and I were her own children. She often told me curious stories of our childhood, fictions of her imagination. This delusion, however, made her happy, and caused her to be a most devoted servant to us.
On the 14th of September I was roused before sunrise by the tinkling sounds of mule bells, which reminded me that our journey was planned for that day. All was bustle and animation at the camp. Groups of Arab servants were seated among the rocks. Bags and baggage were strewed around. Tents and tent poles were being removed and packed, and mules and muleteers stood waiting for orders. Mr. Finn was about to make a tour with his niece and a friend, and had arranged to travel with us as far as Yâfa.
After a great many delays, all the attendants were in readiness by eleven o'clock; but it happened that my brother, who had gone into Jerusalem early on business, was detained, and consequently kept a prisoner there, for it was Friday, the Moslem Sabbath, and the city gates are always closed on that day during the hours of morning prayer, and we knew, therefore, that he could not on any consideration be released till noon. ( This custom is rigidly observed, owing to a prophecy which declares that the Holy City will be invaded and conquered at Sabbath prayer time.) So the Consul with his party started, leaving us to overtake him at Yâfa; and I spent one more evening with Mrs. Finn and the little ones at the Talibîyeh. We had nothing to detain us the next day, and at half-past three I rose by lantern and starlight, gathered a branch from the olive-tree above the tent which had been my resting-place for ten weeks, breakfasted with Mrs. Finn, and rode away, well mounted, just as the first gleams of light appeared in the eastern sky.
A Moslem kawass led the way, and my soi-disant mother, Katrîne, a Latin Christian, closely vailed and wrapped in a red Arab clock, sat, à la cavalier, on the broad pack saddle of a nimble little donkey, and two laden mules, in the care of a muleteer, followed. Although our attendants
