{Went before them} (pro(8867)en autous). Imperfect tense, kept
on in front of them, not as a guide to the town since they now
knew that, but to the place where the child was, the inn
according to  Lu 2:7 . Justin Martyr says that it was in a cave.
The stall where the cattle and donkeys stayed may have been
beneath the inn in the side of the hill.