"They are tombs," he told himself, "and this is a Mukabar--an Arab graveyard--the most desolate place in the world of God." But, looking again, he saw that the roofless walls covered the ground as far as the eye could see, and the thought came to him that this ashen desert was the earth itself, and that all the world of life and man was dead.

Then, suddenly, in the motionless wilderness, a solitary creature moved.

It was a goat, and it toiled over the hot sand with its head hung down and its tongue lolled out.

"Water!" it seemed to cry, though it made no voice, and its eyes traversed the plain as if they would pierce the ground for a spring.

Fever and delirium fell upon Israel.