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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Days of Mohammed, by Anna May Wilson
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: The Days of Mohammed
+
+
+Author: Anna May Wilson
+
+
+
+Release Date: December 31, 2005  [eBook #17435]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DAYS OF MOHAMMED***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe, Amy Cunningham, and the
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+(https://www.pgdp.net/)
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+
+
+THE DAYS OF MOHAMMED.
+
+by
+
+ANNA MAY WILSON.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+David C. Cook Publishing Company,
+Elgin, Ill., and 36 Washington St., Chicago.
+Copyright, 1897, by David C. Cook Publishing Company.
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE.
+
+
+In "The Days of Mohammed," one aim of the author has been to bring out
+the fact that it is possible to begin the heaven-life on earth. It is
+hoped that a few helpful thoughts as to the means of attaining this life
+may be exemplified in the career of the various characters depicted.
+
+An attempt has been made, by constant reference to the best works on
+Mohammed and Arabia, to render the historical basis strictly correct.
+Especial indebtedness is acknowledged to the writings of Irving, Burton,
+and the Rev. Geo. Bush; also to the travels of Burckhardt, Joseph Pitts,
+Ludovico Bartema and Giovanni Finati, each of whom undertook a
+pilgrimage to the cities of Medina and Mecca; also to the excellent
+synopsis of the life and times of Mohammed as given by Prof. Max Mueller
+in the introduction to Palmer's translation of the Koran.
+
+As the tiny pebble cast into the water sends its circling wavelets to
+the distant shore, so this little book is cast forth upon the world, in
+the hope that it may exert some influence in bringing hope and comfort
+to some weary heart, and that, in helping someone to attain a clearer
+conception of Divine love and companionship, it may, if in never so
+insignificant a degree, perhaps help on to that time when all shall
+
+    "Trust the Hand of Light will lead the people,
+    Till the thunders pass, the spectres vanish,
+    And the Light is Victor, and the darkness
+    Dawns into the Jubilee of the Ages."
+
+
+
+
+PRECEDING EVENTS--SUMMARY.
+
+
+Yusuf, a Guebre priest, a man of intensely religious temperament, and
+one of those whose duty it is to keep alive the sacred fire of the
+Persian temple, has long sought for a more heart-satisfying religion
+than that afforded to him by the doctrines of his country. Though a man
+of kindliest disposition, yet so benighted he is that, led on by a deep
+study of the mysteries of Magian and Sabaean rites, he has been induced
+to offer, in human sacrifice, Imri, the little granddaughter of Ama, an
+aged Persian woman, and daughter of an Arab, Uzza, who, though married
+to a Persian, lives at Oman with his wife, and knows nothing of the
+sacrifice until it is over.
+
+The death of the child, though beneath his own hand, immediately strikes
+horror to the heart of the priest. His whole soul revolts against the
+inhumanity of the act, which has not brought to him or Ama the blessing
+he had hoped for, and he rebels against the religion which has, though
+ever so rarely, permitted the exercise of such an atrocious rite. He
+becomes more than ever dissatisfied with the vagueness of his belief. He
+cannot find the rest which he desires; the Zendavesta of Zoroaster can
+no longer satisfy his heart's longing; his country-people are sunk in
+idolatry, and, instead of worshiping the God of whom the priests have a
+vague conception, persist in bowing down before the symbols themselves,
+discerning naught but the objects--the sun, moon, stars, fire--light,
+all in all.
+
+Yusuf, indeed, has a clearer idea of God; but he worships him from afar
+off, and looks upon him as a God of wrath and judgment rather than as
+the Father of love and mercy. In his new spiritual agitation he
+conceives the idea of a closer relation with the Lord of the universe;
+his whole soul calls out for a vivid realization of God, and he casts
+about for light in his trouble.
+
+From a passing stranger, traveling in Persia--a descendant of those
+Sabaean Persians who at an early age obtained a footing in Arabia,
+and whose influence was, for a time, so strongly marked through
+the whole district known as the Nejd, and even down into Yemen,
+Arabia-Felix,--Yusuf has learned of a new and strange religion held by
+the people of the great peninsula. His whole being calls for relief from
+the doubts which harass him. He is rich and he decides to proceed at
+once towards the west and to search the world, if necessary,--not, as
+did Sir Galahad and the knights of King Arthur's Table, in quest of the
+Holy Grail, but in search of the scarcely less effulgent radiance of the
+beams of Truth and Love.
+
+
+
+
+THE DAYS OF MOHAMMED.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+YUSUF BEGINS HIS SEARCH FOR TRUTH.
+
+    "O when shall all my wanderings end,
+    And all my steps to Thee-ward tend!"
+
+
+"Peace, oh peace! that thy light wings might now rest upon me! Truth,
+that thou mightest shine in upon my soul, making all light where now is
+darkness! Ye spirits that dwell in yon bright orbs far above me, ye that
+alone are privileged to bow before the Great Creator of the universe, ye
+that alone may address yourselves to the Great Omnipotent Spirit with
+impunity, intercede for me, I beseech you! Bow before that Great
+Sovereign of all wisdom and light, whom we worship through these vague
+symbols of fire and brightness; plead with him before whom I dare not
+come, in my behalf. Beseech of him, if he will condescend to notice his
+most humble priest, that he may lead him into light effulgent, into all
+truth, and that he may clear from his soul these vapors of doubt which
+now press upon him in blackest gloom and rack his soul with torment. If
+I sin in doubting thus, beseech him to forgive me and to lead me to a
+conception of him as he is. Ye that are his ministers, from your starry
+spheres guide me! Whether through darkness, thorns, or stony ways, guide
+me; I shall not falter if I may see the light at last! Oh, grant me
+peace!"
+
+Thus prayed Yusuf, the Magian priest. He paused. No sound passed from
+his lips, but he still stood with upraised arms, gazing into the intense
+depths of the Persian sky, purple, and flecked with golden stars, the
+"forget-me-nots of the angels."
+
+His priestly vestments were dazzlingly white, and upon his shoulders
+were fixed two snowy wings that swept downward to the ground. His black
+beard descended far over his breast, and from the eyes above shone forth
+the glow of a soul yearning towards the infinite unknown, whose all is
+God.
+
+Behind him, near the altar of the rounded tower,--round in the
+similitude of the orbs of light, the sun, moon, and stars,--danced the
+sacred fire, whose flames were said to have burned unceasingly for
+nearly one thousand years. The fiery wreaths leaped upwards toward the
+same purple sky, as if pointing with long, red fingers, in mockery of
+the priest's devotion; and the ruddy glare, falling upon him as he
+stood so still there, enveloped him with a halo of light. It gleamed
+upon his head, upon his uplifted hands, upon the curves of the wings on
+his shoulders, silhouetting him against the darkness, and lighting his
+white habiliments until, all motionless as he was, he seemed like a
+marble statue dazzlingly radiant in the light of one crimson gleam from
+a sinking sun.
+
+And so he stood, heeding it not, till the moon rose, soft and full; the
+mountain-tops shone with a rim of silver, the valleys far below the
+temple looked deeper in the shade, and the fire burned low.
+
+Rapt and more rapt grew the face of the priest. Surely the struggle of
+his soul was being answered, and in his nearness to Nature, he was
+getting a faint, far-off gleam of the true nature of Nature's God. His
+glance fell to the changing landscape below; his arms were extended as
+if in benediction; and his lips moved in a low and passionate farewell
+to his native land. Then he turned.
+
+The fire burned low on the altar.
+
+"Sacred symbol, whose beams have no power to warm my chilled heart, I
+bid you a long farewell! They will say that Yusuf is faithless, a false
+priest. They will mayhap follow him to slay him. And they will bow again
+to yon image, and defile thine altars again with infants' blood, not
+discerning the true God. Yet he must be approachable. I feel it! I know
+it! O Great Spirit, reveal Thyself unto Yusuf! Reveal Thyself unto
+Persia! Great Spirit, guide me!"
+
+For the first time, Yusuf thus addressed a prayer direct to the Deity,
+and he did so in fear and trembling.
+
+A faint gleam shone feebly amid the ashes of the now blackening altar.
+It flared up for an instant, then fell, and the sacred fire of the
+Guebre temple was dead.
+
+"The embers die!" cried the priest. "Yea, mockery of the Divine, die in
+thine ashes!"
+
+He waited no longer, but strode with swift step down the mountain, and
+into the shade of the valley. Reaching, at last, a cave in the side of a
+great rock, he entered, and stripped himself of his priestly garments.
+Then, drawing from a recess the garb of an ordinary traveler, he dressed
+himself quickly, rolled his white robes into a ball, and plunged farther
+into the cave. In the darkness the rush of falling water warned him that
+an abyss was near. Dropping on his knees, he crept carefully forward
+until his hand rested on the jagged edge of a ledge of rock. Beside him
+the water fell into a yawning gulf. Darkness darker than blackest night
+was about him, and, in its cover, he cast the robes into the abyss
+below, then retraced his way, and plunged once more into the moonlight,
+a Persian traveler wearing the customary loose trousers, a kufiyah on
+his head, and bearing a long staff in his hand.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+A BEDOUIN ENCAMPMENT.
+
+      "The cares that infest the day
+    Shall fold their tents, like the Arabs,
+      And as silently steal away."
+
+                              --_Longfellow._
+
+
+Many months after the departure of Yusuf from Persia a solitary rider on
+a swift dromedary reached the extreme northern boundary of El Hejaz, the
+province that stretches over a considerable portion of western Arabia.
+His face was brown like leather from exposure, and his clothes were worn
+and travel-stained, yet it scarcely required a second glance to
+recognize the glittering eyes of the Magian priest.
+
+It seemed as if the excitement of danger and the long days of toil and
+privation had at last begun to tell upon his iron frame. His eye,
+accustomed by the fear of robbers to dart its dark glances restlessly,
+was less keen than usual; his head was drooped downward upon his breast,
+and his whole attitude betokened bodily fatigue. His camel, too, went
+less swiftly, and picked its way, with low, plaintive moans, over the
+rough and precipitous path which led into a wild and weird glen.
+
+It was evening, and the shadows fell in fantastic streaks and blotches
+across the arid valley, through whose barren soil huge, detached rocks
+of various-colored sandstone rose in eerie, irregular masses, veritable
+castles of genii of the uncanny spot.
+
+Yusuf looked uneasily around, but neither sight nor sound of life was
+near, and he again allowed his faithful beast to slacken its pace and
+crop a few leaves of the coarse camel-thorn, the only sign of vegetation
+in the deserted place.
+
+A few trees, however, could be seen in the distance, and he urged his
+camel towards them in the hope of finding some water, and some dates for
+food. Reaching the spot, he found that a stagnant pool lay below, but
+there were no dates on the trees, and the water was brackish. A couple
+of red-legged partridges fluttered off, cackling loudly as they went. He
+would fain have had them for food, but their presence seemed like
+company to the poor wanderer, and he did not attempt to secure them; so,
+throwing himself at full length on the ground, he flung his arms across
+his eyes to shield them from the white glare of the sky.
+
+Suddenly a step sounded near. Yusuf started to his feet and grasped his
+scimitar, but he was instantly beset by half a dozen wild Arabs, who
+dashed upon him, screaming their wild Arabian jargon, and waving their
+short swords over their heads.
+
+Blows fell thick and fast. Yusuf had a dazed consciousness of seeing the
+swarthy, wrinkled visages and gleaming teeth of his opponents darting in
+confusion before him, of hacking desperately, and of receiving blows on
+the head; then a sudden gush of blood from a wound on his forehead
+blinded him, and he fell.
+
+All seemed over. But a shout sounded close at hand. Several Arabs,
+splendidly mounted on nimble Arabian horses, and waving their long,
+tufted spears, appeared on the scene. The Bedouin robbers fled
+precipitately, and Yusuf's first sensation was that of being gently
+raised, and of feeling water from the pool dashed upon his face.
+
+The priest had not been severely wounded, and soon recovered enough to
+proceed with the party which had rendered him such timely aid.
+
+An hour's ride brought them to the head of another and more fertile glen
+or wady, through which a mountain stream wended its way between two
+bands of tolerably good pasturage. A full moon in all its brilliancy was
+just rising. Its cold, clear light flooded the wady, bringing out every
+feature of the landscape with remarkable distinctness. At some distance
+lay a group of tents, black, and pitched in a circle, as the tents of
+the Bedouins usually are. Camp-fires studded the valley with glints of
+red; and the barking of dogs and shouts of men arose on the night air
+above the hoarse moanings of the camels. Yusuf was indeed glad to see
+evidences of Arab civilization, and to look forward to the prospect of a
+good supper and a friendly bed.
+
+The return of the party was now noticed by the men of the encampment. A
+group of horsemen, also armed with long spears tufted with ostrich
+feathers, left the tents and came riding swiftly and gracefully towards
+their returning companions.
+
+An explanation of Yusuf's sorrowful plight was given, and he was
+conducted to the tent of the Sheikh, which was marked by being larger
+than the rest, and situated in the center of the circle, with a spear
+placed upright in the ground before the door.
+
+The Sheikh himself received the stranger at the door of his tent. He was
+a middle-aged man, of tall and commanding appearance, though the scowl
+habitual to the Bedouins by reason of their constant exposure to the
+sun, rested upon his face. He wore a kufiyah, or kerchief, of red and
+yellow on his head, the ends falling on his shoulders behind in a
+crimson fringe. His hair was black and greased, and his eyes, though
+piercing, were not unkindly. His person was thin and muscular, but he
+wore gracefully the long abba or outer cloak, white and embroidered,
+which opened in front, disclosing an undergarment of figured muslin,
+bound by a crimson sash. And there was native grace in every movement
+when he came courteously forward and saluted Yusuf with the "Peace be
+with you" of the Arabs. He then extended his hand to help the traveler
+to dismount, and led him into the tent.
