My Three Days in GileadHoenshel, Elmer U. (Elmer Ulysses)
History
My Three Days in Gilead
Hoenshel, Elmer U. (Elmer Ulysses)
Palestine -- Description and travel
But my reverie is cut short by a groan from my dragoman; he sank
back trembling and said, "Call Haleel!" Together we worked with
him for a half-hour or more until a chill, the result of drinking
too much water on reaching the village, had been overcome. I was
much alarmed at the possible outcome of his sudden illness, for
had he left me thus the situation for me would have been one of
extreme perplexity. In my anxiety for him I forgot for the moment
my own condition. But now I am again a conscious sufferer. So
tired am I that I can scarcely wait until I have sipped a little
tea and eaten a little bread before I have removed hat and shoes
and am stretched out upon the floor to sleep. The horses seem
restless in their stamping; the dogs keep up their barking; the
room is dark; I hear the heavy breathing of those about me; a lone
star peeps in through the small window; and I try to compose
myself for the rest that I so much need. "Is there no balm in
Gilead?" Yes. I thought that I was lying down to a night of
restlessness and fever, but never on couch of down has my rest
been sweeter.
I am awakened at dawn by some one moving about in the room, and I
see a man pick up a gun and pass quickly out. The dogs are barking
savagely throughout the village. Then I look about me. Imagine my
surprise when I discover that I have had five bed-fellows, or
rather FLOOR-FELLOWS! There we lay stretched out in all sorts of
angles and curves--American, Syrian, Circassian; Christian and
Mohammedan--forming a kind of crazy patch-work on the earthen
floor. And imagine my supreme disgust when I discover a big,
dirty, odorous, unshod human foot, erect on the heel and with toes
spread out like a fan, within a few inches of my face! Bah! How
was it that I slept! I turn my face to the wall and soon lose
thought of the disturbing vision in slumber.
It is quite late when again I wake. The host is sitting on his mat
near me fumbling beads and chanting prayers. Without moving I
watch him for a while and note that he is also interested in me,
and that he now knows that I am awake. I begin an investigation of
myself, and find, to my glad surprise, that while I am stiff and
sore I feel quite refreshed. I dress myself--a simple matter this
morning, simply putting on my shoes--and while my dragoman
prepares our breakfast I exercise myself somewhat by walking down
to an old Roman bridge spanning the small stream flowing through
the village. In this half-hour I get a good general knowledge of
the location of the town, its outline, its magnificent ruins, etc.
But I am not ready yet for sight-seeing. I prefer to listen to the
brook singing its happy way almost hidden among the pink oleanders
that grow in such profusion along its sides. The running water,
the perfume of the flowers, the flood of sunlight--these are like
balm to me after my awful yesterday. Certainly I shall be ready
early to study the ruins of this wonderful, mysterious, ancient
city.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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