Far away he saw the ruins of a great monastery, called Mar Saba, which had for a long time been the abode of a religious community, and which at the present day is still tenanted by a body of monks.

Cuthbert made up his mind at once to take refuge in these caves.

He speedily picked out one some fifty feet up the face of the rock, and approachable only with the greatest difficulty and by a sure foot.

First he made the ascent to discover the size of the grotto, and found that although the entrance was but four feet high and two feet wide, it opened into an area of considerable dimensions.

Far in the corner, when his eyes became accustomed to the light, he discovered a circle of ashes, and his conjectures that these caves had been the abode of men were therefore verified.