made.
Pasture-land in abundance was to be had; hence the majority of the
new-comers would be speedily and comfortably provided with new homes.
Amzi would take up his abode in some comfortable town-house not far
distant, and Yusuf would remain with him for the present.

Mary and Sherah were friends at once, and ere evening fell, they sat, as
girls will, in a cozy nook by the river-side forming plans for walks and
talks during the long, bright, summer days.

Every cloud had drifted, for the time being, from the happy company;
and, ere they retired to rest, all united with fervor in the words of
the grand song:

"Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: who
forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; who
redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with loving
kindness and tender mercies; who satisfieth thy mouth with good things;
so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle's. The Lord executeth
righteousness and judgment for all that are oppressed.... Bless the
Lord, all his works, in all places of his dominion! Bless the Lord, O my
soul!"

And later in that same evening, another group came to Nathan's house.
The door was closed, for the evening was chill without. A knock was
heard. Mary opened the door, and there was Manasseh himself, radiantly
happy; and close behind him was another Manasseh with Bedouin eyes.

Mother, sister, and father pressed round the youth until he could
scarcely move.

"There, there!" he said, shaking them off playfully, "my cousin Kedar
will be jealous. Mother, this is Lois' son, and there is someone in the
darkness here still."

The youth went out. Who was this that he assisted from the shugduf?--the
living image of Lois in her girlhood days! Not Lois, but her daughter, a
Bedouin maid, fresh as the breeze from her native hills. And can this be
Lois--this sad-faced yet stately woman? It is, indeed, and the
long-separated sisters are once more united. Kedar's brothers are there
too, and one more family is added to the little community.

CHAPTER XXXII.

A WEDDING IN PALESTINE.

"God, the best maker of all marriages."--_Shakespeare._

For a moment let us look more closely at the little district where the
Jewish band found a home after all their wanderings.

They settled at a point where the Jordan River, that strange river
flowing for its entire length through a depression one thousand feet
below the level of the sea, is cut