r away, the cavern wider, and the motion freer.

Sigbert helped his young lady to stand upright, and one by one all
the train regained their feet. The lamp was passed along to be
rekindled, speech was permitted, crevices above sometimes admitted
air, sometimes dripped with water. The worst was over--probably the
first part had been excavated, the farther portion was one of the
many natural 'dens and caves of the earth,' in which Palestine
abounds. There was still a considerable distance to be traversed,
the lamps burnt out, and had to be succeeded by torches carefully
husbanded, for the way was rough and rocky, and a stumble might end
in a fall into an abyss. In time, however, openings of side
galleries were seen, niches in the wall, and tokens that the outer
portion of the cavern had been once a burial-place of the ancient
Israelites--'the dog Jews,' as the Crusaders called them, with a
shudder of loathing and contempt.

And joy infinite--clear daylight and a waving tree were perceptible
beyond. It was daylight, was it? but the sun was low. Five hours
at least had been spent in that dismal transit, before the
exhausted, soiled, and chilled company stepped forth into a green
thicket with the Jordan rushing far below. Five weeks' siege in a
narrow fortress, then the two miles of subterranean struggle--these
might well make the grass beneath the wild sycamore, the cork-tree,
the long reeds, the willows, above all, the sound of the flowing
water, absolute ecstasy. There was an instant rush for the river,
impeded by many a thorn-bush and creeper; but almost anything green
was welcome at the moment, and the only disappointment was at the
height and steepness of the banks of rock. However, at last one
happy man found a place where it was possible to climb down to the
shingly bed of the river, close to a great mass of the branching
headed papyrus reed. Into the muddy but eminently sweet water most
of them waded; helmets became cups, hands scooped up the water,
there were gasps of joy and refreshment and blessing on the cool
wave so long needed.

Sigbert and Walter between them helped down Mabel and her nurse, and
found a secure spot for them, where weary faces, feet, and hands
might be laved in the pool beneath a rock.

Then, taking up a bow and arrows laid down by one of the men,
Sigbert applied himself to the endeavour to shoot some of the water-
fowl which were flying wildly about over the reeds in the unwont