he buoyancy of objects cast into it. The
saltness of the fluid he was moreover painfully conscious of by the
smarting of the places on his wrists and ankles where the cords had been
bound that fastened him to the camel. Goaded, however, by the laughter
of the Arabs, he determined once more to try the experiment of entering
this strange sheet of water, which from some unaccountable cause
appeared to him to refuse to allow anybody to sink in it. This time he
swam about for some time, and felt a little refreshed. When he returned
to the shore he soon re-attired himself in his Bedouin dress, and seated
himself a little distance from his captors, who were now engaged in
discussing the materials prepared by themselves. They made signs to
Cuthbert that he might partake of their leavings, for which he was not a
little grateful, for he felt utterly exhausted and worn out with his
cruel ride and prolonged fasting.

The Arabs soon wrapped themselves in their burnouses, and feeling
confident that their captive would not attempt to escape from them in a
place where subsistence would be impossible, paid no further attention
to him beyond motioning to him to lie down at their side.

Cuthbert, however, determined to make another effort to escape; for
although he was utterly ignorant of the place in which he found himself,
or of the way back, he thought that anything would be better than to be
carried into helpless slavery into the savage country beyond the Jordan.
An hour, therefore, after his captors were asleep he stole to his feet,
and fearing to arouse them by exciting the wrath of one of the camels by
attempting to mount him, he struck up into the hills on foot. All night
he wandered, and in the morning found himself at the edge of a strange
precipice falling abruptly down to a river, which, some fifty feet wide,
ran at its foot. Upon the opposite side the bank rose with equal
rapidity, and to Cuthbert's astonishment he saw that the cliffs were
honeycombed by caves.

Keeping along the edge for a considerable distance, he came to a spot
where it was passable, and made his way down to the river bank. Here he
indulged in a long drink of fresh water, and then began to examine the
caves which perforated the rocks. These caves Cuthbert knew had formerly
been the abode of hermits. It was supposed to be an essentially sacred
locality, and between the third and fourth centuries of Christianity
some twenty thousand monks had lived solitar