I came to the “Ladder of Tyre,” a steep hill, which I climbed with many bruises. Beyond, range after range of rock-covered hills stretched out from the top of the ladder. Half climbing, half sliding, I went down the southern slope, and struggled on across a trackless country in a never-ceasing downpour.
Night came on. The sun was settling to his bath in the Mediterranean. Across the throbbing sea, stretched a wavering ribbon of orange and red. Away to the eastward, in the valleys of the Lebanon, darkness already lay. Here and there on the rugged peaks, a tree, swaying in a swift breeze, stood out against the evening sky. Near by a lonely shepherd guarded a flock of fat-tailed sheep. Beyond him lay a sea of darkness. The level plain soon changed to row after row of low sand-hills, unmarked by a single footprint, over which my path rose and fell with the regularity of a tossing ship.
The last glint of the blazing sun sank beneath the waves, leaving an unbroken plain of black water. The swaying trees became dim; the very peaks blended into the darkening sky of evening. It became difficult to see where the hills ended and the trough began.
I stumbled half way up every slope. The shifting sands made walking difficult. On the summit of the ridges sounded the low moaning of the wind, rising and falling like far-off sobbing. It was easy to imagine the surrounding blackness peopled with murderous nomads. Somewhere among these never-ending ridges the “staked faranchee” had been done to death.
Mile after mile the way led on. My path rose and fell so frequently that it seemed like crossing the same sandy billow over and over. The rain had ceased, but not a star broke through the darkened sky, and only the hoarse boom of the sea guided my steps.
Once, when coming down a ridge with my feet raised high at each step in expectation of another hill in front of me, I plunged into a hole in which I sank almost to my knees in the mire. From force of habit I plowed on. The booming of the waves grew louder, and the wind from off the sea blew stronger and more chilling. Suddenly there sounded at my feet the rush of water. I moved forward cautiously, and felt the edge of what seemed to be a broad river pouring seaward. I could not cross it on a black night. I drew back from the brink, and, finding a spot that seemed solid enough, threw myself down.
But I sank, inch by inch, into the wet earth. Fearful of being buried before morning, I rose and wandered toward the sea, stumbling over a heap of cobblestones probably piled there by peasants. I built a bed of stones on the side of the pile sheltered from the wind, tucked my camera in a hole among them, and, pulling my coat over my head, lay down. A patter of rain sounded on the coat; then another, and another, faster and faster; and in less than a minute there began a downpour that lasted all night.
The heap of stones gave small protection against the piercing wind. My bed was short and like a half-circle in shape, so that I had to lie motionless on my right side, in order to protect my camera and films beneath. The rain quickly soaked through my clothing and ran in streams along my skin. The wind turned colder and whistled through the chinks of the pile. Through it all the sea boomed constantly, and in the surrounding marshes unwearying frogs croaked a dismal chorus.
I was certainly awake at the first gleam of day. The new year was peering over the Lebanon when I rose to my feet. My left leg, though creaking like rusty armor, held me up all right; but I had no sooner shifted my weight to my right than it gave way like a thing of straw and let me down suddenly into the mud. After rubbing it for some time I recovered the use of the limb: but even then an attempt to walk in a straight line sent me round in a circle from left to right.
Daylight showed the river to be lined with quicksands. Some distance up the stream I managed to cross without sinking below my arm-pits. Far off to the southeast lay a small forest. Thinking that a village might be hidden in its shade, I pushed eagerly forward through a sea of mud.