ays and three nights cometh the day of departure._

_Yet hearken to me since thou fearest the foe in the dark:
I will make with thee a new covenant of everlasting hospitality:
Behold I will come unto thee as a stranger and be thy guest._

_Poor and needy will I come that thou mayest entertain me:
Meek and lowly will I come that thou mayest find a friend:
With mercy and with truth will I come to give thee comfort._

_Therefore open the door of thy heart and bid me welcome:
In this tent of the world I will be thy brother of the bread:
And when thou farest forth I will be thy companion forever._

_Then my soul rested in the word of the Lord:
And I saw that the curtains of the world were shaken,
But I looked beyond them to the eternal camp-fires of my friend._

XII

THE ROAD TO DAMASCUS

I

THROUGH THE LAND OF THE DRUSES

You may go to Damascus now by rail, if you like, and have a choice
between two rival routes, one under government ownership, the other
built and managed by a corporation. But to us encamped among the silvery
olives at Baniyas, beside the springs of Jordan, it seemed a happy
circumstance that both railways were so far away that it would have
taken longer to reach them than to ride our horses straight into the
city. We were delivered from the modern folly of trying to save time by
travelling in a conveyance more speedy than picturesque, and left free
to pursue our journey in a leisurely, independent fashion and by the
road that would give us most pleasure. So we chose the longer way, the
northern path around Mount Hermon, through the country of the Druses,
instead of the more frequented road to the east by Kafr Hawar.

How delightful is the morning of such a journey! The fresh face of the
world bathed in sparkling dew; the greetings from tent to tent as we
four friends make our rendezvous from the far countries of sleep; the
relish of breakfast in the open air; the stir of the camp in preparation
for a flitting; canvas sinking to the ground, bales and boxes heaped
together, mule-bells tinkling through the grove, horses refreshed by
their long rest whinnying and nipping at each other in play--all these
are charming variations and accompaniments to the old tune of "Boots and
Saddles."

The immediate effect of such a setting out for a day's ride is to renew
in the heart those "vital feelings of delight" which make one simply and
inexpl