fled downstairs to ask his father if Azariah would call for him at the
head of a caravan, whether he would ride on a camel or a mule or a
horse: he thought he would like to ride a camel, and awoke many times in
the night, once rolling out of his bed, for in a dream the ungainly
animal had jolted him from off his hump.

And the old woman's patience was nigh exhausted when he cried: Granny,
it is day, and bade her leave her bed and come to the window to tell him
if day were not breaking; but she answered: get thee back to thy bed,
for 'tis the moon shining down the sky, simpleton. The sun won't give
way an hour to the moon nor the moon an hour to the sun because thou'rt
going to Arimathea. And methinks, Joseph, that to some the morrow is
always better than to-day, and yesterday better than either,--a remark
that puzzled Joseph and kept him from his rest. Didst never hear,
Joseph, that it is a clever chicken that crows in the egg? the old woman
continued, and who knows but Azariah will forget to come for thee! He
won't forget, Granny, Joseph uttered in so doleful a tone that Rachel
repented and promised Joseph she would wake him in time; and as she had
never failed to keep her promise to him he allowed sleep to close his
eyelids. And once asleep he was hard to awaken. At six in the morning
sleep seemed to him better than Arimathea, but once awake Rachel could
not hand him his clothes fast enough; he escaped from her hands,
dressing himself as he ran into the lanes, and while tying his sandals
at the gate he forgot them and stood at gaze, wondering whether Azariah
would come to fetch him on a horse or an ass or a mule or a camel.

At last the sound of hooves came through the dusk, and a moment after
some three or four camels led the way; and there were horses too and
asses and mules, and the mules were caparisoned gaily, the one reserved
for Joseph's riding more richly than the others--a tall fine animal by