Motion Picture Story Magazine (Feb-Jul 1911)

PBARAOB; OR, ISRAEL IX EGYPT. 17 geon, even unto the first born of Pharaoh, that sitteth upon his throne !" The silence which followed this fearful speech was broken by a shriek from the queen, who ran forward, flinging her arms about the prince and crying piteously to Pharaoh. "Oh, my king, heed this request. Release these children of Israel, lest our child die ! Our son, our onlv son !" She sank beside the child, weeping violently, and a clamor of voices arose in the hall. "The queen is right ! This man hath a fearful power. Trifle with him no more. Have we not suffered enough? Let his people depart out of our land \" Pharaoh's proud face, which had paled at the awful threat, flamed red with anger at these outspoken demands. Should his subjects dare to question his judgment? Should his kingdom lose wealth and prestige for a gray-haired Hebrew's threat? "Go/' thundered the king, "and take heed to thyself; get thee from me, see my face no more; for in the day that thou seest my face again, thou shalt die!" There was a long silence, while the Israelite's gleaming eyes scanned the king's angry visage; then they fell upon the sobbing mother, kneeling by the beautiful, dark-haired lad, and their gleam seemed to soften and grow regretful, melancholy; again they sought Pharaoh's defiant face, searching it eagerly, wistfully, for a trace of relenting. Then the tall form seemed to grow taller, straighter. "Thou hast spoken well," said the sad voice, firmly; "I will see thy face no more !" As the Israelite left the hall, the king turned to his terrified guests. "It is a crazy, idle threat," he declared, boldly. ' "How, think you, should this gray-bearded slave possi ss power over death and life ?" "But the plagues," murmured the people, "thev came to pass, even as he said." "They were not miracles," asserted Pharaoh, contemptuously. "Have not our own magicians apparently turned water into blood? Has not the sun's light been eclipsed before? Have wo not had famine and fever and flood many times ? Be not carried away by superstitious fears." But the people were but half reassured. Many a mother, hurrying home thru the pale dawn, knelt anxiously by a child's bedside. Many a father, lying down to sleep after the night's revel, was haunted by visions of the stately, white-b aired Israelite. And in the gorgeous, many-towered palace, surrounded by pomp and luxury, the queen mother dragged out the long hours in agonized weeping and terror. At nightfall the king summoned four trusted attendants. "Watch by the prince's bed," he commanded, "lest this crazed Israelite creep in to do him harm. Let none of you sleep nor relax your vigilance until the night is past." * * * * Thick darkness lay over RamesesTanis, wrapping temple and terrace, palace and hut, in a black, impenetrable pall. In the section of the city occupied by the captive Israelites a feast was in progress. Young lambs, killed and roasted according to specific directions given by Moses, were being eaten with solemn religious rites. Upon the door post of each Jewish house blood from these lambs had been sprinkled. Now Moses arose to address his people, who listened reverently. "Let none of you go out of his house until the morning, for with the morning shall come to us a message from Pharaoh, saying, 'Get you out of this land ; ye are a free people !' " A great shout of joy went up, as they asked, wonderinglv, yet with perfect trust in their leader, "How can this thing be?" The face of Moses was sad, yet triumphant. "This night," he continued, "shall Jehovah go thru the land of Egypt and smite all the firstborn, both of man and beasts. But the blood upon the door posts shall be a token to him,