+
+"Friend," he said, "a long journey and a close acquaintance with death
+are, methinks, a good preparation for the enjoyment of Bedouin
+hospitality, which, we sincerely hope, shall not be lacking in the tents
+of Musa. Yet, in truth, it seems to us that thou art a fool-hardy man to
+tempt the dangers of El Hejaz single-handed."
+
+"So it has proved," returned the priest; "but a Persian, no more than an
+Arab, will draw back at the first scent of danger. Yet I deplore these
+delays, which but hinder me on my way. I had hoped long ere this to be
+at the end of my journey."
+
+"We will hear all this later," returned the Bedouin with quiet dignity;
+"for the present, suffice it to keep quiet and let us wash this blood
+from your hair. Hither, Aswan! Bring warm water, knave, and let the
+traveler know that the Arab's heart is warm too. Now, friend-stranger,
+rest upon these cushions, and talk later, if it please you."
+
+With little enough reluctance, Yusuf lay down upon the pile of rugs and
+cushions, and, while the attendants bathed his brow, looked somewhat
+curiously about him.
+
+[Illustration: He stood with upraised arms, gazing into the depths of
+the sky.--See page 2.]
+
+By the light of a dim lamp and a torch or two, he could see that the
+tent was divided into two parts, as are all Bedouin tents, by a central
+curtain. This curtain was occasionally twitched aside far enough to
+reveal a pair of black eyes, and, from the softness of the voices which
+sounded from time to time behind the folds, he surmised correctly that
+this apartment belonged to the chief's women.
+
+Several men entered the tent, all swarthy, lithe and sinewy, with the
+scowling faces and even, white teeth characteristic of the typical Arab.
+They gesticulated constantly as they talked; but Yusuf, though
+thoroughly familiar with the Arabic language, paid little attention to
+the conversation, giving himself up to what seemed to him, after his
+adventures, perfect rest.
+
+Presently the chief's wife entered. She was unveiled, and her features
+were distinctly Hebrew; for Lois, wife of the Bedouin Musa, had been
+born a Jewess. She was dressed in a flowing robe of black confined by a
+crimson girdle. Strings of coins and of blue opaque beads hung upon her
+breast and were wound about her ankles, and she wore a black head-dress
+also profusely decorated with beads and bangles of silver.
+
+On a platter she carried some cakes, still smoking hot. These she placed
+on a low, circular table of copper. A wooden platter of boiled mutton
+was next added, along with a caldron filled with wheat boiled in camel's
+milk, and some cups of coffee.
+
+Yusuf was placed at the table, and Musa, after sipping a little coffee,
+handed the cup to him; the chief then picked out the most savory bits of
+mutton, and, according to Arabian etiquette, handed them to his guest.
+
+Several men gathered around to partake of the banquet. They crouched or
+reclined on the ground, about the low table; yet, savage-looking though
+they were, not one of the Bedouins ventured an inquisitive question or
+bestowed a curious glance on the Persian.
+
+Among them, however, was a little, inquisitive-looking man, whose quick,
+bird-like movements attracted Yusuf's attention early in the evening.
+His round black eyes darted into every place and upon every one with an
+insatiable curiosity, and he talked almost incessantly. He was a Jewish
+peddler who traded small wares with the Arabs, and who was constantly
+somewhere on the road between Syria and Yemen, being liable to appear
+suddenly at the most mysterious times, and in the most unlikely places.
+
+In his way, Abraham of Joppa was a character, and one may be pardoned
+for bestowing more than a passing glance upon him. Though permitted to
+eat at the table with the rest, it was evident that the Arabs looked
+upon him with some contempt. They enjoyed listening to his stories, and
+to his recital of the news which he picked up in his travels, but they
+despised his inquisitiveness, and resented the impertinence with which
+he coolly addressed himself even to the Sheikh, before whom all were
+more or less reserved.
+
+The Persian was, for the present, the chief object of the little Jew's
+curiosity, and as soon as the meal was over he hastened to form his
+acquaintance.
+
+Sitting down before the priest, and poising his head on one side, he
+observed:
+
+"You are bound for the south, stranger?"
+
+"Even so," said Yusuf, gravely.
+
+"Whither?"
+
+"I seek for the city of the great temple."
+
+"Phut! The Caaba!" exclaimed the Jew, with contempt. "Right well I know
+it, and a fool's game they make of it, with their running, and bowing,
+and kissing a bit of stone in the wall as though 'twere the dearest
+friend on earth!"
+
+"But they worship--"
+
+"A statue of our father Abraham, and one of Ishmael, principally. A
+precious set of idolaters they all are, to be sure!"
+
+Yusuf's heart sank. Was it only for this that he had come his long and
+weary way, had braved the heat of day and the untold dangers of night?
+In searching for that pure essence, the spiritual, that he craved, had
+he left the idolatrous leaven at home only to come to another form of it
+in Mecca?
+
+"But then," he thought, "this foolish Jew knows not whereof he speaks:
+one with the empty brain and the loose tongue of this wanderer has not
+probed the depths of divine truth."
+
+"You cannot be going to Mecca as a pilgrim?" hazarded the little man.
+"The Magians and the Sabaeans worship the stars, do they not?"
+
+"Alas, yes!" said the priest. "They have fallen away from the ancient
+belief. They worship even the stars themselves, and have set up images
+to them, no longer perceiving the Great Invisible, the Infinite, who can
+be approached only through the mediation of the spirits who inhabit the
+starry orbs."
+
+"Methinks you will find little better in Mecca. What are you going there
+for?" asked the Jew abruptly.
+
+"I seek Truth," replied the priest quietly.
+
+"Truth!" repeated the Jew. "Aye, aye, the Persian traveler seeks truth;
+Abraham, the Jew, seeks myrrh, aloes, sweet perfumes of Yemen, silks of
+India, and purple of Tyre. Aye, so it is, and I think Abraham's
+commodity is the more obtainable and the more practical of the two. Yet
+they do say there are Jews who have sought for truth likewise; and they
+tell of apostles who gave up their trade and fisheries to go on a like
+quest after a leader whom many Jews will not accept."
+
+"Who were the apostles?"
+
+"Oh, Jews, of course."
+
+"Where may I find them?"
+
+"All dead, well-nigh six hundred years ago," returned the Jew,
+indifferently.
+
+Yusuf's hopes sank again. He longed for even one kindred spirit to whom
+he could unfold the thoughts that harassed him.
+
+"I do not know much about what they taught," continued the Jew. "Never
+read it; it does not help in my business. But I got a bit of manuscript
+the other day from Sergius, an old Nestorian monk away up in the Syrian
+hills. I am taking it down to Mecca. I just peeped into it, but did not
+read it; because it is the people who live now, who have gold and silver
+for Abraham, that interest him, not those who died centuries ago; and
+the bit of writing is about such. However, you seem to be interested
+that way, so I will give it to you to read."
+
+So saying, the Jew unpacked a heavy bundle, and, after searching for
+some time, upsetting tawdry jewelry, kerchiefs, and boxes of perfume,
+he at last succeeded in finding the parchment.
+
+He handed it to the Persian. "I hope it may be of use to you, stranger.
+Abraham the Jew knows little and cares less for religion, but he would
+be sorry to see you bowing with yon heathen Arab herd at Mecca."
+
+"Dog! Son of a dog!"
+
+It was Musa. Able to restrain his passion no longer, he had sprung to
+his feet and stood, with flashing eyes and drawn scimitar, in resentment
+of the slur on his countrymen.
+
+With a howl of fear, the little Jew sprang through the door and
+disappeared in the darkness.
+
+Musa laughed contemptuously.
+
+"Ha, lack-brained cur!" he said, "I would not have hurt him, having
+broken bread with him in mine own tent! Yet, friend Persian, one cannot
+hear one's own people, and one's own temple, the temple of his fathers,
+desecrated by the tongue of a lack-brained Jew trinket-vender."
+
+"You know, then, of this Caaba--of the God they worship there?" asked
+the priest.
+
+Musa shook his head, and made a gesture of denial.
+
+"Musa knows little of such things," he replied. "Yet the Caaba is a name
+sacred in Arabian tradition, and as such, it suits me ill to hear it on
+the tongue of a craven-hearted Jew. In sooth, the coward knave has left
+his trumpery bundle all open as it is. I warrant me he will come back
+for it in good time."
+
+A dark-haired lad in a striped silk garment here passed through the
+tent.
+
+"Hither, Kedar!" called the Sheikh. "Recite for our visitor the story of
+Moses."
+
+The lad at once began the story, reciting it in a sort of chant, and
+accompanying his words with many a gesture. The company listened
+breathlessly, now giving vent to deep groans as the persecution of the
+children of Israel was described, now bowing their heads in reverence at
+the revelation of the burning bush, now waving their arms in excitement
+and starting forward with flashing eyes as the lad pictured the passage
+of the Red Sea.
+
+Yusuf had heard some vague account of the story before, but, with the
+passionate nature of the Oriental, he was strangely moved as he listened
+to the recital of how that great God whom he longed to feel and know had
+led the children of Israel through all their wanderings and sufferings
+to the promised land. He felt that he too was indeed a wanderer, seeking
+the promised land. He was but an infant in the true things of the
+Spirit. Like many another who longs vainly for a revelation of the
+working of the Holy Spirit, his soul seemed to reach out hopelessly.
+
+But who can tell how tenderly the same All-wise Creator treasures up
+every outreaching of the struggling soul! Not one throb of the loving
+and longing heart is lost;--and Yusuf was yet, after trial, to rejoice
+in the serene fullness of such light as may fall upon this terrestrial
+side of death's dividing line.
+
+Poor Yusuf, with all his Persian learning and wisdom, had, through all
+his life, known only a religion tinctured with idolatry. Almost alone he
+had broken from that idolatry, and realized the unity of God and his
+separation from all connected with such worship; but he was yet to
+understand the connection of God with man, and to taste the fullness of
+God's love through Christ. He had not realized that the finger of God is
+upon the life of every man who is willing to yield himself to Divine
+direction, and that there is thus an inseparable link between the
+Creator and the creature. He was not able to say, as said Carlyle in
+these later days, "A divine decree or eternal regulation of the universe
+there verily is, in regard to every conceivable procedure and affair of
+man; faithfully following this, said procedure or affair will
+prosper.... Not following this,... destruction and wreck are certain for
+every affair." And what could be better? Divine love, not divine wrath,
+over all! Yusuf had an idea of divine wrath, but he failed to
+see--because the presentation of the never-failing Fatherhood of God had
+not yet come--the infinite love that makes Jesus all in all to us,
+heaven wherever he is, and hell wherever he is not.
+
+Since leaving Persia, this was the first definite opportunity he had had
+of listening to Bible truth.
+
+"Kedar knows more of this than his father," explained Musa. "'Tis his
+mother who teaches him. She was a Jewess, of the people of Jesus of
+Nazareth, but I fear this roving life has caused my poor Lois to forget
+much of the teaching of her people."
+
+"You speak of Jesus of Nazareth. I have heard something of him. Tell me
+more."
+
+Musa shook his head slowly. "I know nothing," he said. "But I shall call
+Lois. The men have all gone from the tent, and mayhap she can tell what
+you want."
+
+So saying, he entered the women's apartment, and sent his wife to Yusuf.
+
+"You wish to know of Jesus of Nazareth?" she said. "Alas, I am but a
+poor teacher. I am unworthy even to speak his name. I married when but a
+child, and since then I have wandered far from him, for there have been
+few to teach me. Yet I know that he was in very truth the Son of God. He
+was all-good. He healed the sick on this earth, and forgave sin. Then,
+woe, woe to me!--he was crucified,--crucified by my people! And he went
+up to heaven; his disciples saw him go up in the white clouds of a
+bright day."
+
+"Where dwells he now? Is he one of the spirits of the stars?"
+
+"I know not. He is in heaven."
+
+"And does he stoop to take notice of us, the children of earth?"
+
+"Alas, I know not! There was once a time when Jesus was more than a name
+to me. When I knelt, a child, beside my mother on the grassy hills of
+Hebron, it seemed that Jesus was, in some vague way, a reality to me;
+but long years of forgetfulness have passed since then. Stranger, I wish
+you well. Your words have brought back to me the desire to know more of
+him. If you learn aught of him, and it ever lies in your way to do so,
+come and tell us,--my Musa and me,--that we too may learn of him."
+
+Rising to her feet, the woman saluted the Persian and left him. Musa
+entered to conduct him to the rugs set apart for his couch, and soon
+all was silent about the encampment.
+
+But ere he fell asleep, Yusuf went out into the moonlight. The night was
+filled with the peculiar lightness of an Oriental night. The moon blazed
+down like a globe of molten silver, and a few large stars glowed with
+scarcely secondary brilliance. In the silvery brightness he could easily
+read the manuscript given him by the Jew. It was the story of the man
+with the withered hand, whose infirmity was healed by Jesus in the
+synagogue. And there, in the starlight, the priest bowed his head, and a
+throng of pent-up emotions throbbed in his breast.
+
+"Spirits of the stars, show me God. If this Jesus be indeed the Son of
+God, show me him. Give me faith, such faith as had he of the withered
+hand, that I too may stretch forth my hand and be made whole; that I may
+look, and in looking, see."
+
+This was his prayer. Ah, yet, the "spirits of the stars" were as a
+bridge to the gulf which, he fancied, lay between him and Infinite
+Mercy.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+YUSUF MEETS AMZI, THE MECCAN.
+
+    "Mecca's pilgrims, confident of Fate,
+    And resolute in heart."
+
+                              --_Longfellow._
+
+
+The next morning, Yusuf, against the remonstrances of Musa and his wife,
+prepared to proceed on his way. Like the Ancient Mariner, he felt forced
+to go on, "to pass like night from land to land," until he obtained that
+which he sought.
