drenched with it. Even brandy would not relieve me from it. And
then my whole body was in a mess, and I felt as though I had been
rubbed with pitch. Looking at my limbs, I saw no sign on them of
the fluid. They seemed to dry from this as they usually do from any
other water; but still the feeling remained. However, I was to ride
from hence to a spot on the banks of Jordan, which I should reach in
an hour, and at which I would wash; so I clothed myself, and
prepared for my departure.

Seated in my position in the island I was unable to see what was
going on among the remainder of the party, and therefore could not
tell whether my pistols and money was safe. I dressed, therefore,
rather hurriedly, and on getting again to the shore, found that Mr.
John Smith had not levanted. He was seated on his horse at some
distance from Joseph and the Arabs, and had no appearance of being
in league with those, no doubt, worthy guides. I certainly had
suspected a ruse, and now was angry with myself that I had done so;
and yet, in London, one would not trust one's money to a stranger
whom one had met twenty-four hours since in a coffee-room! Why,
then, do it with a stranger whom one chanced to meet in a desert?

"Thanks," I said, as he handed me my belongings. "I wish I could
have induced you to come in also. The Dead Sea is now at your
elbow, and, therefore, you think nothing of it; but in ten or
fifteen years' time, you would be glad to be able to tell your
children that you had bathed in it."

"I shall never have any children to care for such tidings," he
replied.