2 Kings 7:10

So they came and called unto the porter of the city: and they told them, saying, We came to the camp of the Syrians, and, behold, there was no man there, neither voice of man, but horses tied, and asses tied, and the tents as they were.

Horses tied, and donkeys tied, and the tents as they were. The uniform arrangement of encampments in the East is, to place the tents in the center, while the cattle are picketted all around as an outer wall of defense; and hence, the lepers describe the cattle as the first objects they saw.