ent and hid it; and they came back,
and entered into another tent, and {154} carried thence also, and went
and hid it. Then they said one to another, "We do not well: this day is
a day of good tidings, and we hold our peace: if we tarry till the
morning light, punishment will overtake us: now therefore come, let us
go and tell the king's household."

So they came and called unto the porter of the city: and they told them,
saying, "We came to the camp of the Syrians, and, behold, there was no
man there, neither voice of man, but the horses tied, and the asses
tied, and the tents as they were."

And he called the porters; and they told it to the king's household
within. And the king arose in the night, and said to his servants, "I
will now show you what the Syrians have done to us. They know that we
are hungry; therefore are they gone out of the camp to hide themselves
in the field, saying, 'When they come out of the city, we shall take
them alive, and get into the city.'"

And one of his servants answered and said, "Let some take, I pray thee,
five of the horses that remain, which are left in the city, and let us
send and see."

They took therefore two chariots with horses; and the king sent after
the host of the Syrians, saying, "Go and see."

And they went after them as far as Jordan: and, lo, all the way was full
of garments and vessels, which the Syrians had cast away in their haste.
And the messengers returned, and told the king.

{155}{156}

[Illustration]
RUINS OF SAMARIA

Samaria was splendidly situated to resist assault. On a hill 300 to
400 feet above the broad fertile valley, its battlements were beyond
bowshot of archers who might be stationed on near-by hills, and on no
side could catapults or towers be advanced. But the best situated
fortress may be starved out, and Samaria was in terrible distress when
one of those blind, unreasoning panics fell upon Ben-hadad's army, and
it fled away in the night with the city almost in its power.
[End illustration]

{157}

And the people went out, and plundered the camp of the Syrians. So a
measure of fine flour was sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley
for a shekel, according to the word of the Lord. And the king appointed
the captain on whose hand he leaned to have the charge of the gate: and
the people trampled upon him in the gate, and he died as the man of God
had said, who spoke when the king came down to him. And it came to