+
+When he was almost ready to depart, a horseman came galloping down the
+valley, with the news that a caravan, en route for Mecca, was almost in
+sight, and would make a brief halt near the stream by which Musa's
+tents were pitched. Yusuf at once determined to avail himself of the
+timely protection on his journey.
+
+Presently the caravan appeared, a long, irregular line--camels bearing
+"shugdufs," or covered litters; swift dromedaries, mounted by tawny
+Arabs whose long Indian shawls were twisted about their heads and fell
+in fringed ends upon their backs; fiery Arabian horses, ridden by Arabs
+swaying long spears or lances in their hands; heavily-laden pack-mules,
+whose leaders walked beside them, urging them on with sticks, and giving
+vent to shrill cries as they went; and lastly a line of pilgrims, some
+trudging along wearily, some riding miserable beasts, whose ribs shone
+through their roughened hides, while others rode, in the proud security
+of ease and affluence, in comfortable litters, or upon animals whose
+sleek and well-fed appearance comported with the self-satisfied air of
+their riders.
+
+A halt was called, and immediately all was confusion. Tents were
+hurriedly thrown up; the pack-mules were unburdened for a moment; the
+horses, scenting the water, began to neigh and sniff the air; infants,
+who had been crammed into saddle-bags with their heads out, were hauled
+from their close quarters; the horsemen of Musa, still balancing their
+tufted spears, dashed in and out; while his herdsmen, anxious to keep
+the flocks from mixing with the caravan, shrieked and gesticulated,
+hurrying the flocks of sheep off in noisy confusion, and urging the
+herds of dromedaries on with their short, hooked sticks. It was indeed a
+babel, in which Yusuf had no part; and he once more seized the
+opportunity of looking at the precious parchment To his astonishment, he
+perceived that it was addressed to "Mohammed, son of Abdallah, son of
+Abdal Motalleb, Mecca," with the subscription, "From Sergius the Monk,
+Bosra."
+
+Here then, Yusuf had, in perfect innocence, been entrapped into reading
+a communication addressed to some one else, and he smiled sarcastically
+as he thought of the inquisitiveness of the little Jew who had taken the
+liberty of "just peeping in."
+
+It remained, now, for Yusuf to find the Jew and to put him again in
+possession of his charge. He searched for him through the motley crowd,
+but in vain; then, recollecting that the peddler's bundle had been left
+behind, he sought Musa, to see if he had heard anything of the little
+busybody.
+
+Musa laughed heartily. "Remember you not that I said his trumpery would
+be gone in the morning? I was no false prophet. The man is like a
+weasel. When all sleep he finds his way in and helps himself to what he
+will: when all wake, no Jew is to be seen; trumpery and all have gone,
+no one knows whither."
+
+So the priest found himself responsible for the delivery of the
+manuscript to this Mohammed, of whom he had never hitherto heard; and,
+knowing the contents, he was none the less ready to carry out the trust,
+hoping to find in Mohammed some one who could tell him more of the same
+wondrous story. He therefore placed the parchment very carefully within
+the folds of his garment, bade farewell to Musa and his household, and
+prepared to leave with the caravan, which had halted but a short time on
+account of the remarkable coolness of the day.
+
+"Peace be with you!" said the Sheikh; "and if you ever need a friend,
+may it be Musa's lot to stand in good stead to you. I bid you good speed
+on your journey. We have no fears for your safety now, besides the
+safety of numbers, the holy month of Ramadhan[1] begins to-day, and even
+the wildest of the Bedouin robbers usually refrain from taking life in
+the holy months. Again, Peace be with you! And remember that the Bedouin
+can be a friend."
+
+Yusuf embraced the chieftain with gratitude, and took his place in the
+train, which was already moving slowly down the wady.
+
+As it often happens that in the most numerous concourse of people one
+feels most lonely, so it was now with Yusuf. There seemed none with whom
+he cared to speak. Most of the people were self-satisfied traders
+busied with the care of the merchandise which they were taking down to
+dispose of at the great fair carried on during the Ramadhan. A few were
+Arabs of the Hejaz, short and well-knit, wearing loose garments of blue,
+drawn back at the arms enough to show the muscles standing out like
+whip-cords. Some were smoking short chibouques, with stems of wood and
+bowls of soft steatite colored a yellowish red. As they rode they used
+no stirrups, but crossed their legs before and beneath the pommel of the
+saddle; while, as the sun shone more hotly, they bent their heads and
+drew their kufiyahs far over their brows. Many poor and somewhat
+fanatical pilgrims were interspersed among the crowd, and here and there
+a dervish, with his large, bag-sleeved robe of brown wool--the Zaabut,
+worn alike by dervish and peasant--held his way undisturbed.
+
+Yusuf soon ceased to pay any attention to his surroundings, and sat,
+buried in his own thoughts, until a voice, pleasant and like the ripple
+of a brook, aroused him.
+
+"What thoughts better than the thoughts of a Persian? None. Friend,
+think you not so?"
+
+The words were spoken in the Persian dialect, and the priest looked up
+in surprise, to see a ruddy-faced man smiling down upon him from the
+back of a tall, white Syrian camel. He wore the jubbeh, or cloak, the
+badge of the learned in the Orient; his beard was turning slightly gray,
+and his eyes were keen and twinkling.
+
+"One question mayhap demands another," returned Yusuf. "How knew you
+that I am a Persian? I no longer wear Persian garb."
+
+"What! Ask an Arab such a question as that!" said the other, smiling.
+"Know you not, Persian, that we of the desert lands are accustomed to
+trace by a mark in the sand, the breaking of a camel-thorn, things as
+difficult? The stamp of one's country cannot be thrown off with one's
+clothes. Nay, more; you have been noted as one learned among the
+Persians."
+
+Yusuf bent his head in assent. "Truly, stranger, your penetration is
+incomprehensible," he said, with a touch of sarcasm.
+
+"No, no!" returned the other, good-humoredly; "but, marking you out for
+what you are, I thought your company might, perchance, lessen the
+dreariness of the way. I am Amzi, the Meccan. Some call me Amzi the rich
+Meccan; others, Amzi the learned; others, Amzi the benevolent. For
+myself, I pretend nothing, aspire to nothing but to know all that may be
+known, to live a life of ease, at peace with all men, and to help the
+needy or unfortunate where I may. More than one stranger has not been
+sorry for meeting Amzi the benevolent, in Mecca. Have you friends
+there?"
+
+"None," said Yusuf. "Yet there is a tradition among our people that the
+Guebres at one time had temples even in the land of Arabia. Have you
+heard aught of it?"
+
+"It is said that at one time fire-temples were scattered throughout this
+land, each being dedicated to the worship of a planet; that at Medina[2]
+itself was one dedicated to the worship of the moon and containing an
+image of it. It is also claimed that the fire-worshipers held Mecca, and
+there worshiped Saturn and the moon, from whence comes their name of the
+place--Mahgah, or moon's place. The Guebres also hold here that the
+Black Stone is an emblem of Saturn, left in the Caaba by the Persian
+Mahabad and his successors long ago. But, friend, Persian influence has
+long since ceased in El Hejaz. Methinks you will find but few traces of
+your country-people's glory there."
+
+"It matters not," returned the priest. "The glory of the fire-worshipers
+has, so far as Yusuf is concerned, passed away. Know you not that before
+his eyes the sacred fire,[3] kept alive for well-nigh one thousand
+years, went out in the supreme temple ere he left it? May the great
+Omniscient Spirit grant that Persia's idolatries will die out in its
+ashes!"
+
+"And think you that there is no idolatry in Mecca? Friend, believe me,
+not a house in Arabian Mecca which does not contain its idol! Not a man
+of influence who will start on an expedition without beseeching his
+family gods for blessing!"
+
+"And do they not recognize a God over all?"
+
+"They acknowledge Allah as the highest, the universal power,--yet he is
+virtually but a nominal deity, for they deem that none can enter into
+special relationship with him save through the mediation of the
+household gods. In his name the holiest oaths are sworn, nevertheless in
+true worship he has the last place. Indeed, it must be confessed that
+neither fear of Allah nor reverence of the gods has much influence over
+the mass of our people."
+
+"What, then, is the meaning of this great pilgrimage, whose fame reached
+me even in Persia? Does not religious enthusiasm lead those poor
+wretches, hobbling along behind, to take such a journey?"
+
+Amzi nodded his head slowly. "Religious incentives may move the few," he
+said. "But, friend, can you not see that barter is the leading object of
+the greater number--of those well-to-do pilgrims who are superintending
+the carriage of their baggage so complacently there? The holy months,
+particularly the Ramadhan, afford a period of comparative safety, a long
+truce that affords a convenient season for traffic. Alas, poor stranger!
+you will be sad to find that our city, in the time of the holy fast,
+becomes a place of buying and selling, of vice and robbery--a place
+where gain is all and God is almost unknown."
+
+"But you, Amzi; what do you believe of such things?"
+
+"In truth, I know not what to think. Believe in idols I cannot; worship
+in the Caaba I will not; so that my religion is but a belief in Allah,
+whom I fear to approach, and whose help and influence I know not how to
+obtain, a confidence in my own morality, and a consciousness of doing
+good works."
+
+"Strange, strange!" said the priest, "that we have arrived at somewhat
+the same place by different ways! Amzi, let us be brothers in the quest!
+Let us rest neither night nor day until we have found the way to the
+Supreme God! Amzi, I want to feel him, to know him, as I am persuaded he
+may be known; yet, like you, I fear to approach him. Have you heard of
+Jesus?"
+
+"A few among a band of coward Jews who live in the Jewish quarter of
+Mecca, believe in One whom they call Jesus. The majority of them do not
+accept him as divine; and among those who do, he seems to be little more
+than a name of some one who lived and died as did Abraham and Ishmael.
+His teaching, if, indeed, he taught aught, seems to have little effect
+upon their lives. They live no better than others, and, indeed, they are
+slurred upon by all true Meccans as cowardly dogs, perjurers and
+usurers."
+
+Yusuf sighed deeply. It seemed as though he were following a flitting
+ignis-fatuus, that eluded him just as he came in sight of it.
+
+The rest of the day was passed in comparative silence. The evening halt
+was called, and it was decided to spend the night in a grassy basin,
+traversed by the rocky bed of a mountain stream, a "fiumara," down which
+a feeble brooklet from recent mountain rains trickled. Owing to the
+security of the month Ramadhan, it was deemed that a night halt would be
+safe, and the whole caravan encamped on the spot.
+
+As the shades of the rapidly-falling Eastern twilight drew on, Yusuf sat
+idly near the door of a tent, looking out listlessly, and listening to
+the chatter of the people about him.
+
+Not far off a Jewish boy, a mere child, of one of the northern tribes,
+as shown by his fair hair and blue eyes, sang plaintively a song of the
+singing of birds and the humming of bees, of the flowers of the North,
+of rippling streams, of the miraged desert, of the waving of the
+tamarisk and the scent of roses.
+
+Yusuf observed the child-like form and the effeminate paleness of the
+cherub face, and a feeling of protective pity throbbed in his bosom as
+he noted the slender smallness of the hand that glided over the
+one-stringed guitar, showing by its movements, even in the fading
+evening light, the blue veins that coursed beneath the transparent skin.
+He called the lad to his side, and bade him sing to him. Not till then
+did he notice the vacancy of the look which bespoke a slightly wandering
+mind. Yusuf's great heart filled with sympathy.
+
+"Poor lad!" he said, "singing all alone! Where are your friends?"
+
+"Dumah's friends?" said the child, wonderingly. "Poor Dumah has no
+friends now! He goes here and there, and people are kind to him--because
+Dumah sings, you know, and only angels sing. He tells them of flocks
+beside the pool, of lilies of Siloam, of birds in the air and angels in
+the heavens--then everyone is kind. Ah! the world is fair!" he
+continued, with a happy smile. "The breeze blows hot here, sometimes,
+but so cool over the sea; and the lilies blow in the vales of Galilee,
+and the waves ripple bright over the sea where he once walked."
+
+"Who, child?"
+
+"Jesus--don't you know?" with a wondering look. "He sat often by the
+Lake of Galilee where I have sat, and the night winds lifted his hair as
+they do mine, and he smiled and healed poor suffering and sinful people.
+Ah, he did indeed! Poor Dumah is talking sense now, good stranger;
+sometimes he does not--the thoughts come and go before he can catch
+them, and then people say, 'Poor little Dumah is demented.' But if Jesus
+were here now, Dumah would be healed. I dreamed one night I saw him, and
+he smiled, and looked upon me so sweetly and said, 'Dumah loves me!
+Dumah loves me!' and then I saw him no more. Friend, I know you love
+him, too. What is your name?"
+
+"Yusuf."
+
+"Then, Yusuf, you will be my friend?"
+
+"I will be your friend, poor Dumah!"
+
+"Oh, no, Dumah is not poor! He is happy. But his thoughts are going now.
+Ah, they throng! The visions come! The birds and the mists and the
+flowers are twining in a wreath, a wreath that stretches up to the
+clouds! Do you not see it?" and he started off again on his wild,
+plaintive song.
+
+Yusuf's eyes filled with tears, and he drew the lad to his bosom, and
+looked out upon the grassy plot before the door, where a huge fire was
+now shedding a flickering and fantastic glare upon the wrinkled visages
+of the Arabs, and lighting up the scene with a weird effect only to be
+seen in the Orient.
+
+Caldrons were boiling, and a savory odor penetrated the air. Men were
+talking in groups, and a little dervish was spinning around nimbly in a
+sort of dance. Yusuf looked at him for a moment. There seemed to be
+something familiar about his figure and movements, but in the darkness
+he could not be distinctly seen, and Yusuf soon forgot to pay any
+attention to him.
