ooked bread falls on to it.

So Forder climbed up the mountain track till he came out on the high
plain. He saw the desert in front of him--like a vast rolling ocean of
glowing gold it stretched away and away for close on a thousand miles
eastward to the Persian Gulf. Forder knew that only here and there in
all those blazing, sandy wastes were oases where men could build their
houses round some well or little stream that soon lost itself in the
sand. All the rest was desert across which man and beast must hurry
or die of thirst. He must follow the camel-tracks from oasis to oasis,
where they could find a well of water, therefore drink for man and
camel, and date-palms.

So turning north he pressed on[67] till on the sixth day out from
Jerusalem the clouds came up with the dawn, and hail and rain, carried
by a biting east wind, beat down upon him. Lifting his eyes to the
horizon he saw ahead the sturdy castle and thick walls of the ancient
city of Bosra. Stumbling through the storm, along the narrow winding
streets, he met, to his disgust, a man whose dress showed that he was
a Turkish Government official. He knew that the Turkish Government
would be against a Christian and a foreigner going into their land.

"Who are you?" asked the official, stopping him. "Where are you from?
Where are you going?"

Forder told him, and the man said. "Come with me. I will find you and
your horses shelter at the Governor's house." Forder followed him into
a large room in the middle of which on the floor a fire was burning.

"I must examine all your cases," said the official. "Get up. Open your
boxes."

"Never," said Forder. "This is not a custom-house."

"Your boxes are full of powder for arming the Arabs against the
Turkish Government," replied the official.

"I will not open them," said Forder, "unless you bring me written
orders from the Turkish Governor in Damascus and from the British
Consul."

Off went the official to consult the headman (the equivalent of the
Mayor) of the city. The headman came and asked many questions. At last
he said:

"Well, my orders are to turn back all Europeans and not to let any
stay in these parts. However, as you seem to be almost an Arab, may
God go with you and give you peace."

So Forder and the headman of the ancient city of Bosra got talking
together. Forder opened his satchel and drew out an Arabic New
Testament, and together they read parts of the story of the life of
Jesus Christ