ent a group of men were waiting, as if for
travellers. His best chance was to consider them as harmless passengers,
so he rode on, and the beggars--for they were no more--held up maimed
leprous limbs to excite his pity.

He was now within two miles of Jericho, and he rode across the sandy
plain, thinking of the Essenes and the cenoby on the other side of
Jordan. He rode in full meditation, and it was not till he was nigh the
town of Jericho that he attempted to think by which ford he should cross
Jordan: whether by ferry, in which case he must leave his mule in
Jericho; or by a ford higher up the stream, if there was a ford
practicable at this season; which is doubtful, he said to himself, as he
came within view of the swollen river. And he hearkened to one who
declared the river to be dangerous to man and beast: but another told
him differently, and being eager to reach the cenoby he determined to
test the ford.

If the water proved too strong he would return to Jericho, but the mule
plunged forward, and at one moment it was as like as not that the flood
would carry them away into the lake beyond, but Joseph's weight enabled
the animal to keep on his hooves, and the water shallowing suddenly, the
mule reached the opposite bank. It was my weight that saved us, Joseph
said; and dismounting, he waited for the panting animal to recover
breath. We only just did it. The way to the cenoby? he called out to a
passenger along the bank, and was told he must hasten, for the Essenes
did not receive anybody after sunset: which may or may not be true, he
muttered, as he pursued his way, his eyes attracted and amused by the
long shadow that himself and his mule projected over the wintry earth.
He was tempted to tickle the animal's long ears with a view to altering
the silhouette, and then his thoughts ran on into the cenoby and what
might befall him yonder; for that must be it, he said, looking forward
and discovering a small village on the lower slopes of the hills, on the
ground shelving down towards the river.

His mule, scenting food and rest, began to trot, though very tired, and
half-an-hour afterwards Joseph rode into a collection of huts,
grouped--but without design--round a central building which he judged to
be an assembly hall whither the curators, of whom he had heard, met for
the transaction of the business of the community. And no doubt, he said,
it serves for a refectory, for the midday meal which gathers all the
br