asleep, he rises, mounts a mule or donkey, and, with a few faithful
followers, steals out to explore for himself the extent of the ruin, to
see how things really were, what was the state of the walls, and how
much had to be done to put them into good repair.

Stealing out of the city on the south side, at the spot on which in
better days the Valley Gate had stood, a gate which was so called
because it opened into the Valley of Hinnom, he turned into the ravine,
and went eastward. No doubt there was a moon, and by its quiet light he
could see the heaps of rubbish, and the work of the fire which had
destroyed the gates 150 years ago. How sad and forsaken it all looked in
the moonlight, as he turned '_towards_ the Dragon's well' (see
Revised Version). The site of this Dragon's Well is very uncertain, but
it is generally identified with Upper Gihon. It is sometimes confounded
with the Virgin's Fount, called by the Arabs the Mother of Steps, because
there are twenty-seven steps leading down to it, and the descent is very
steep. This is the only spring near Jerusalem, and its water is carried
by an underground passage to the Pool of Siloam. It is an intermittent
spring, suddenly rising and as suddenly falling, at irregular intervals.
Two explorers, Dr. Robinson and Mr. Smith, were just about to measure
the water, when they found it suddenly rising; in less than five minutes
it had risen a foot, in ten minutes more it had ceased to flow, and had
sunk to its former level.

The common people believed in olden time, and believe still, that a
dragon lies within the fountain, concealed from view; that when he is
awake he stops the water from flowing, but that he finds it impossible
to keep awake always, and when he falls asleep the water flows.

How eagerly those with Nehemiah would point out each object to him! We
can picture Hanani walking by his side, showing him all the different
objects, to himself so familiar, to Nehemiah so well known by name, but
so strange by sight.

Coming down the Valley of Hinnom they reach the Dung Gate, the gate
outside which lay piles of rubbish and offal, swept out of the city, and
all collected together by this gate and left to rot in the valley.

Here he examines in the moonlight the masses of fallen stonework, the
small portions of wall still standing, and the gap where the gate used
to stand before it was burnt.

Then on he went until he came to the Gate of the Fountain, opposite the
King