begins at once to
prepare a light lunch for us. On a brazier that he finds here he makes
a little charcoal fire and quickly brews some of the tea brought from
Damascus; into this he squeezes lemon juice; then finding some bread
that he had stowed away in his saddle-bags, our lunch is ready. I sit
on the floor as comfortable as I can make myself while he is getting
supper. The flickering light, the shifting shadows, the strange ones
lying asleep, the almost as strange dusky helpers, the sense of dangers
just escaped, the whining, wailing, barking dogs, my physical pain--all
these things beget within me a strange feeling of loneliness and a
longing for home. Again and again I ask myself the question, "Why did
you undertake this; why were you not content to go down from Damascus
to Galilee and all of West Palestine by the easy way?" But, again and
again I say to myself: "You would never have been satisfied had you
done so; this is part of the price to be paid for what you wanted;
consider what you get in exchange, value received."

But my reverie is cut short by a groan from my dragoman; he sank back
trembling and said, "Call Haleel!" Together we worked with him for a
half-hour or more until a chill, the result of drinking too much water
on reaching the village, had been overcome. I was much alarmed at the
possible outcome of his sudden illness, for had he left me thus the
situation for me would have been one of extreme perplexity. In my
anxiety for him I forgot for the moment my own condition. But now I am
again a conscious sufferer. So tired am I that I can scarcely wait
until I have sipped a little tea and eaten a little bread before I have
removed hat and shoes and am stretched out upon the floor to sleep. The
horses seem restless in their stamping; the dogs keep up their barking;
the room is dark; I hear the heavy breathing of those about me; a lone
star peeps in through the small window; and I try to compose myself for
the rest that I so much need. "Is there no balm in Gilead?" Yes. I
thought that I was lying down to a night of restlessness and fever, but
never on couch of down has my rest been sweeter.

I am awakened at dawn by some one moving about in the room, and I see a
man pick up a gun and pass quickly out. The dogs are barking savagely
throughout the village. Then I look about me. Imagine my surprise when
I discover that I have had five bed-fellows, or rather FLOOR-FELLOWS!
There we lay stretched out in all