+
+He drew the boy, who had now fallen asleep, close to him. What would he,
+Yusuf, not give to learn fully of that source from whence the few meagre
+crumbs picked up by this poor child were yet precious enough to give
+him, all wandering as he was at times, the assurance of a sympathetic
+God, and render him happy in the realization of his presence! What must
+be the joy of a full revelation of these blessed truths, if, indeed,
+truths they were!
+
+The longing for such companionship filled Yusuf, as he lay there, with
+an intense desire. He could scarcely define, in truth he scarcely
+understood, exactly what he wanted. There was a lack in his life which
+no human agency had, as yet, been able to satisfy. His heart was
+"reaching out its arms" to know God--that was all; and he called it
+searching for Truth.
+
+[Illustration: A head was thrust forward.... It was the little
+dervish.--See page 15.]
+
+Far into the night the Persian pondered, his mind beating against the
+darkness of what was to him the great mystery; and he prayed for light.
+He thought of the Father, yet again he prayed to the spirits of the
+planets which were shining so brightly above him. But did not an echo of
+that prayer ascend to the throne of grace? Was not the eye of Him who
+notes even the sparrows when they fall, upon his poor, struggling child?
+
+And the end was not yet.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+WHEREIN YUSUF ENCOUNTERS A SAND-STORM IN THE DESERT, AND HAS SOMEWHAT OF
+AN EXPERIENCE WITH THE LITTLE DERVISH.
+
+    "A column high and vast,
+      A form of fear and dread."
+
+                              --_Longfellow._
+
+
+With but few events worthy of notice the journey to Mecca was concluded.
+After a short halt at Medina, the caravan set out by one of the three
+roads which then led from Medina to Mecca.[4]
+
+The way led through a country whose aspect had every indication of
+volcanic agency in the remote ages of the earth's history. Bleak
+plains--through whose barren soil outcrops of blackened scoriae, or sharp
+edges of black and brittle hornblende, appeared at every turn--were
+interspersed with wadies, bounded by ridges of basalt and green-stone,
+rising from one hundred to two hundred feet high, and covered with a
+scanty vegetation of thorny acacias and clumps of camel-grass. Here and
+there a rolling hill was cut by a deep gorge, showing where, after rain,
+a mighty torrent must foam its way; and, more rarely still, a stagnant
+pool of saltish or brackish water was marked out by a cluster of daum
+palms.
+
+On all sides jackals howled dismally during the night; and above,
+during the day, an occasional vulture wheeled, fresh from the carcass of
+some poor mule dead by the wayside.
+
+Such was the appearance of the land through which the caravan wound its
+way, beneath a sky peculiar to Arabia--purple at night, white and
+terrible in its heat at noon, yet ever strange, weird and impressive.
+
+But one incident worth recounting occurred on the way. Yusuf, Amzi, and
+the boy Dumah had been traveling side by side for some time. The way, at
+that particular spot, led over a plain which afforded comparatively easy
+traveling, and thus gave a better opportunity for conversation. The talk
+had turned upon the Guebre worship, and the priest was amazed at the
+knowledge shown by Amzi of a religion so little known in Arabia.
+
+"I can tell you more than that," said Amzi in a low tone. "I can tell
+you that you are not only Yusuf the Persian gentleman of leisure, but
+Yusuf the Magian priest, accustomed to feed the sacred fire in the
+Temple of Jupiter. Is it not so? Did not Yusuf's hand even take the
+blood of Imri the infant daughter of Uzza in sacrifice? Can Yusuf the
+Persian traveler deny that?"
+
+Yusuf's head sank; his face crimsoned with pain, and the veins swelled
+like cords on his brow.
+
+"Alas, Amzi, it is but too true!" he said. "Yet, upon the most sacred
+oath that a Persian can swear, I did it thinking that the blessing of
+the gods would thus be invoked. The rite is one not unknown among the
+Sabaeans of to-day, and common even among the Magians of the past. Amzi,
+it was in my days of heathendom that I did it, thinking it a duty to
+Heaven. It was Yusuf the priest who did it, not Yusuf the man; yet Yusuf
+the man bears the torture of it in his bosom, and seeks forgiveness for
+the blackest spot in his life! How knew you this, Amzi?--if the question
+be an honorable one."
+
+"Amzi knows much," returned the Meccan. "He knows, too, that Yusuf can
+never escape the brand of the priesthood. See!"
+
+He leaned forward, and drew back the loose garment from the Persian's
+breast. A red burn, or scar, in the form of a torch, appeared in the
+flesh. As Yusuf hastened to cover it, a head was thrust forward, and two
+bead-like eyes peered from a shrouded face. It was the little dervish.
+
+The priest was annoyed at the intrusion. He determined to take note of
+the meddler, but the occurrence of an event common in the desert drove
+all thought of the dervish from his mind.
+
+The cry "A simoom! A simoom!" arose throughout the caravan.
+
+There, far towards the horizon, was a dense mass of dull, copper-colored
+cloud, rising and surging like the waves of a mad ocean. It spread
+rapidly upwards toward the zenith, and a dull roar sounded from afar
+off, broken by a peculiar shrieking whistle. And now dense columns could
+be seen, bent backward in trailing wreaths of copper at the top,
+changing and swaying before the hurricane, yet ever holding the form of
+vapory, yellow pillars,--huge shafts extending from earth to heaven, and
+rapidly advancing with awful menace upon the terrified multitude.
+
+The Arabs screamed, helpless before the manifestation of what they
+believed was a supernatural force, for they look upon these columns as
+the evil genii of the plains. Men and camels fell to the ground. Horses
+neighed in fear, and galloped madly to and fro. But the hot breath of
+the "poison-wind" was upon them in a moment, shrieking like a fiend
+among the crisping acacias. The sand-storm then fell in all its fury,
+half smothering the poor wretches, who strove to cover their heads with
+their garments to keep out the burning, blistering, pitiless dust.
+
+Fortunately all was over in a moment, and the tempest went swirling on
+its way northward, leaving a clear sky and a dust-buried country in its
+wake.
+
+In the confusion the dervish had escaped to the other end of the
+caravan, and was forgotten.
+
+At the end of the tenth day after leaving Medina the caravan reached
+the head of the long, narrow defile in which lies the city of Mecca, the
+chief town of El Hejaz. It was early morning when the procession passed
+through the cleft at the western end; and the sun was just rising, a
+globe of red, above the blue mountains towards Tayf, when Yusuf stopped
+his camel on an eminence in full view of the city. There it lay in the
+heart of the rough blackish hills, whose long shadows still fell upon
+the low stone houses and crooked streets beneath.[5]
+
+The priest's eager glance sought for the Caaba. There it was, a huge,
+stone cube, standing in the midst of a courtyard two hundred and fifty
+paces long by two hundred paces wide, and shrouded from top to bottom by
+a heavy curtain of dark, striped cloth of Yemen.
+
+There was something awe-inspiring in the scene, and the priest felt a
+thrill of apprehensive emotion as he gazed upon what he had fondly hoped
+would prove the end of his long journey. Yet his eye clouded; he covered
+his face with his mantle and wept, saying to his soul, "Here, too, have
+they turned aside to worship the false, and have bowed down to idols! My
+soul! My soul! Where shalt thou find truth and rest?"
+
+Amzi touched him on the arm. "Why do you weep, friend? Thou art a false
+Guebre, truly! Know you not that even they hold the Caaba in high
+reverence?"
+
+There was a tone of good-natured raillery in the voice, and the speaker
+continued: "Arouse yourself, my friend. See how they worship in Mecca.
+They are at it already! See them run! By my faith 'tis a lusty morning
+exercise!"
+
+Yusuf looked up to see a great concourse of people gathering in the
+court-yard. Many were rushing about the Caaba, and pausing frequently at
+one corner of the huge structure.
+
+"Each pilgrim," explained Amzi, "holds himself bound to go seven times
+about the temple, and the harder he runs the more virtue there is in
+it--performing the Tawaf, they call it. Those who seem to pause are
+kissing the Hajar Aswad--the Black Stone, which, the Arabs say, was once
+an angel cast from heaven in the form of a pure white jacinth. It is now
+blackened by the kisses of sinners, but will, at the last day, arise in
+its angel form, to bear testimony of the faithful who have kissed it,
+and have done the Tawaf faithfully. And now, friend, come to the house
+of Amzi, and see if he can be as hospitable as Musa the Bedouin."
+
+Yusuf gratefully accepted the invitation, and the camels were urged on
+again down the narrow, crooked street.
+
+"Know you aught of one Mohammed?" asked the priest. "A roguish Hebrew
+left me, with scant ceremony, in possession of a manuscript which must
+be given to him."
+
+"Aye, well do I know him," said Amzi. "Mohammed, the son of Abdallah the
+handsome, and grandson of Abdal Motalleb, who was the son of Haschem of
+the tribe of the Koreish--a tribe which has long held a position among
+the highest of Mecca, and has, for ages past, had the guardianship of
+the Caaba itself. Mohammed himself is a man of sagacity and honor in all
+his dealings. He is married to Cadijah, a wealthy widow, whose business
+he has long carried on with scrupulous fairness. He, too, is one of the
+few who, in Mecca, have ceased to believe in idols, and would fain see
+the Caaba purged of its images."
+
+"There are some, then, who cast aside such beliefs?"
+
+"Yes, the Hanifs (ascetics), who utterly reject polytheism. Waraka, a
+cousin of the wife of Mohammed, is one of the chief of these; and
+Mohammed himself has, for several years, been accustomed to retire to
+the cave of Hira for meditation and prayer. It is said that he has
+preached and taught for some time in the city, but only to his immediate
+friends and relatives. Well, here we are at last,"--as a pretentious
+stone building was reached. "Amzi the benevolent bids Yusuf the Persian
+priest welcome."
+
+Amzi led the priest into a house furnished with no small degree of
+Oriental splendor.
+
+    "Right to the carven cedarn doors,
+    Flung inward over spangled floors,
+    Broad-based flights of marble stairs
+    Ran up with golden balustrade,
+    After the fashion of the time."
+
+A meal of Oriental dishes, dried fruit and sweetmeats was prepared; and,
+when the coolness of evening had come, the two friends proceeded to the
+temple.
+
+Entering by a western gate, they found the great quadrangle crowded with
+men, women and children, some standing in groups, with sanctimonious
+air, at prayers, while others walked or ran about the Caaba, which
+loomed huge and somber beneath the solemn light of the stars. A few
+solitary torches--for at that time the slender pillars with their
+myriads of lamps had not been erected--lit up the scene with a weird,
+wavering glare, and threw deep shadows across the white, sanded ground.
+
+A curious crowd it seemed. The wild enthusiasm that marked the conduct
+of the followers of Mohammed at a later day was absent, yet every motion
+of the motley crowd proclaimed the veneration with which the place
+inspired the impressionable and excitable Arabs.
+
+Here stood a wealthy Meccan, with flowing robes, arms crossed and eyes
+turned upward; there stalked a tall and gaunt figure whose black robes
+and heavy black head-dress proclaimed the wearer a Bedouin woman. Here
+ran a group of beggars; and there a number of half-naked pilgrims clung
+to the curtained walls. Once a corpse was carried into the enclosure and
+borne in solemn Tawaf round the edifice.
+
+"Look!" cried poor Dumah. "The son of the widow of Nain! The son of the
+widow of Nain! Oh, why does not he whom Dumah sees in his dreams come to
+raise him! But then, there are idols here, and he cannot come where
+there are other gods before him."
+
+On surveying the temple, Yusuf discovered that the door of the edifice
+was placed seven feet above the ground. Amzi informed him that the
+temple might be entered only at certain times, but that it contained an
+image of Abraham holding in its hand some arrows without heads; also a
+similar statue of Ishmael likewise with divining arrows, and lesser
+images of prophets and angels amounting almost to the number of three
+hundred.
+
+Passing round the temple to the north-eastern corner, Yusuf looked
+curiously at the Black Stone, which was set in the wall at a few spans
+from the ground, and which seemed to be black with yellowish specks in
+it.[6] Many people were pressing forward to kiss it, while many more
+were drinking and laving themselves with water from a well a few paces
+distant,--the well Zem-Zem,--believing that in so doing their sins were
+washed off in the water.
+
+"This," said Amzi, pointing to the spring, "is said to be the well which
+gushed up to give drink to our forefather Ishmael and Hagar his mother,
+when they had gone into the wilderness to die."
+
+Yusuf sighed heavily. Such empty ceremony had no longer any attraction
+for him, and he turned his eyes towards the mountain Abu Kubays,
+towering dark and gloomy above the town, its black crest touched with a
+silvery radiance by the light of the stars shining brilliantly above.
+
+Was this, then, the Caaba? Was this what he had fondly hoped would fill
+his heart's longing? Was there any food in this empty ceremonial for a
+hungering soul? Why, oh why did the truth ever elude him, flitting like
+an ignis-fatuus with phantom light through a dark and blackened
+wilderness!
+
+Amzi was talking to someone in the crowd, and Yusuf passed slowly out
+and bent his way down a silent and deserted street. No one was in sight
+except a very young girl, almost a child, who was gliding quickly on in
+the shadows. Once or twice she seemed to stagger, then she fell. Yusuf
+hurried to her, and turned her face to the starlight. Even in that dim
+light he could see that it was contorted with pain. Yusuf heard the
+murmur of voices in a low building close at hand, and, without waiting
+to knock, he lifted the girl in his arms, opened the door, and passed
+in.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+NATHAN THE JEW.
+
+    "I shall be content, whatever happens, for what God chooses must
+    be better than what I can choose."--_Epictetus._
+
+
+The same evening on which Yusuf visited the temple, a woman and her two
+children sat in a dingy little room with an earthen floor, in one of the
+most dilapidated streets of Mecca. The woman's face bore traces of want
+and suffering, yet there was a calm dignity and hopefulness in her
+countenance, and her voice was not despairing. She sat upon a bundle of
+rushes placed on the floor. No lamp lighted the apartment, but through
+an opening in the wall the soft starlight shone upon the bands of hair
+that fell in little braids over her forehead. Her two beautiful children
+were beside her, the girl with her arm about her mother, and the boy's
+head on her lap.
