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.
The river Jordan, for some miles above the point at which it joins
the Dead Sea, runs through very steep banks,--banks which are almost
precipitous,--and is, as it were, guarded by the thick trees and
bushes which grow upon its sides. This is so much the case, that
one may ride, as we did, for a considerable distance along the
margin, and not be able even to approach the water. I had a fancy
for bathing in some spot of my own selection, instead of going to
the open shore frequented by all the pilgrims; but I was baffled in
this.
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