WADY MOUSA. 203 



bear all to reach Wady Mousa and the Rock City before 

 he should die. 



" When the evening came on we were still six hours from 

 the valley of Petra. But it was agreed on all hands that 

 the sheik's wishes should be strictly observed even at any 

 sacrifice, and we rested only half an hour to eat and let 

 the camels rest, then pushed on in the twilight. The 

 moon rose and shone on our strange procession, and by 

 her light we reached at length the narrow entrance of the 

 valley. We had sent messengers in advance, and our 

 coming was expected. A swarthy group were waiting for 

 us at the door of a chamber in the rock, which had once 

 been, perhaps, the hall of a palace, or mayhap the tomb 

 of a prince; for it is difficult to say what was tomb or 

 what was habitation of the living in this city of the ancient 

 mighty. Houssein, the father of the wounded sheik, with 

 the old men of his tribe, were gathered here to await our 

 arrival, and received us in silence but with perfect cordi- 

 ality, and gave us the words of welcome so seldom pro- 

 nounced to strangers in Wady Mousa. 



" Lifting the wounded man into the place prepared for 

 him, and making him as comfortable as the circumstances 

 of the case would permit, we sat down around him, rest- 

 ing on our baggage here and there, to await the change 

 which we knew was fast coming over the Bedouin. 



" Have I said that Hall, the Englishman, was a surgeon 

 in the navy ? He had pronounced the sheik's wound in- 

 curable from the beginning, and now said that he had but 

 a few hours to live. 



" As the gray dawn began to course up the eastern sky 

 he was manifestly dying. His dark countenance, thin 

 and hollow-faced at the best, was now almost spiritual in 

 appearance. You who remember him will not think it 