+
+"Will we have only hard cake for breakfast, mother, and to-morrow my
+birthday, too?" he was saying.
+
+"That is all, my little Manasseh, unless the good Father sees fit to
+send us some way of earning more. You know even the hairs of our heads
+are numbered, so he takes notice of the poorest and weakest of his
+children, and has promised us that there will be no lack to them that
+fear him."
+
+"But, mother, we have had lack many, many times," said the boy
+thoughtfully.
+
+The mother smiled. "But things have usually come right in the end," she
+said, "and you know 'Our light affliction, which is but for a moment,
+worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.' We
+cannot understand all these things now, but it will be plain some day.
+'We will trust, and not be afraid,' because our trust is in the Lord;
+and we know that 'he will perfect that which concerneth us,' if we trust
+him."
+
+"And will he send father home soon?" asked the boy. "We have been
+praying for him to come, so, so long! Do you think God hears us, mother?
+Why doesn't he send father home?"
+
+The woman's head drooped, and a tear rolled down her cheek, but her
+voice was calm and firm.
+
+"Manasseh, child," she said, "your father may never return; but, though
+a Jew, he was a Christian; and, living or dead, I know he is safe in the
+keeping of our blessed Lord. Yes, Manasseh, God hears the slightest
+whisper breathed from the heart of those who call upon him in truth. He
+says, Jesus says, 'I know my sheep, and am known of mine.' Little son, I
+like to think that our blessed Savior, who 'laid down his life for the
+sheep,' is here--in this very room, close to us. Sometimes I close my
+eyes and think I see him, looking upon us in mercy and love from his
+tender eyes, and he almost seems so near that I may touch him. No, he
+will never forsake us. Little ones, my constant prayer for you is that
+you may learn to realize the depths of his love, and to render him your
+hearts in return; that you may feel ever closer to him than to any
+earthly parent, and prove yourselves loving, faithful children of whom
+he may not be ashamed."
+
+The woman's voice trembled with emotion as she concluded, and a glow of
+happiness illuminated her thin features.
+
+"Well, mother, I was ashamed to-day," said little Manasseh. "I got angry
+and struck a boy."
+
+"Manasseh! My child!"
+
+"You cannot understand, mother; you are so good that you never get
+angry or wicked. But the anger keeps rising up in me till it seems as if
+my heart would burst; the blood rushes to my face, my eyes
+flash--then--I strike, and think of nothing."
+
+She stroked his hair gently. "Manasseh, my boy's temper is one enemy
+which he has to conquer. But he must not try to conquer it in his own
+strength. We have an Almighty Helper who has given us to know that he
+will not suffer us to be tempted beyond that we are able, and has bidden
+us cast all our care upon him. He will be only too willing to guide us
+and uphold us by his power, if we will but let him keep us and lead us
+far from all temptation."
+
+"Then what would you do, mother, if you were in my place when the anger
+comes up?"
+
+She stooped and kissed him. "I would say, 'Jesus, help me,' and leave it
+all to him."
+
+Just then a step sounded at the door. Some one entered, and a cry of
+"Father! Oh, father!" burst from the children. The mother sprang,
+trembling, to her feet. It was the long-lost husband and father!
+
+Then the lamp was lighted, and the traveler told his loved ones the
+story of his long absence; how he had embarked at Jeddah on a foist
+bound for the head of the Red Sea; how he had been shipwrecked; had
+become ill of a fever as the result of exposure; and how he had at last
+made his painful way home by traveling overland.
+
+As they thus sat, talking in ecstasy of joy at their reunion, the door
+opened and Yusuf entered with the girl in his arms.
+
+Water was sprinkled upon her face and she soon recovered. She placed her
+hand on her brow in a dazed way, then sprang up, and, just pausing for
+an instant in which her wondrous beauty might be noted, dashed off into
+the night.
+
+"It is Zeinab, the beautiful child of Hassan," said the Jewess. "She
+will be well again now. The paroxysms have come before."
+
+"Sit you down, friend," said her husband to Yusuf. "We were just about
+to break bread. 'Tis a scanty meal," he added, with a smile. "But we
+have been enjoined to 'be not forgetful to entertain strangers,' because
+many have thus entertained angels unawares. We shall be glad of the
+company."
+
+There was a manly uprightness in the look and tone of Nathan the Jew
+which caught Yusuf's fancy at once, and he sat down without hesitation
+at the humble board.
+
+And there, in that little, dingy room, he saw the first gleam of that
+radiant light which was to transform the whole of his after life. He
+heard of the trials and disappointments, of the heroic fortitude born of
+that trust in and union with God which he had so craved. He received his
+first glimpse of a God, human as we are human, who understands every
+longing, every doubt, every agony that can bleed the heart of a poor
+child of earth.
+
+He scarcely dared yet to believe that this God was one really with him
+at all times and in all places, seeing, hearing, knowing, sympathizing.
+He scarcely dared to realize the possibility of a companionship with
+him, or the fact that the mediation of the planet-spirits was but a
+myth. Yet he did feel, in a vague way, that the light was breaking, and
+a tumultuous, undefined, hopeful ecstasy took possession of his being.
+Yusuf's heart was ready for the reception of the truth. He was
+unprejudiced. He had cast aside all dependence upon the tenets of his
+former belief. He had become as a little child anxious for rest upon its
+father's bosom. He sought only God, and to him the light came quickly.
+
+There was an infinity of blessed truth to learn yet, but, as he went out
+into the night, he knew that a something had come into his life,
+transforming and ennobling it. The divinity within him throbbed heart to
+heart with the Divinity that is above all, in all, throughout all good.
+Though vaguely, he felt God; he knew that now, at last, he had entered
+upon the right road.
+
+Then he thought of Amzi. He must try to tell him all this. Surely Amzi
+the learned, the benevolent, would rejoice too in hearing the story of
+Jesus' life on earth, of his coming as an expression of the love of God
+to man, that man might know God.
+
+Through the dark streets he hastened, thinking, wondering, rejoicing. He
+sought the bedside of Amzi on the flat roof.
+
+"Amzi, awake!" he cried.
+
+"What now, night-hawk?" said the Meccan, in his good-natured,
+half-railing tone. "Why pounce upon a man thus in the midst of his
+slumbers?"
+
+"Amzi, I have heard glorious news of him--that Jesus of whom we have
+talked!"
+
+"Well?"
+
+"He seems indeed to be the God for whom I have longed. They have been
+telling me of his life, yet I realize little save that he came to earth
+that men might know him; that he died to show men the depth of his love;
+and that he is with us at every time, in every place--even here, now, on
+this roof! Only think of it, Amzi! He is close beside us, seeing us,
+hearing us, knowing our very hearts! There is no need more of appealing
+to the spirits of the stars. Ah, they were ever far, far off!"
+
+"And where learned you all this, friend priest?" There was an
+indifferent raillery in the tone which chilled Yusuf to the heart.
+
+"From Nathan, a Christian Jew, and his wife--people who live close to
+God if any one does."
+
+"In the Jewish quarter?"
+
+"Even so."
+
+Amzi laughed. "Truly, friend, you have chosen a fair spot for your
+revelation--a quarter of filth and vice. A case of good coming out of
+evil, truly!"
+
+"Will you not grant that there are some good even in the Jewish
+quarter?"
+
+"Some, perhaps; yet there are some good among all peoples."
+
+"Amzi, can you not believe?"
+
+"No, no, friend Yusuf; I am glad for your happiness--believe what you
+will. But it is foreign to Amzi's nature to accept on hearsay that which
+he has not inquired into--probed to the bottom even. He cannot accept
+the testimony of any passing stranger, however plausible it may seem.
+Rejoice if you will, Yusuf, in the spring of a night-tune, but leave
+Amzi to seek for the deep waters still."
+
+Amzi was now talking quickly and impressively.
+
+Yusuf was amazed. The light was beginning to shine so brightly in his
+own soul that he could not comprehend why others could not see and
+believe likewise. He talked with his friend until the dawn began to tint
+the top of Abu Kubays, but without effect. At every turn he was met by
+the bitter prejudice held by the Meccans against the whole Jewish race,
+a prejudice which kept even Amzi the benevolent from believing in
+anything advocated by them.
+
+"Why do they not show Christ in their lives, then?" he would say.
+
+"You cannot judge the whole Christian band by the misdeeds of a few, who
+are, indeed, no Christians," Yusuf pleaded.
+
+"True; yet a religion such as you describe should appeal to more of
+them, and would, if it were all you imagine it to be. A perfect religion
+should be exemplified in the lives of those who profess it."
+
+"I grant you that that is true," was Yusuf's reply. "And as an example
+let me bring you to Nathan and his family. Nobody could talk for one
+hour to them without feeling that they have found, at least, something
+which we do not possess. This something, they say, is their God."
+
+"Well, well. I shall do so to please you," said Amzi indifferently, "but
+I hope that a longer acquaintance may not spoil your trust in these
+people."
+
+Further expostulation was vain. Yusuf retired to his own apartment, and
+prayed long and fervently, in his own simple way, offering thanks for
+the light which was breaking so radiantly on his own soul, and
+beseeching the loving Jesus to touch the heart of Amzi, who, he knew,
+though less enthusiastic than he, also desired to know truth.
+
+And before he lay down for a short rest, he said:
+
+"Grant, O Jesus, thou who art ever present, that I may know thee better,
+and that Amzi, too, may learn to know thee. Reveal thyself to him as
+thou art revealing thyself to me, that we may know thee as we should."
+
+The priest's face grew radiant with happiness as he concluded.
+
+And yet, in that same city, vice held sway; for, even as the priest
+prayed, a dark figure emerged from an unused upper attic in the house of
+Nathan the Jew, and, escaping by a window, descended a garden stair and
+disappeared in the darkness. Even in that dim light, had one looked he
+might have noted that the mysterious prowler wore the dress of a
+dervish.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+YUSUF'S FIRST MEETING WITH MOHAMMED.
+
+    "A person with abnormal auditory sensations often comes to
+    interpret them as voices of demons, or as the voice of one
+    commanding him to do some deed. This hallucination, in turn,
+    becomes an apperceiving organ, _i.e._, other perceptions and
+    ideas are assimilated to it: it becomes a center about which
+    many ideas gather and are correspondingly
+    distorted."--_McLellan, Psychology._
+
+
+Upon the evening of the following day, Amzi and Yusuf set out in quest
+of Mohammed, to whom the manuscript had not yet been given. Stopping at
+the house of Cadijah, a stone building having some pretensions to
+grandeur, they learned that Mohammed had left the city. Accordingly,
+thinking he would probably be found in the Cave of Hira, they took a
+by-path towards the mountains.
+
+The sun was hot, but a pleasant breeze blew from the plains towards the
+Nejd, and, from the elevation which they now ascended, Yusuf noted with
+interest a scene every point of which was entirely different from that
+of his Persian home--different perhaps from that of any other spot on
+the face of the earth; a scene desolate, wild, and barren, yet destined
+to be the cradle of a mighty movement that was ere long to agitate the
+entire peninsula of Arabia, and eventually to exercise its baneful
+influence over a great part of the Eastern Hemisphere.[7]
+
+Below him lay the long, narrow, sandy valley. No friendly group of palms
+arose to break its dreary monotony; no green thing, save a few parched
+aloes, was there to form a pleasant resting-place for the eye. The
+passes below, those ever-populous roads leading to the Nejd, Syria,
+Jeddah, and Arabia-Felix, were crowded with people; yet, even their
+presence did not suffice to remove the air of deadness from the scene.
+Of one thing only could the beholder be really conscious--desolation,
+desolation; a desolate city surrounded by huge, bare, skeleton-like
+mountains, grim old Abu Kubays with the city stretching half way up its
+gloomy side, on the east; the Red mountain on the west; Jebel Kara
+toward Tayf, and Jebel Thaur with Jebel Jiyad the Greater, on the south.
+
+[Illustration: "Read, O Mohammed, and see him who was able to restore
+the withered hand."--See page 23.]
+
+Yusuf watched the people, many of whom were pilgrims, swarming like so
+many ants below him towards the Caaba, which was in full view, standing
+like a huge sarcophagus in the center of the great courtyard. In the
+transparent air of the Orient, even the pillars supporting the covered
+portico about the courtyard were quite visible. Yusuf had observed the
+great system of barter, the buying and selling that went on beneath the
+roof of that long portico, within the very precincts of the temple set
+apart for the worship of the Deity, and, as he watched the pigmy
+creatures, now swarming towards the trading stalls, now hastening to
+perform Tawaf about the temple, he almost wept that such sacrilege
+should exist, and a great throb of pity for these erring people whose
+spiritual nature was barren as the vast, treeless, verdureless waste
+about them, filled his breast.
+
+Amzi directed his attention towards the east, where the blue mountains
+of Tayf stood like outposts in the distance.
+
+"There," said he, "at but a three days' journey is the district of
+plenty, the Canaan of Mecca, whence come the grapes, melons, cucumbers,
+and pomegranates that are to be seen in our markets. There are pleasant
+dales and gardens where the camel-thorn gives way to a carpet of
+verdure; where the mimosa and acacia give place to the glossy-leaved
+fig-tree, to stately palms, and pomegranates of the scarlet fruit; where
+rippling streams are heard, and the songs of birds fill the air. There
+is a tradition that Adam, when driven out of the Garden of Eden, settled
+at Mecca; and there, on the site of the temple yonder, and immediately
+beneath a glittering temple of pearly cloud, shimmering dews, and
+rainbow lights said to be in Paradise above,--the Bait-el Maamur of
+Heaven,--was built, by the help of angels, the first Caaba, a
+resplendent temple with pillars of jasper and roof of ruby. Adam then
+compassed the temple seven times, as the angels did the Bait above in
+perpetual Tawaf. He then prayed for a bit of fertile land, and
+immediately a mountain from Syria appeared, performed Tawaf round the
+Caaba, and then settled down yonder at Tayf. Hence, Tayf is even yet
+called 'Kita min el Sham'--a piece of Syria, the father-land."
