himself the mule was about to pass under a projecting rock, regardless, he thought, of the man on his back, but the sagacious animal had taken his rider’s height into his consideration, so it seemed, for at least three inches were to spare between Joseph’s head and the rock.  Nor did the mule’s sagacity end here; for finding no trace of the path on the other side he started to climb the steep hill as a goat might, frightening Joseph into a tug or two at the bridle, to which the mule gave no heed but continued the ascent with conviction and after a little circuit among intricate rocks turned down the hill again and slid into the path almost on his haunches.  A wonderful animal truly!  Joseph said, marvelling greatly; he guessed that the path lay under the mass of rubble come down in some landslip.  He knew he would meet it farther on:  he may have been this way before.  A wonderful animal all the same, a perfect animal, if he could be persuaded not to walk within ten inches of the brink! and Joseph drew the mule away to the right, under the hillside, but a few minutes after, divining that his rider’s thoughts were lost in those strange argumentations common to human beings, the mule returned to the brink, out of reach of any projecting rocks.  He was happily content to follow the twisting road, giving no faintest attention to the humped hills always falling into steep valleys and always rising out of steep valleys, as round and humped as the hills that were left behind.  Joseph noticed the hills, but the mule did not:  he only knew the beginning and the end of his journey, whereas Joseph began very soon to be concerned to learn how far they were come, and as there was nobody about who could tell him he reined up his mule, which began to seek herbage—­a dandelion, an anemone, a tuft of wild rosemary—­while his rider meditated on the whereabouts of the inn.  The road, he said, winds round the highest of these hills, reaching at last a tableland half-way between Jerusalem and Jericho, and on the top of it is the inn.  We shall see it as soon as yon cloud lifts.

CHAP.  VI.

A few wanderers loitered about the inn:  they came from Mount Sinai, so the innkeeper said; he mentioned that they had a camel and an ass in the paddock; and Joseph was surprised by the harshness with which the innkeeper rushed from him and told the wanderers that they waited in vain.

They were strange and fierce, remote like the desert, whence they had come; and he was afraid of them like the innkeeper, but began to pity them when he heard that they had not tasted food for a fortnight, only a little camel’s milk.  They’re waiting for me to give them the rinsings, the innkeeper said, if any should remain at the bottom of the barrel:  you see, all water has to be brought to the inn in an ox-cart.  There’s no well on the hills and we sell water to those who can afford to pay for it.  Then let the man drink his fill, Joseph answered,