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 seeing that its passages were dark, and communicated both with the hill and the valley. The maid servant, descending the staircases from above, might take a pitcher or a bucket to draw water, and so escape suspicion; the spies below on receiving the message, could hie away over the mountain to the Jericho road and Jordan.

The evidence that the Virgin's Fountain is En Rogel will increase upon us as we proceed; but one reason may be stated here. En Rogel is etymologically the Spring of the Fuller, and was so called, no doubt, because fullers washed clothes at the place; but it may also be made to mean the Spring of the Steps, because fullers trode the clothes with their feet, and hence got their name (from Regel, the foot, and metaphorically a step). The Virgin's Fountain is now called by the Arabs, Ain Umm ed Deraj, "Fountain of the Mother of Steps," a designation commonly supposed to refer to the two flights of steps which lead down to it, but which may be derived by tradition from "En Rogel." The steps were not always there. The explorers of Jerusalem say, "The pool seems originally to have been visible in the face of a cliff, and the vault and steps are modern. Possibly the original exit of the water was down the Kedron Valley."

Adonijah's Banquet at the Stone of Zoheleth.—After Absalom's death David returned to Jerusalem. But by-and-bye he grew old and infirm, and then there were speculations and plots about the succession to the throne. Adonijah thought to gain favour by assuming royal state and showing princely generosity. He set up chariots and horsemen, and fifty men to run before him; and he slew sheep and oxen and fatlings by the stone of Zoheleth, which is beside En Rogel. Abiathar the priest was at the banquet, and Joab the veteran general; all was going merrily, and the guests shouted, "God save King Adonijah!" (1 Kings i.) But news of these proceedings was carried to