noon
`` Farewell , '' he said as he went , and added no more , for his composure failed him . `` The grace of the Lord God attend thee , '' she whispered . `` Farewell . '' All the morning the work went on , and when the Egyptian mid-winter noon lay warm on the flat country , three hundred Israelites were ready for the long march to the Nile . They left behind them a camp oppressed with that heart-soreness , which affliction added to old afflictions brings , -- the numb ache of sorrow , not its lively pain . Only Deborah , the childless , and Rachel , the motherless , went with lighter hearts , -- if hearts can be light that go forward to meet the unknown fortunes of bond-people . As they moved out , one of the older Hebrews in the forward ranks began to sing , in a wild recitative chant , of Canaan and the freedom of Israel .