at I was
the only Christian in the whole district was one that I cannot well
describe."

As Forder passed a group of Arabs he heard them muttering to one
another, "_Nisraney_[69]--one of the cursed ones--the enemy of Allah!"
He remembered that he had been warned that the Arabs of Kaf were
fierce, bigoted Moslems who would slay a Christian at sight. But he
put on a brave front and went to the Chief's house. There he sat down
with the men on the ground and began to eat with them from a great
iron pot a hot, slimy, greasy savoury, and then sipped coffee with
them.

"Why have you come here?" they asked him.

"My desire is," he replied, "to pass on to the Jowf."

Now the Jowf is the largest town in the Syrian desert--the most
important in all Northern Arabia. From there camel caravans go north,
south, east, and west. Forder could see how his Arabic New Testaments
would be carried from that city to all the camel tracks of Arabia.

"The Jowf is eleven days' camel ride away there," they said, pointing
to the south-east.

[Illustration: FORDER'S JOURNEY TO THE JOWF.]

"Go back to Orman," said the Chief, whose name was Mohammed-el-Bady,
"it is at your peril that you go forward."

He sent a servant to bring in the headman of his caravan. "This
_Nisraney_ wishes to go with the caravan to the Jowf," said the Chief.
"What do you think of it?"

"If I took a Christian to the Jowf," replied the caravan leader, "I am
afraid Johar the Chief there would kill me for doing such a thing. I
cannot do it."

"Yes," another said, turning to Forder, "if you ever want to see the
Jowf you must turn Moslem, as no Christian would be allowed to live
there many days."

"Well," said the Chief, closing the discussion, "I will see more about
this to-morrow."

As the men sat smoking round the fire Forder pulled a book out from
his pouch. They watched him curiously.

"Can any of you read?" he asked. There were a number who could; so
Forder opened the book--which was an Arabic New Testament--at St.
John's Gospel, Chapter III.

"Will you read?" he asked.

So the Arab read in his own language this chapter. As we read the
chapter through ourselves it is interesting to wonder which of the
verses would be most easily understood by the Arabs. When the Arab who
was reading came to the words:

"God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that
whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting
life," Forder talk