+
+"So then, this Caaba, according to tradition, is of early origin?"
+
+"The Arabs believe that when the earthly Bait-el Maamur was taken to
+heaven at Adam's death, a third one was built of stone and mud by Seth.
+This was swept away by the Deluge, but the Black Stone was kept safe in
+Abu Kubays, which is, therefore, called 'El Amin'--the Honest. After the
+flood, a fourth House was built by our father Abraham, to whom the angel
+Gabriel restored the stone. Abraham's building was repaired and in part
+restored by the Amalikah tribe. A sixth Caaba was built by the children
+of Kahtan, into whose tribe, say the Arabs, Ismail was married. The
+seventh house was built by Kusay bin Kilab, a forefather of Mohammed,
+and I have reason to believe that he was the first who filled it with
+the idols which now disgrace its walls. Kusay's house was burnt, its
+cloth covering (or kiswah) catching fire from a torch. It was rebuilt by
+the Koreish (Qurais) a few years ago. It was then that the door was
+placed high above the ground, as you see it, and then that the movable
+stair was constructed. Then, too, the six columns which support the roof
+were added, and Mohammed, El Amin, was chosen to determine the position
+of the Black Stone in the wall. So, friend, I have now given you in
+part, the history of the Caaba."
+
+Bestowing a last look upon the temple, the friends walked for some
+distance northward across the slopes of Mount Hira, until a low, dark
+opening appeared in the face of a rock.
+
+Drawing back a thorny bush from its door, they entered the cave. A low
+moaning noise sounded within. For a moment, the transition from the
+white glare without to the twilight of the cave blinded them, then they
+saw that the moans proceeded from Mohammed, who was lying on his back on
+the stone floor. His head-dress was awry, his face was purple, and froth
+issued from his mouth.
+
+Amzi seized an earthen vessel of water, and bathed his brow.
+
+"Poor fellow!" he said, "how often he may have suffered here alone! It
+has been his custom for years to spend the holy month of Ramadhan here
+in prayer and meditation. He has often taken these fits before; but, if
+what is said be true, he knows not that he is suffering, for angels
+appear to him during the paroxysms."
+
+"It seems to me much more like a fit of epilepsy," said Yusuf, rather
+sarcastically. "See, he begins to come to himself again."
+
+Mohammed had stopped moaning, and his face began to regain its natural
+color.
+
+Presently he opened his eyes in a dazed way, and sat up. He was a man of
+middle height, with a ruddy, rather florid complexion, a high forehead,
+and very even, white teeth. There was something commanding and
+dignified in his appearance. He wore a bushy beard, and was habited in a
+striped cotton gown of cloth of Yemen; and, from his person emanated the
+sweet odor of choicest perfumes of the Nejd and Arabia-Felix.
+
+"Ah, it is Amzi!" he said. "Pardon me, friend, but the angel has just
+left me, and I failed to recognize you at once, my mind was so occupied
+with the wonder of his communications; for, friend, the time is nigh,
+even at hand, when the prophet of Allah, the One, the only Person of the
+Godhead, is to be proclaimed!"
+
+His voice was low and musical, and he spoke as one under the influence
+of an inspiration.
+
+"Has the angel appeared to you in visible form?"
+
+"Sometimes he appears in human form, but in a blinding light; at other
+times I hear a sound as of a silver bell tinkling afar. Then I hear no
+words, but the truth sinks upon my soul, and burns itself into my brain,
+and I feel that the angel speaks."
+
+"Of what, then, has he spoken?" asked Amzi.
+
+"The time in which the full revelation shall be thrown open to man is
+not yet. But it will come ere long. None, heretofore, save my own kin
+and friends, have been given aught of the great message; yet to you,
+Amzi, may I say that Abraham, Moses, Christ, have all been servants of
+the true God, yet for Mohammed has been reserved the honor of casting
+out the idolatry with which the worship of our people reeks. For him is
+destined the glory of purging our Caaba of its images, and of
+reinstating the true religion of our fathers in this fair land. Then
+shall men know that Allah is the one God, and Mohammed is his prophet!"
+
+"Think you to place yourself on an equality with the Son of God?" cried
+Yusuf, sternly.
+
+Mohammed turned quickly upon him, and his face worked in a frenzy of
+excitement.
+
+"I tell you there is but one God,--one invisible, eternal God, Allah
+above all in earth and heaven,--and Mohammed is the prophet of God!" he
+cried.
+
+Yusuf perceived that he had to deal with a fanatic, a religious
+enthusiast, who would not be reasoned with.
+
+"Yes," he continued, "may it be Mohammed's privilege to lead men back to
+truth, and to turn them from heathendom; to teach them to be wise as
+serpents, harmless as doves, and to show them how to walk with clean
+hands and hearts through the earth, living uprightly in the sight of all
+men!"
+
+"Yet," ventured Yusuf, "did not Jesus teach something of this?"
+
+"Jesus was great and good," said Mohammed; "he was needed in his day
+upon the earth, but men have fallen away again, and Mohammed is the
+greatest and last, the prophet of Allah!"
+
+The speaker's eyes were flashing; he was yet under the influence of an
+overpowering excitement. The color began to rush to his face, and Yusuf,
+fearing a return of the swoon, deemed it wise not to prolong the
+argument, but delivered the manuscript left by the peddler, saying:
+
+"Read, O Mohammed, and see him who was able to restore the withered hand
+stretched forth in faith. Perceive him, and commit not this sacrilege."
+
+Trusting himself to say no more, Yusuf hastily left the cavern, followed
+by Amzi, who remarked, thoughtfully:
+
+"Yet, there is much good, too, in that which Mohammed would advocate."
+
+"There is," assented Yusuf. "Yet, though I know not why, I cannot trust
+this man. 'Tis an instinct, if you will. What, think you, does he mean
+to win by this procedure,--power, or esteem, or fame?"
+
+Amzi shook his head quickly in denial. "Mohammed is one of the most
+upright of men, one of the last to seek personal favor or distinction by
+dishonest means, one of the last to be a maker of lies. Verily, Yusuf, I
+know not what to think of his revelations. If he does not in truth see
+these visions, he at least imagines he does. He is honest in what he
+says."
+
+"'If he does not in truth'!" repeated Yusuf. "Surely you, Amzi, have no
+confidence in his visions?"
+
+Amzi smiled. "And yet Yusuf, no longer ago than last night, was ready to
+believe the testimony of a pauper Jew in regard to similar assertions,"
+he said. "But keep your mind easy, friend; I have not accepted
+Mohammed's claims. I am open to conviction yet, and I am not hasty to
+believe. In fact, I must confess, Yusuf, an entire lack of that fervor,
+of that capacity for religious feeling, which is so marked a trait in my
+Persian priest."
+
+"Yet you, too, professed to be a seeker for truth," said Yusuf,
+reproachfully.
+
+"My desire for truth is simply to know it for the mere sake of knowing
+it," said Amzi.
+
+Yusuf sighed. He did not realize that he had to deal with a peculiar
+nature, one of the hardest to impress in spiritual things--the
+indifferent, calculating mind, which is more than half satisfied with
+moral virtue, not realizing the infinitely higher, nobler, happier life
+that comes from the inspiration of a constant companionship with God.
+
+"Alas, I am but a poor teacher, Amzi," he said. "You know, perhaps, more
+of the doctrines of these Christians than I; yet I am convinced that to
+me has come a blessing which you lack, and I would fain you had it too.
+And I know so little that it seems I cannot help you. You will, at
+least, come and talk with Nathan?"
+
+"As you will," said Amzi, in a half-bantering tone. "Prove to me that
+these Hebrews are infallible, and I shall half accept their Jewish
+philosophy."
+
+"You cannot expect to find them or any one on this earth infallible,"
+returned Yusuf, quietly. "I can only promise that you will find in them
+quiet, sincere, upright Christians."
+
+They had reached a sudden turn on the path, and before them, on the top
+of a steep cliff, stood Dumah, with his fair hair streaming in the
+sunshine. He was singing, and they paused to listen.
+
+    "He is gone, the noble, the handsome,
+    And the tears of the mother are falling
+    Like dews from the cup of the lily
+    When it bends its head in the darkness."
+
+"Poor Dumah!" said Amzi, "singing his thoughts as usual. What now,
+Dumah? Who is weeping?"
+
+"A poor Jewess," said the boy, "and her two children cling to her gown
+and weep too. Ah, if Dumah had power he would soon set him free."
+
+"Set whom free?" asked Yusuf.
+
+"The father; they say he took the cup to buy bread; but for the sake of
+the children, Dumah would set him free."
+
+"Oh, it is only a case of stealing down in the Jewish quarter," said
+Amzi, carelessly.
+
+"Yet," returned the other, "a weeping mother and helpless children
+should appeal to the heart of Amzi the benevolent. Let us turn aside and
+see what it is about. Dumah, lead us."
+
+They followed the boy to the hall or court-room of the city. A judge sat
+on a raised dais; witnesses were below, and the owner of the gold cup
+was talking excitedly and calling loudly for justice.
+
+"There is the culprit," whispered Amzi.
+
+Yusuf was struck dumb. It was Nathan, the Christian Jew! Agony was
+written in his face, yet there was patience in it too. His arms were
+bound, and his head was bent in what might have been interpreted as
+humiliation.
+
+"Once more," cried the judge, "have you aught to say for yourself, Jew?"
+
+Nathan raised his head proudly, and looked the Judge straight in the
+eyes.
+
+"I am guiltless," he said, in low, firm tones.
+
+A murmur burst from the crowd, and exclamations could be heard.
+
+"Not guilty! And the cup found in his house!"
+
+"Coward dog! Will he not yet confess?"
+
+"The scourge is too good for him!"
+
+"Have you no explanation to offer?" asked the judge.
+
+"None."
+
+"Then, guards, place him in irons to await our further pleasure. In the
+meantime forty lashes of the scourge. Next!"
+
+Nathan walked out with firm step and head erect. A low sob burst from
+some one in the crowd. It was the wife of Nathan, weeping, while little
+Manasseh and Mary clung to her weeping too.
+
+Yusuf touched her on the arm. "Hush! Be calm!" he said. "All will yet be
+well. I, for one, know that he is innocent, and I will not rest until he
+is free."
+
+"Thank God! He has not forsaken us!" exclaimed the woman.
+
+Yusuf put a piece of money into Manasseh's hand. "Here, take your mother
+home, and buy some bread," he said.
+
+"And here, pretty lad, know you the touch of gold?" said Amzi, as he
+slipped another coin into the child's hand. "Now, Yusuf," he went on,
+"come, let us see your Jewish friends of yester-even."
+
+"Alas, Amzi, these are they," returned the priest, sadly, "and I fear
+yon poor woman feels little like talking to us in the freshness of her
+grief."
+
+Amzi laughed, mysteriously. "So your teacher has proved but a common Jew
+thief," he said.
+
+Yusuf turned almost fiercely. "Do you believe this vile story?" he
+exclaimed. "Did you not see truth stamped upon Nathan's face?"
+
+"You must admit that circumstances are against him. The proof seems
+conclusive."
+
+"I will never believe it, were the proof produced by their machinations
+ten times as conclusive! There is some mystery here which I will
+unravel!"
+
+"My poor Yusuf, you are too credulous in respect to these people. So be
+it. You believe in your Jews, I shall believe in my Mohammed, until the
+tale told is a different one," laughed Amzi; and for the moment Yusuf
+felt helpless.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+YUSUF STUDIES THE SCRIPTURES.--CONNECTING EVENTS.
+
+    "Surely an humble husbandman that serveth God is better than a
+    proud philosopher who, neglecting himself, is occupied in
+    studying the course of the heavens."--_Thomas a Kempis._
+
+
+For many weeks, even months, after this, Yusuf's life, to one who knew
+not the workings of his mind, seemed colorless, and filled with a
+monotonous round of never-varying occupation. Yet in those few weeks he
+lived more than in all his life before. Life is not made up of either
+years or actions--the development of thought and character is the
+important thing; and in this period of apparent waiting, Yusuf grew and
+developed in the light of his new understanding.
+
+He read and thought and studied, and yet found time for paying some
+attention to outer affairs. In Persia he had amassed a considerable
+fortune, which he had conveyed to Mecca in the form of jewels sewn into
+his belt and into the seams of his garments, hence he was abundantly
+able to pay his way, and to expend something in charity; and between his
+and Amzi's generosity the family of Nathan lacked nothing.
+
+Yusuf obtained possession of parts of the Scriptures, written on
+parchment, and spent every morning in their perusal, ever finding this
+period a precious feast full of comforting assurances, and
+hope-inspiring promises. He never forgot to pray for Amzi, to whom he
+often read and expounded passages of Scripture, without being able to
+notice any apparent effect of his teaching.
+
+It troubled him much that Amzi lent such a willing ear to Mohammed, and
+to the few fanatics among the Hanifs who had now professed their belief
+in this self-proclaimed prophet of Allah. It seemed marvelous that a man
+of Amzi's wisdom and learning should be so carried away by such a flimsy
+doctrine as that which Mohammed now began to proclaim. Amzi appeared to
+have fallen under the spell which Mohammed seemed to cast over many of
+those with whom he came in contact; and, though he acknowledged no
+belief in the so-called prophet, neither did he profess disbelief in
+him.
