebrew 'son of Pharaoh's daughter!' I remember thee. Dost thou think that thou art still a Prince of Egypt? Mœris is now our king. Who hath made thee prince and judge over us? Thou forgettest that thou art now a slave, like the rest of us. Intendest thou to kill me as thou killedst the Egyptian yesterday?"
No sooner had the man thus spoken, than Moses, alarmed, perceived that the thing was known, and beholding the eyes of the Egyptian officers, and many of the Hebrews fastened upon him, he hastened to escape, for he beheld several men run to a high officer of the king, as if with the news, who at once drove rapidly away in his chariot, probably seeking Mœris, whom my brother knew to be not far off, superintending the placing of a statue of Horus upon a new terrace. Several Hebrews would have interposed to arrest Moses, when they heard who he was, for they look upon him more as an Egyptian than as one of their brethren. But he succeeded in retiring unharmed, and at once hastened to recross the Nile. When he had told us that what he had done to the Egyptian was known, and that he was recognized, and that Mœris would surely hear of it, his mother and I advised his immediate flight.
He said that he had no doubt the king would seek his destruction, and that he ought to be cautious and consult his own preservation. "But," he added, "I do not fear the wrath of Pharaoh so far that, were I in his power, I would either deny, excuse, or ask pardon for my act. What I have done I will justify. The oppressor deserved to die! And so, one day, will God, by the hand of a Hebrew, slay Pharaoh and all his hosts!" This was spoken with the light of prophecy in his noble face, as if his words were inspiration. When Amram, his father, came in, and heard all, he said—
"The God of Jacob be glorified! There is one man in Israel to whom He has given courage to smite the oppressor of his people! Fly, my son! Fly not for fear, for thou art a brave man and hast been a tried soldier; but fly to preserve a life which my spirit tells me will yet be dear to our people!"