1920-22 Draft of the Seven Pillars of Wisdom – Page 176

Our little group had started the morning early, just after full moon rise. We left our camp in the marsh area meadow warm to 71 degrees with a little wind out of the south-east which time had started some to kick up. Our truck was idling, just ready to leave at around 3:45 am when, suddenly spotting a clouded sky but clear horizon, we began continuing on toward the marsh's perimeter. Here we took to several trails and cut across nearby fields for an hour, wanting to keep travelers off main roads as much as possible and give us a clear shot to the river's direction. We picked up the River Jordan Trail and traveled north to the intersection of Zone Lines and turned east on the old rail tram spur after roughly 5k. Keeping cover wherever possible, we took to some ridges on the southern river valley slopes, scrambling at times across loose scree and gravel wash areas as far as the summit. There were some open saddles for viewing when the cloud deck parted enough to see local terrain and pickup possible movement but no aircraft noises or major troop concentrations were detected. All we picked up was flashing beacons from distant towers to the south but no air action. After breaking for water and snacks in a side cut, we moved southeast along smaller drainages toward a heavy stand of trees shown on maps where some low activity was rumored. No man tracks or signals when we arrived, only some bedding areas under blowdowns. We waited over an hour keeping low but...