The next day we rode quietly down the mountains. We enjoyed a grand
view and a pleasant ride, but it was as steep as a railway-bank; and we
came at last to another little khan, where we breakfasted. The Anti-
Lebanon rose on the opposite side. Miss Ellen Wilson, who had a
Protestant mission at Zahleh in this district, asked us to her house,
and we accepted her hospitality for the night, instead of remaining in
our tents. We stayed at Miss Wilson's for a few days; and we visited
and were visited by the Governor of Zahleh, the Bishop, and other
dignitaries. Richard was taken with fever. I nursed him all night,
and caught the complaint. We both suffered horribly, in spite of
every attention on the part of our friends. Richard soon shook off
his illness, but I did not; I fancied I could not get well unless I
went home to Bludan.
So at sunset on August 11, after we had been at Miss Wilson's rather more
than a week, our horses were made ready. I was lifted out of bed and put
into a litter. We wound out of Zahleh, descended into the plain, and
began to cross it. I was so sorry for the men who had to carry my litter
that I begged to be allowed to ride. I told my Arab stallion Salim to
be very quiet. We went at foot's pace till 1 o'clock a.m. in bright
moonlight across the plain. Then we passed regular defiles, where once
or twice the horses missed their footing, and struck fire out of the
rocks in their struggles to hold up.
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