"What a night we had in our camp! The rain ceased about sunset, but during the night it came on again, and fell as though a thunder-cloud had burst above us. It poured and poured, and not only did it rain, but the wind blew like a gale at sea. Fred and I remembered what we had said at Bethlehem the first night we slept in the tents. We concluded we were going to have all the storm we wanted, and more than once wished ourselves safely lodged in a solid house.
"The ground was soaked with water, and became so soft that it would not hold our tent-pegs against the wind. The rain came in through the canvas, the pegs gave way, and about midnight down came the cold and sloppy cloth in our faces.
"We shouted for help, and the dragoman came with his men and managed to fix things up a little, but it was slow and disagreeable work with the heavy rain falling, and the night as black as the inside of an ink-bottle. They had one miserable lantern that did little more than enable us to see the darkness, and by the time they had the tent arranged so that we could crawl under it we were wet nearly to the skin.
"We tried to laugh it off, but 'twas no use trying. We couldn't either of us see the fun of it, and couldn't get to sleep again. There we lay till morning wondering what would happen next.
"The Doctor's tent went down like ours, but he had a thick water-proof coat and a large wrapper of the same material, so that he was not so badly off as we were. He didn't escape, though, nor did any of the others, and when daylight came we all looked as if the best thing would be to wring us out and hang us up to dry. We were a sorry looking breakfast-party, but pulled ourselves together and managed to eat something. Fortunately the rain stopped, but there came a new trouble.
"When we went into camp there was a little brook close by us which we were to cross in the morning. The heavy rain swelled this brook into a small torrent that was absolutely dangerous to ford, as one might easily be swept down with the current and drowned.
"So we went up the bank about a mile, and while the horses were driven through the water our party walked over an old aqueduct which wasn't the safest bridge in the world, but a great deal better than no bridge at all. The channel of the aqueduct was about a foot wide, and the sides eighteen or twenty inches high; the whole structure was at least fifty feet above the torrent that dashed below us like the rapids of Niagara. We walked very carefully, as the least misstep might have sent us tumbling over the side, with an excellent prospect of being killed by the fall or drowned in the roaring water. It is hardly necessary to say we were all heartily glad to be on the safe side of the stream.
"We had a ride of five hours from this bridge to the gates of Jerusalem, and such a five hours we do not care to have again.
"Before the end of the first hour it came on to rain, and by the middle of the second hour the rain had changed to snow. And with the rain and snow there was a high wind, and as we wound among the hills we had it in all directions, now in our faces, and a few minutes later blowing at our backs.