+
+Yusuf's happiest hours were those spent in the little Jewish Christian
+church, a poor, uncomfortable building, where an earnest handful of
+Jews, who were nevertheless firm believers in the divinity of Christ,
+met, often in secret, always in fear of the derisive Arabs, for prayer
+and study of the Gospel. Among these, the wife of Nathan was never
+absent.
+
+Yusuf sought untiringly to solve the mystery of the gold cup.
+Circumstantial evidence was certainly against Nathan. Awad, a rich
+merchant of Mecca, had placed the cup near a window in his house, and
+had forgotten to remove it ere retiring for the night. A short time
+before dawn he had heard a noise and risen to see what it was. He had
+gone outside just in time to see a figure passing hurriedly across a
+small field near his house. Even then he had not thought of the cup. But
+in the morning it was missed, and tracks were followed from the window
+as far as the ruined house to which Nathan's family had gone in their
+poverty. The house was searched, and the cup was found hidden in a heap
+of rubbish in an unused apartment.
+
+Nathan had just returned with little save the clothes he wore; it was
+well known that his wife and children had been verging on starvation,
+and the public, ever ready to judge, formed its own conclusion, and
+turned with Nemesis eye upon the poor Jew.
+
+No clue whatever remained, except a small carnelian, which Yusuf found
+afterwards upon the floor, and which he took possession of at once. For
+hours he would wander about, hoping to find some trace of the robber,
+who, he firmly believed, had fancied himself followed by Awad, and had
+hurriedly secreted the cup, trusting to return for it later, and to make
+his escape in the meantime.
+
+All this, however, did not help poor Nathan, who, chained and fettered,
+languished in a close, poorly-ventilated cell, with little hope of
+deliverance. Yusuf knew the rancor of the Meccans against the Jews, and
+somewhat feared the result, yet he did not give up hope.
+
+"We are praying for him," Nathan's wife would say. "Nathan and Yusuf are
+praying too, and we know that whatever happens must be best, since God
+has willed it so for us."
+
+Little Manasseh chafed more than anyone at the long suspense. One day he
+said:
+
+"Mother, my name means blackness, sorrow, or something like that, does
+it not? Why did you call me Manasseh? Was it to be an omen of my life?"
+
+"Forbid that it should!" the mother exclaimed, passing her hand lovingly
+through his waving hair. "It must have been because of your curls, black
+as a raven's wing. Sorrow will not be always. Joy may come soon; but if
+not, 'at eventide it shall be light.'"
+
+"Does that mean in heaven?" he asked.
+
+"He has prepared for us a mansion in the heavens, an house not made with
+hands. 'There shall be no night there,' and 'sorrow and sighing shall
+flee away,'" said the mother with a far-away look in her eyes.
+
+"But it seems so long to wait, mother," said the boy impatiently.
+
+"Yet heaven is not far away, Manasseh," she returned, quickly. "Heaven
+is wherever God is. And have we not him with us always? 'In all thy ways
+acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.' Never forget that,
+Manasseh."
+
+"Well, I wish we were a little happier now," he would say; and then, to
+divert the boy's attention from his present troubles, his mother would
+tell him about her happy home in Palestine, where she and her little
+sister, Lois, had watched their sheep on the green hillsides, and woven
+chains of flowers to put about the neck of their pet lamb; of how they
+grew up, and Lois married the Bedouin Musa, and had gone far away.
+
+Thus far, Yusuf knew nothing of this connection of Nathan's family with
+his Bedouin friends. It was yet to prove another link in the chain which
+was binding him so closely to this godly family. His many occupations,
+and the feeling which impelled him at every spare moment to seek for
+some clue which would lead to Nathan's liberation, left him little time
+for conversation with them for the present, except to see that their
+wants were supplied.
+
+Then, too, he was troubled about Amzi, and somewhat anxious about the
+result of Mohammed's proclamations, which were now beginning to be
+noised abroad. From holding meetings in caves and private houses, the
+"prophet" had begun to preach on the streets, and from the top of the
+little eminence Safa, near the foot of Abu Kubays.
+
+Many of the people of Mecca held him up to ridicule, and treated his
+declarations with derisive contempt. Among his strongest opponents were
+his own kindred, the Koreish, of the line of Haschem and of the rival
+line of Abd Schems. The head of the latter tribe, Abu Sofian, Mohammed's
+uncle, was especially bitter. He was a formidable foe, as he lived in
+the highlands, his castles being built on precipitous rocks, and manned
+by a set of wild and savage Arabs.
+
+Yet Mohammed went on, neither daunted by fear nor discouraged by
+sarcasm. The number of his followers steadily increased; his first
+converts, Ali, his cousin, and Zeid, his faithful servant, being quickly
+joined by many others.
+
+Mohammed now boldly proclaimed the message delivered to him in the cave
+of Hira the Koran. He declared that the law of Moses had given way to
+the Gospel, and that the Gospel was now to give way to the Koran; that
+the Savior was a great prophet, but was not divine; and that he,
+Mohammed, was to be the last and greatest of all the prophets.
+
+Such assertions were usually received with shouts of derision; and yet,
+when Mohammed eloquently upheld fairness and sincerity in all public and
+private dealings, and urged the giving of alms, and the living of a pure
+and humble life, there were those who, like Amzi, felt that there was
+something worthy of admiration in the new prophet's religion; and his
+very firmness and sincerity, even when spat upon, and covered with mud
+thrown upon him as he prayed in the Caaba, won for him friends.
+
+The opposition of his uncles, Abu Lahab and Abu Sofian, was, however,
+carried on with the greatest rancor; and at last a decree was issued by
+Abu Sofian forbidding the tribe of the Koreish from having any
+intercourse whatever with Mohammed. This decree was written on
+parchment, and hung up in the Caaba, and Mohammed was ultimately forced
+to flee from the city. He and his disciples went for refuge to the
+ravine of Abu Taleb, at some distance from Mecca. Here they would have
+suffered great want, had it not been for the kindness of Amzi, who
+managed to send them food in secret.
+
+But the prophet's zeal never flagged. When the Ramadhan again came
+round, and it was safe to venture from his temporary retreat, he came
+boldly into the city, preached again from the hill Safa, and proclaimed
+his new revelations, praying for the people, and ending every prayer
+with the declaration now universal throughout the Moslem world,--
+
+"God! There is no God but he, the ever-living! He sleepeth not, neither
+doth he slumber! To him belong the heavens and the earth, and all that
+they contain. Who shall intercede with him unless by his permission? His
+sway extendeth over the heavens and the earth, and to sustain them both
+is no burthen to him. He is the High, the Mighty!"
+
+The sublimity of this eulogy of the Most High may be readily traced to
+the psalms, particularly to that grandest of all songs, the one hundred
+and fourth psalm, which has been said to be remarkable in that it
+embraces the whole cosmos. And, in fact, the whole trend of the Koran
+may be traced to a study of the Bible, particularly to the New
+Testament, with occasional digressions into the Mishnu, and the Talmud
+of the Hebrews.
+
+"Feed the hungry! Visit the sick! Bow not to idols! Pray constantly, and
+direct thy prayers immediately to the Deity!" These were the constant
+exhortations of the prophet during these first days of his
+ministry--exhortations which demand the admiration of all who consider
+the grossness and idolatry of the age in which he lived. Had he never
+gone further, succeeding ages might have been tempted to pardon his
+hallucinations. At the time, doctrines which savored of so much
+magnanimity, and which were immeasurably in advance of the mockery of
+religion that had so long held sway among the majority of the Arabs, at
+once commended themselves to many. The effect of the new teaching was
+enhanced by the burning enthusiasm and powerful oratory of Mohammed, who
+was not ignorant of the effect of eloquent delivery and glowing language
+on a people ever passionate and keenly susceptible to the influence of a
+strong and vivid presentation.
+
+Ridicule and persecution ceased for a time, and at last, when the decree
+was removed, Mohammed and his followers returned in triumph to Mecca.
+
+Once again he was obliged to fly for his life. Accompanied by Zeid, he
+went to Tayf, and there spent a month in its perfumed vales, wandering
+by cooling streams, meditating beneath the waving fronds of the
+palm-trees, or resting in cool gardens, lulled by the rustling leaves of
+the nebeck (the lotus-tree), and inhaling the fresh perfume of peach and
+apple blooms.
+
+But the inhabitants of Tayf grew hostile, and the prophet again set out
+on foot for Mecca. He sat down to rest in an orchard. There he dreamed
+that a host of genii waited before him, begging him to teach them El
+Islam.
+
+In the night[8] he arose and proceeded, with renewed courage, on his
+journey. On the way he fell in with some pilgrims from Yathrib, or
+Medina, and to them he unfolded his revelations. They listened
+spell-bound as he preached from Al Akaba, and besought him that he would
+come or would send disciples with them to their northern town.
+Accordingly, Mohammed chose several converts to accompany them upon this
+first mission, and a time was set for their going.
+
+On the evening preceding this appointed time, Yusuf sat in a hanging
+balcony of Amzi's house. The pink flush of the setting sun was over the
+sky; the murmur of the city arose with a subdued hum--"the city's stilly
+sound"; a parchment containing a part of the Scriptures was on the
+priest's knee, but he stopped reading and gave himself up to meditation,
+wondering deeply at the strange course that events were taking, and
+surmising vaguely the probable result of the revolution that seemed
+impending.
+
+His thoughts turned to Amzi, who, as yet, closed his ears to the Gospel
+tidings which were proving such a comfort and joy to the priest.
+
+A step sounded behind him. It was Amzi himself, attired in traveling
+garb, and with his camel-stick already in his hand.
+
+"What now, friend Yusuf? Dreaming still?" he said. "Will you not say
+farewell to your friend?"
+
+"What! Are you going on a journey? Pray, where goes Amzi on such short
+notice?"
+
+"Ah," smiled Amzi, "I almost fear to tell my Persian proselyte, lest the
+vials of his wrath be poured on my defenceless and submissive head. To
+make a long story short, I go with the disciples of Mohammed to Medina."
+
+"As Mohammed's disciple? Amzi, has it come to this!" exclaimed the
+priest.
+
+"Chain your choler, my friend," laughed the other. "I merely go to
+observe the outcome of this movement in the town of the North. Besides,
+the heat of Mecca in this season oppresses me, and I long for the cool
+breezes of Medina. Yusuf, I shall have rare letters to write you, for I
+feel that there will be a mighty movement in favor of Mohammed there."
+
+"You begin to believe in him, Amzi!" said Yusuf in tones of deepest
+concern.
+
+"His doctrines suit me, as containing many noble precepts. His
+proclamations are moving the town in such a way as was never known
+heretofore."
+
+"Consider the movement caused by the teaching of Christ when he was on
+earth!" cried Yusuf. "Dare you compare this petty tempest with that?"
+
+"Yet Christ's very words have been here where all might read them, for
+long enough. Why have they not drawn the attention of, and, if divine,
+why have they not shown their power among, our citizens?"
+
+"Because ye have eyes that see not, and ears that hear not!" cried the
+priest impetuously. "Can you not see that the doctrines of the
+Scriptures are just those which Mohammed proclaims? He seizes upon them,
+he gives them as his own, because he knows they are good, yet he commits
+the sacrilege of posing as a divine agent! Good cannot come out of this
+except in so far as a few precepts of the Gospel, all plagiarized as
+they are, exert their influence upon the lives of people."
+
+Amzi looked inconvincible. "I grant the excellence of Gospel teaching,"
+he said, "but your conception of God's love I cannot seem to feel, often
+as you have explained it to me. Mohammed's revelations appear plausible.
+Yet, look not so doleful, brother. Amzi has not become a Mohammedan. He
+is still ready to believe as soon as he can see."
+
+"Yes, yes; like Thomas, you must see and feel ere you will believe. God
+grant that the seeing and feeling may not come too late!"
+
+Amzi smiled, and passed his arm affectionately about the priest's
+shoulder. "What a thorn in the flesh to you is Amzi the benevolent," he
+said, kindly. "Notwithstanding, give me your blessing, priest. Give me
+credit for being, at least, honest, and bid me good speed before I go."
+
+"Heaven forbid that aught but blessing from Yusuf should ever follow
+Amzi!" returned the other, warmly. "May heaven keep and direct you, my
+friend, my brother!"
+
+The friends embraced, according to the custom of the land, and
+separated; Amzi to join the half-naked pilgrims, who had not yet donned
+their traveling-robes, Yusuf to lift his heart to Heaven, as he now did
+in every circumstance. In this silent talk to God he received comfort,
+and his heart was filled with hope for Amzi.
+
+Even this journey, which seemed so inauspicious, might, he thought, be
+but the beginning of a happy end. He had learned that there are no
+trifles in life; that no event is so insignificant that God may not make
+use of it. He felt that Amzi was not utterly indifferent to the
+influence of divine power, so he waited in patience.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+WHEREIN IS TOLD THE STORY OF NATHAN'S LIBERATION.
+
+    "The winds, as at their hour of birth,
+      Leaning upon the ridged sea,
+    Breathed low around the rolling earth
+      With mellow preludes, 'We are free.'"
+
+                              --_Tennyson._
+
+
+During all this time, there was no news of release for poor Nathan. In
+his close cell, ventilated by one little window, and, in the fetid odor
+of its air, he pined away. A low fever had rendered him exceedingly
+weak; he could not eat the wretched food of the prison; his face grew
+haggard, and his bones shone through the flesh with almost skeleton-like
+distinctness. Yet no murmur passed his lips.
+
+From his window, set high in the wall, he could see the sun as it rose
+over Abu Kubays; he could catch the occasional glint of a bright wing as
+a dove or a swallow flitted past beneath the white sky; and he said,
+"God is still good, blessed be his name!"
+
+Yet the grief of being separated from his loved ones, and the
+uncertainty of their welfare, preyed upon his mind, almost shaking the
+trust which had upheld him so long. It was a time of trial for poor
+Nathan, yet his faith came forth from the trial untarnished.
