the Brigade moves past. Voices in the darkness, then shadowy forms,
and, their horses' hoofs muffled by the dust, Brigade Headquarters
passes by. Then the three regiments, one British and two Indian,
each of the latter followed by crowds of donkeys looking ghostly
white in the gloom. At length it is _our_ turn, and behind the last
regiment we 'walk march' and once more get the clouds of dust for
our portion. Now, along the level for a time--and then down again,
down towards the valley, to many a valley of death!

"The impression we get, on leaving Talat-ed-Dumm, is rather
different from that ascribed to tourists in the guide book to
Palestine. '_It is with regret_,' it says, '_that we drag ourselves
away from a spot of such historic interest, where so many of the
patriarchs have rested_'. God help 'em! _we_ never wish to see it
again. No wonder to us, now, that Naaman the Syrian objected to go
down to the Jordan and wash seven times in it![17]

"The horses slip and slide as they pick their way down the old
Turkish road, and once more the moon looks over the hills and
floods her silvery radiance over all--the same moon that in two
hours will rise upon the old homestead in Blighty. But here are we,
among great mountains, rugged and cleft, fantastic shapes in high
relief, in the moonlight. We might be in the moon itself! Not a
sign of life, not a bird nor an animal!

"By mid-night we have dropped 1,100 feet, and gradually the ground
grows less rocky, the hills on the right swing away, and on the
left, just ahead, is the square-topped El-Kuruntal, the so-called
'Mountain of Temptation,' and the gateway of the Jordan Valley.
Reaching the plain the pace grows faster, and clouds of dust arise