many hundred feet. But the asses don't fear precipices, and if ours are
unwilling to descend the hillside it is because the paths do not seem
likely to lead to a stable; so would I account for their obstinacy. I'll
not ride down so steep a descent, and Joseph slipped from his ass's
back; and, rid of his load, the ass tried to escape, but Jesus managed
to turn him back to Joseph, who seized the bridle. Dismount, Jesus, he
cried, for the path is narrow, and to please him Jesus dismounted, and,
driving their animals in front of them, they ventured on to a sort of
ledge.

It passed under rocks and between rocks to the very brink of the
precipice as it descended towards the bridge that spanned the brook some
hundreds of feet lower down. Already our asses scent a stable, Jesus
said; he called after them to stop, and the obedient animals stopped and
began to seek among the stones for a tuft of grass or a bramble. I see
no place here for a hermitage, Joseph said, only roosts for choughs and
crows. There have been hermits here always, Jesus answered. We shall
pass the ruins of ancient hermitages farther down on this side above the
bridge. The bridge was built by hermits who came from India, Jesus said.
And was destroyed, Joseph interjected, by the Romans, so that they might
capture the robbers that infested the caves. But the Essenes must have
repaired the bridge lately, Jesus replied, and he asked Joseph how long
the Essenes had been at the Brook Kerith. My camel-driver did not say,
Joseph answered, and Jesus pointed to the ledge that the Essenes must
have chosen for a dwelling: it cannot be else, he said; there is no
other ledge large enough to build upon in the ravine; and behind the
ledge thou seest up yonder is the large cave whither the ravens came to
feed Elijah. If the brethren are anywhere they are on that ledge, in
that cave, and he asked Joseph if his eyes could not follow the building
of a balcony: thine eyes cannot fail to see it, for it is plain to mine.
Joseph said he thought he could discern the balcony. But how do we reach
it? We aren't angels, he said. We shall ascend, Jesus answered, by a
path going back and forth, through many terraces. Lead on, Joseph
answered. But stay, let us admire the bridge they have built and the
pepper-trees that border it. I am glad the Romans spared the trees, for
men that live in this solitude deserve the beauty of these pepper-trees.
Jesus said: yonder is the path leading to the so