Rumors of war and bloodshed were flying every where.

The lawless Bedouins in the Valley of the Jordan and the deserts down by the Dead Sea were up in arms, and were going to destroy all comers.

They had had a battle with a troop of Turkish cavalry and defeated them; several men killed.

They had shut up the inhabitants of a village and a Turkish garrison in an old fort near Jericho, and were besieging them.

They had marched upon a camp of our excursionists by the Jordan, and the pilgrims only saved their lives by stealing away and flying to Jerusalem under whip and spur in the darkness of the night.