phed. The glad news
reached his home; and out from his house rushed his daughter, his only
child, with timbrels and with dances, to meet her hero-father, not
knowing the nature of his vow made on the eve of the battle. Her
presence caused the brave warrior to tremble with horror and rend his
clothes when he remembered his vow. The daughter was dismayed--instead
of a smile of joy from her father she read her doom in his blanched and
contorted face. And somewhere on these hills round about the voice of
wailing arose for two months from many maidens because Jephthah must
fulfill his rash vow by sacrificing his only child. But he did unto her
according to his word; and annually thereafter for a period of four
days these hills resounded with the voice of weeping--the weeping of
the maidens of Mizpah over the sad fate of Jephthah's daughter. (Judges
11.)

Farther on we ascend a high ridge and then begin our descent into the
southern branch of the wady of Ajlun. After winding about for some time
among the rocks and brush in the dry bed of this wady we finally halt
at Ain Jenneh, a good, strong fountain issuing from under a great rock.
We are yet in the upper reaches of the wady and near the present
village of Ajlun. Here we lunch and rest an hour.

Some authorities identify this region as the place where was the "wood
of Ephraim." That being true, it is the place where Absalom lost his
life. Certain it is, even to-day, that to leave the little path that we
are following would mean to become hopelessly entangled in jungles of
prickly oak and other growth. Even in the path it is with difficulty
that I keep my garments from being torn from me.

If this be the location of the "wood of Ephraim," then here the forces
of Absalom under Amasa and the armies of David under Joab fought in
those trying days of David's exile. Only a few miles away, at Mahanaim,
David sent out his men, commanding that they touch not the young man.
Then he waited for the news of the conflict. In the thickets of Gilead
the first "battle of the wilderness" was fought. It was a decisive
engagement. Joab's veterans of many wars were too strong for the
rebel's army. Absalom sought safety in flight, but in trying to ride
hurriedly through the wild tangle his head caught in the branches of a
great oak, and before he could extricate himself, Joab had found him
and thrust him through the heart; then Joab's ten armor-bearers
encompassed the unfortunate victim and f