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principal bait, as it is the habit of most wild beasts to eat 

 small morsels before settling down to heavy work. 



This disgusting business of preparing the lure was just 

 finished, and we were arranging the loopholes in the ambus- 

 cade, when an Arab with a long gun came up and offered his 

 services. He insisted upon sharing the night-watch with 

 us, gave us much good advice, related all his successes in 

 hysena-shooting, and could hardly be made to hold his 

 tongue. 



As it was not nearly time to watch we decided to return 

 and to take the precaution of bringing the Arab with us, as 

 we were afraid that if we sent him about his business he might 

 spoil our sport out of revenge, for Ferdinand knew him to be 

 a bad untrustworthy fellow who lived by shooting partridges, 

 and who roamed about the neighbourhood of Bethlehem in a 

 vagabond sort of way. His cunning treacherous-looking face 

 confirmed this account, so I determined to make him harmless 

 for the night. 



I left young Hodek to look after the ambush and to watch 

 until we came back. The sun was just setting, and gilding 

 with its magic light the stony hills, the castle of Tantur, the 

 picturesque town of Bethlehem, and the heights of the Jordan 

 valley, while the lofty barren steeps of the beautiful moun- 

 tains beyond the Dead Sea were glowing in a way that 

 reminded me of our Alps; there were only a few thin 

 fleecy clouds in the sky, and a cool breeze swept across the 

 plateau. 



The air of the country round Jerusalem and of the hills 

 between Bethlehem and the sea cannot be compared to the 

 mild and delightfully equable temperature of Egypt. Eaw 

 winds here remind one of the high elevation of this barren 

 plateau, and snowfalls in March are not of rare occurrence 

 near the Holy City; but at Bethlehem, only a few miles east- 

 ward of this place, the climate and the flora change, and the 



