e "watch-tower of Gilead." I seem
to see the Spirit of Prophecy standing on its broken battlements,
wrapped in the shadows of the night, looking hopefully toward the place
of sun-rising. I call to him, "Watchman, what of the night?" In sweet
tones of assurance comes the answer, "The morning cometh! The story of
the Christ will yet transform the darkness that rests here into the
brightness of noonday." Then a sweet peace seemed wafted into my soul
from out the unseen somewhere,--but certainly from Him who "giveth his
beloved sleep."

"Down to the Jordan"

CHAPTER VII.

It was early on the following morning when our horses were led around
to the door of the mission-house, but notwithstanding the early hour a
dozen or more of the natives were standing in line to receive medical
attention from the missionary. A few were there who seemed to have come
to witness our departure. Our guide, promised the night before, was on
hand, mounted, ready to lead the way over what proved to be by far the
roughest part of my trip. For that day my party consisted of four
persons. Our new leader, whose name I did not learn, was a man of about
fifty years, and was a genuine Arab in appearance and dress. But he
wore nothing on his feet--not even sandals. I felt better satisfied,
knowing that he would lead the way on that day, for my dragoman was not
familiar with that part of Gilead. However, when toward the middle of
the afternoon we descended into the Jordan Valley, he was quite at home
again.

Single file we proceed from Coefrinje along a narrow path with the
bushes and briars brushing the sides of our horses and wetting us with
dew. It is not long until we begin to ascend a high ridge. Here there
are no paths whatever, and at times our horses can scarcely move on
because of the steepness of the ascent. But a few minutes before nine
o'clock, after a toilsome struggle, we reach the summit of the ridge,
and here I get my first panoramic view of the west-Jordan country. It
is entrancingly beautiful.

When we had reined up our horses I said to my dragoman, "Tell our
attendants to be still until I have finished speaking; I want to
explain the scene before us." And then while he listened, and looked as
I directed, I said: "That towering height far to the north is Mount
Hermon; the sheet of water some miles on this side is the Sea of
Galilee; to the west of the Sea of Galilee is Hattin, the Mount of
Beatitudes; that white spot southw