"It is very unpleasant to be soaked with rain and chilled with the cold, but somehow when you get dry and warm again you don't feel so badly. We shall forget all about the storm and its disagreeable features, but we'll remember the Dead Sea, the Valley of the Jordan, the site of Jericho, Bethany, the inn of the good Samaritan, and a dozen other historic things we have seen since we left our camp at Mar Saba and descended into the deepest valley in the world. Anyway we'll try to forget the storm, but I can't help shuddering just a little when I think of it--it was so cold, and the rain was so wet! "The rain and snow are still falling as I write in my journal in the public room of the hotel at Jerusalem. We've sent our clothes to the kitchen to be dried, and we're dressed in such things as we've been able to borrow in the house, and a funny-looking group we are. The Doctor has put on a coat much too short in the sleeves, and says he feels as though he had gone into a ready-made clothing store and been served with the first garment that came to hand. Fred is nicely gotten up in an Arab costume, fez and all; he's trying to speak the language, but isn't very successful. I'm in part of a suit belonging to one of the gentlemen of the Palestine Exploration Fund, who happens to be stopping here; but the most conspicuous garment of my wardrobe is a large blanket, with the word 'Tigre' on the outside in big letters. It once belonged to the French steamer of that name, and was left here by a traveller; I may be placarded as a tiger while wearing this blanket, but feel very far from what that beast is supposed to be." CHAPTER XXVII. FROM JERUSALEM TO NABULUS.--HISTORIC PLACES ON THE ROUTE. During the night after the incidents described in our last chapter the storm cleared away, and the sky at sunrise was without a cloud. Everybody had slept well and recovered from the fatigue of the journey, and the exposure to rain and snow. Frank and Fred were quite ready to make a fresh start, and laughed over the troubles of the previous day as the merest trifle in the world. [Illustration: THE HOTEL-KEEPER.] Doctor Bronson had a long conference with the dragoman and the keeper of the hotel, together with the American consul, who happened to be stopping in the house. It resulted in an announcement that the party would start the following morning for Damascus. Of course the decision gave great delight to the youths. The Doctor made the following explanation of the plan for the new journey: "Ali tells me that the heavy storm we have just passed through will be in our favor, as there is a good prospect of fair weather to follow it for a week or ten days. It is not the right season for the 'long route,' as the ride from Jerusalem to Damascus is called, and the majority of travellers at this time of year prefer the 'short route.'