They passed through broad fields of ripe barley and ripening
wheat, where the quail scuttled and piped among the thick-growing
stalks. There were fruit-orchards and olive-groves on the foothills,
and clear streams ran murmuring down through glistening oleander
thickets. Wild flowers sprang in every untilled corner; tall spikes
of hollyhocks, scarlet and blue anemones, clusters of mignonette,
rock-roses, and cyclamens, purple iris in the moist places, and
many-colored spathes of gladiolus growing plentifully among the
wheat.
The larks sang themselves into the sky in the early morn. Hotter
grew the sun and heavier the air in that long trough below the
level of the sea. The song of birds melted away. Only the hawks
wheeled on motionless wings above silent fields, watching for the
young quail or the little rabbits, hidden among the grain.
The pilgrims plodded on in the heat. Companies of soldiers with
glittering arms, merchants with laden mules jingling their bells,
groups of ragged thieves and bold beggars met and jostled the
peaceful travellers on the road.
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