Page:Domestic Life in Palestine.pdf/237

230 was led to the house which I had visited on the previous evening. The hostess wore a striped silk red and purple pelisse, or open dress, instead of the cotton one in which I had seen her before. She received me very cordially, and would not allow any intruders to enter, while I had some new milk, bread, and coffee, and made notes of my  night-thoughts. It was rumored that the manuscript book which I carried contained talismanic directions for seeking treasures. It had a patent lock and key, and a book thus guarded had never before been seen there.

In the mean time, my brother was breakfasting with the sheikh elsewhere, gleaning valuable information, and planning the day's journey. We afterward met in the large room—of which I made a rough sketch and measurements. It had been swept, and the dais was garnished with reed matting and cushions, and two old fringed carpets, about the size of ordinary hearth-rugs. We sat down together, and consulted our maps—Robinson's and a French one. As regarded that district, they proved very contradictory, and did not assist us much.

At eight o 'clock, our horses and attendants were ready. We mounted, and rode slowly. We were surrounded and followed by a great number of the villagers. The sheikh was in earnest conversation with my brother. The old blind man walked by my side, with his hand resting on the neck of my horse, which was carefully led by the wandering Jew upholsterer along the uneven and crooked streets. We paused when we came to the thrashing-floor, outside the village, and there took leave of our Kefr Kâra friends.

The blind man pressed my hand to his lips and to his forehead, saying, "May Allah preserve you, O my daughter, and keep you from all harm!" With blessings and pleasant words ringing in our ears, we cantered quickly over a broad cultivated plain, across a stony river-bed, and then