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Now, for what one dost thou concern thyself? Atsu?" Rachel, startled out of her dream, hesitated, her face coloring hotly, though unseen, beneath the kindly dusk of night. "Yea," she said in a low tone, wondering gravely if she spake the truth. Somebody beside her laughed the short unready laugh of one slow at mirth. "Of a truth?" he asked. Rachel turned about and faced Atsu.
Kenkenes raised the man's head, and heard these words, faintly spoken: "He sent them in pursuit. I knew he meant to do it, but I could not get near to kill him. So I followed them. But thou art her lover; do thou protect her now." "Her! Rachel?" Kenkenes cried. "Who art thou?" "Atsu, once her taskmaster, always her " the voice died away. "Where is she?" Kenkenes implored.
"Naught but a bit of gossip that came to mine ears, last night, and the sight of Masaarah urged me to tell it again. It is said the Hebrews of these quarries rose against the new driver and drove him out of the camp, crying, 'Return us our Atsu, return us our Atsu." "What folly!" Masanath exclaimed. "If they had been the host which crowds Goshen to her bounds, it might serve.
"The sedition of the renegade, Mesu, bears early fruit!" But the spirit of rebellion became contagious and the men of Israel began to throw themselves out of line. At this moment, Atsu seemed to become conscious of the riot and drove his horses between the combatants. "Into ranks with you!" he commanded, pressing forward upon the Hebrews. The men obeyed sullenly.
Atsu, who still sat under the unextinguished reed light, greeted the new-comer with an exclamation of concern. The man was covered with dust, his dress was torn and bloody, his right hand swathed in cloths, and his lip, right cheek and eye were swollen and discolored. "By Horus, friend, thou lookest ill-used," the taskmaster exclaimed. "What has befallen thee?"
"The Lord God bless him," the girl murmured earnestly. "Where dost thou say we go?" she asked after a little silence. "To the quarries of Masaarah, opposite Memphis." The color in the young Israelite's face receded a little. "To the quarries," she repeated in a half-whisper. "Fearest thou?" "Nay, not for myself, at all, but we may not have another Atsu over us there. I fear for thee, Deborah."
"Good Atsu, he whom we seek is a friend to the maiden. He is much beloved by me by us. Whomsoever he befriendeth we shall befriend. Wilt thou tell us when and from whom the maiden fled?" Atsu had become willing by this time. This amiable young noble might be able to lift the suspense that burdened his unhappy heart.
She slipped past her guardian, out of the tent and sped up the valley, determined that Deborah's prohibition, however just, should not stay her. The old Israelite turned to look after her, and her eyes fell on Atsu, his face black with rage, his arms folded, talking with a fat, wildly gesticulating servitor.
The commander, one Atsu by name, appointed when the chief Merenra became nomarch over Bubastis, hath disarmed the under-drivers, removed the women from toil and restored many privileges which are ruinous to law and order. The whole Delta is in commotion.
It was this incident that had made Kenkenes late at the festivities, and cynical when he came. On her way back to the camp Rachel met Atsu, mounted and attended by a scribe, the taskmaster's secretary. The two officials were on their way to Memphis to worship in the great temple and to spend a night among free-born men. Once every month, no oftener, did Atsu return to his own rank in the city.
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