+
+Yusuf sought in vain to gain admission to the poor prisoner: the utmost
+that he could accomplish was to pay the attendant for carrying one
+brief message to him, assuring him that his wife and children were well,
+and cared for.
+
+The mystery of the gold cup was still unsolved. One day, however, when
+going down one of the busiest streets, Yusuf saw, at some distance, a
+little man walking along with a pack on his back. The peculiar hopping
+motion of his gait proclaimed him at once to be Abraham, the little Jew.
+
+"The very man!" thought Yusuf. "If any one between Syria and Yemen can
+ferret out a mystery, it is Abraham the peddler. If I can once set him
+in earnest upon the track, deliverance may be speedy for poor Nathan."
+
+The peddler was walking very rapidly, but Yusuf strode after him, now
+losing sight of him in the crowd, now catching a glimpse of his little
+bobbing figure, until, out of breath, he finally reached him and caught
+his arm.
+
+The Jew started in surprise. "Defend us, friend!" he exclaimed. "You
+come on a man like the poison-wind, as quickly if not as deadly. So you
+are still in Mecca! What are you doing now?"
+
+He was as inquisitive as ever, but Yusuf did not resent the trait in him
+now.
+
+"I am on important business just at present, my friend," he said, in his
+kindliest tone, "on business in which I am sure Abraham the Jew can help
+me, better than any other man in Mecca."
+
+"Ha!" exclaimed the peddler, "and what may that be?"
+
+"Can you keep a still tongue when it is necessary, Jew?"
+
+The peddler placed his fingers on his lips, rolled up his eyes, and
+nodded assent.
+
+"Then come with me to the house of Amzi the benevolent,--my Meccan
+home,--and I shall explain."
+
+When seated comfortably on divans in the coolest part of the house,
+Yusuf told the story of the gold cup, and intimated that Abraham's
+wandering life and the numberless throngs of people with whom his trade
+threw him in contact, gave him facilities, impossible to others, of
+doing a little detective work in a quiet way.
+
+The Jew listened, silent and motionless, with his eyes fixed on a
+lotus-bud carved on the cornice. Only once did he turn and fix his
+little round eyes sharply on the priest's face.
+
+"There is just one more thing--" continued Yusuf, then he stopped. He
+was about to tell of the little carnelian stone, when his eye fell upon
+one of the numerous rings upon the Jew's fat fingers. There, in the
+center of it, was a small cavity from which, apparently, a jewel of some
+sort had fallen from its setting.
+
+Yusuf almost sprang to his feet in the excitement of the discovery.
+
+"Well?" asked the Jew, noting the pause.
+
+"I will tell you later," said Yusuf. "For the present--have some dates,
+will you not?"
+
+A servant entered with a tray on which were fruits and small cakes.
+
+The peddler besought Yusuf, for friendship's sake, to eat with him; but
+the Persian made a gesture of disgust.
+
+"I have already eaten," he said. "Overeating in Mecca in the hot season
+is not wise. Abraham, do you always wear so many rings on your fingers?"
+
+"Oh, no," returned the Jew, "sometimes I wear them; sometimes I carry
+them for months in my belt. This"--pointing to a huge band of ancient
+workmanship--"is the most curious one of the lot. I got it for carrying
+a bundle of manuscript from a man at Oman to your friend Amzi, here. It
+seems that Amzi had once lived with him at Oman, but the man--I forget
+his name--went inland to Teheran, or some other place in Persia, and
+Amzi, after traveling about for two or three years, settled in Mecca.
+This one"--and he pointed out the ring on which Yusuf's eyes were
+fixed--"is the most expensive of the lot, but a stone fell out of it
+once when I was carrying it in my belt."
+
+"Did you not look in your belt for it?"
+
+"No use; it had worked out between the stitches. I had no idea where I
+lost it."
+
+"Have you had that ring long?"
+
+"Long! Why, that ring has not been off my person for fifteen years."
+
+"I suppose you would not sell it?"
+
+The peddler shrugged his shoulders, and looked up with a shrewd glance.
+
+"That depends on how much money it would bring."
+
+"I have little idea of the value of such rings," said the Persian, "but
+I have a friend who, I am convinced, would appreciate that one. I should
+like to present it to him. Will you take this for it?"
+
+He drew forth a coin worth three times the value of the ring. The
+peddler immediately closed the bargain and handed the ring over, then
+devoted his attention again to the table.
+
+The priest went to the window. He drew the little stone from his bosom
+and slipped it into the cavity. It fitted exactly. He then walked back
+to the table, and held it before the astonished Jew.
+
+"How now, Jew?" he said with a smile. "Saw you such a gem before?"
+
+"My very own carnelian!" exclaimed the peddler. "Where did you find it?"
+
+"You are sure it is yours?"
+
+"Sure! On my oath, it is mine. There is not another such stone in
+Arabia, with that streak across the top."
+
+The priest laid his hand on the Jew's shoulder and bent close to him.
+"That stone," he said, "was found in the house of Nathan the Jew, beside
+the stolen cup. How came it there?"
+
+The little Jew turned pale. His guilt showed in his face. He knew that
+he was undone.
+
+With a quick, serpent-like movement, he attempted to escape, but the
+priest's grasp was firm as a vise.
+
+"No, peddler!" he said, "you may go, but it must be with me. To the
+magistrate you must go, and that right speedily. The innocent must no
+longer suffer in your rightful place. Come, Aza,"--to an attendant who
+had been in the room--"your tongue may be needed to supplement mine."
+
+The Jew's little eyes rolled around restlessly. He was a thorough
+coward, and his teeth chattered with fear as he was half-dragged into
+the blinding glare of the street, and down the long, crooked way, with a
+crowd of beggars and saucy boys following in the wake of the trio. Once
+or twice again he made a quick and sudden movement to elude the grasp of
+his captors, but the priest's grip was firm and his muscle like steel.
+Justice was in Yusuf's heart, and his anxiety to procure Nathan's
+release was so great that he strode on, almost forgetting the poor
+little Jew, who was obliged to keep up a constant hobbling run to save
+himself from being dragged to the ground.
+
+In the hall of justice the usual amount of questioning went on, but the
+evidence afforded by the ring was so conclusive that the order for
+Nathan's release and the peddler's imprisonment was soon given.
+
+Yusuf accompanied the guards to Nathan's cell. The poor prisoner was
+sitting on the bare clay with his head buried on his knee. An unusual
+clamor sounded outside of the door. The heavy bolt was withdrawn, and
+the next moment Yusuf rushed in, crying, "Free, Nathan, free!"
+
+Nathan fell on the other's bosom. The sudden joy was too much for him,
+and he could only lie, like a little child, sobbing on the breast of the
+stalwart priest.
+
+The warden rattled the bolts impatiently. "Come, there's room outside!"
+he said. "I have not time to stand here all day!"
+
+"Pardon us," said the priest, gently. "We go; yet, warden, ere we
+depart, may I ask you to deal leniently with that poor wretch?" and he
+pointed to the Jew, who was now crouched shivering in his chains.
+
+"We but do as we are ordered," returned the warden unfeelingly. "The
+officers will be here presently with the scourge; we can not prevent
+that."
+
+The peddler winced, and Nathan raised a face full of pity. "Warden," he
+said, "if you have a drop of mercy in your heart, if you hope for mercy
+for yourself, treat him as a man. Let him not die for want of a pittance
+of water."
+
+He turned the sleeve of his loose garment back to expose the emaciated
+arm with the bones showing through the loose skin. "There," he said,
+"let that touch your heart, if heart you have, and spare him. Poor
+Abraham!"--turning to the peddler--"did I not see you here, the joy of
+my release would be unspeakable."
+
+But Abraham only turned to bestow a look of hate and malice upon the
+priest.
+
+Then Yusuf and Nathan passed out into the pure, fresh air, now growing
+cool with the approach of evening. Never did air seem so pure and sweet;
+never did swallows twitter so gladly; never did the peak of Abu Kubays
+shine so gloriously in the sun; never did the voices of people sound so
+joyous or their faces beam so brightly.
+
+"Come," said Nathan, "to my wife and children, that we may all return
+thanks together. Verily 'Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but
+the Lord delivereth him out of them all.' 'Blessed be God, which hath
+not turned away my prayer, nor his mercy from me.' 'I had fainted unless
+I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the
+living.' 'My flesh faileth, but God is the strength of my heart, and my
+portion forever.'"
+
+So, uttering exclamations from the pages of Scripture, did the devout
+Jew pass onward to his home, which was once more filled with "joy and
+gladness, thanksgiving and the voice of melody." Before leaving, Yusuf
+presented him with the ring containing the little stone, as a memento of
+his deliverance.
+
+And Abraham? He received the full weight of the scourge; and may we be
+pardoned in anticipating, and say that for two days he lay nursing his
+wrath and his wounds; but, on the third day after his imprisonment, his
+agility suddenly returned. He managed in some inexplicable way known
+only to himself to work free of his fetters, and when the keeper came
+with food in the evening, blinded by the dim light of the cell, he did
+not perceive the little peddler crouched in a heap in the middle of the
+floor.
+
+Scarcely was the door opened when the Jew bounced like a ball past the
+keeper's feet, almost upsetting him; then, darting like an arrow between
+the astonished guards without, he was off. A hue and cry was raised, but
+the little peddler had disappeared as completely as if the earth had
+opened up and swallowed him.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+AMZI AT MEDINA.
+
+    "With half-shut eyes ever to seem
+    Falling asleep in a half dream!
+    To dream and dream like yonder amber light
+    Which will not leave the myrrh-bush on the height."
+
+                              --_Tennyson._
+
+
+Without entering into detail it may be briefly stated that the success
+of Mohammed's disciples in Medina was simply marvelous. Converts joined
+them every day, while those who were not prepared to believe in the
+Meccan's divine mission were at least anxious to see and hear the
+prophet.
+
+Amzi did no work in behalf of the new religion. He was simply an
+onlooker, though not an unsympathetic one; and, it must be confessed, he
+spent most of his time in that voluptuous do-nothingness in which the
+wealthy Oriental dreams away so much of his time,--sitting or reclining
+on perfumed cushions, a fan in his hand and a long pipe at his mouth,
+too languid, too listless, even to talk; listening to the soft murmur of
+Nature's music, the night-wind sighing through the trees beneath a
+star-gemmed sky, the song of a solitary bulbul warbling plaintively
+among the myrtle and oleander blooms, the plash of a fountain rippling
+near with "a sound as of a hidden brook in the leafy month of June";
+this, the exquisite languor of the East, "for which the speech of
+England has no name," the "Kaif" of the Arab, the drowsy falseness of
+the Lotos-eaters' ideal:
+
+    "Death is the end of life; ah, why
+    Should life all labor be?
+    Let us alone."
+
+And so the months went by, until at last a band of emissaries, to the
+number of seventy, was appointed to take a journey to Mecca for the
+purpose of meeting with Mohammed and discussing with him the
+advisability of his taking up his residence at Medina.
+
+A herald brought news of this embassy to the prophet. He went forth to
+meet them, and Yusuf, hearing by chance of the appointed conference, set
+out posthaste after Mohammed's party, eager to get even a pressure of
+the hand from Amzi, his heart's brother, who he felt sure would
+accompany the emissaries. In order to overtake them more quickly, he
+proceeded with a trusty guide by a shorter route across the hills.
+
+The night was exceptionally dark, and even the guide became confused.
+The way led on and on between the interminable hills, until the two in
+complete uncertainty reined their steeds on the verge of a cliff that
+seemed to overhang a deep and narrow basin, bounded by flinty rock which
+even in the darkness loomed doubly black, and which rang beneath the
+horses' feet with that peculiar, metallic sound that proclaimed it black
+basalt, the "hell-stone" of the Arabs.
+
+It was indeed an eerie spot. A thick fringe of thorny shrubs grew along
+the edge of the cliff; at intervals yawned deep fissures, across which
+the wise little Arabian ponies stepped gingerly; and above, outlined in
+intense black against the dark sky, were numerous peaks and pinnacles
+and castellated summits, such as the Arabs love to people with all
+manner of genii and evil spirits of the waste and silent wilderness. It
+was a spot likely to be infested with robbers, and Yusuf and his guide
+waited in some trepidation while considering what to do.
+
+[Illustration: "Hold!" cried a voice from the air above.--See page 34.]
+
+Presently a dull trampling sounded in the distance. It came nearer and
+nearer, and the two lone wanderers on the cliff scarcely dared to
+breathe.
+
+The tread of camels was soon discernible, the "Ikh! Ikh!" (the sound
+used to make camels kneel) of the camel-drivers rising from the dark
+pass below to the ears of the men above. Apparently the party was about
+to make a halt in the dark basin; and should it prove to be a band of
+hill-robbers, Yusuf and his companion were in a precarious position, for
+the slightest sound made by them or their ponies would probably prove
+the signal for an onslaught; but by patting and quieting the animals,
+they managed to keep their restlessness in check and so waited, scarcely
+knowing what to do next.
+
+Ere ten minutes had elapsed, however, the tread of camels was again
+heard, and another party came in from the opposite direction, halting at
+the other end of the ravine. A call was sounded and at once answered by
+the body immediately below. The new-comers advanced, and mutual
+recognitions seemed to take place, although Yusuf could distinguish
+neither the voices nor the words.
+
+The parties were, in reality, those of Mohammed and the emissaries of
+Medina, who at once opened negotiations. After the salutations were
+over, they extended to Mohammed a formal invitation to Medina.
+
+"We will receive you as a confederate, obey you as a leader, and defend
+you to the last extremity, even as we defend our wives and children,"
+said the spokesman.
+
+"For your gracious invitation accept my most hearty thanks," said
+Mohammed. "My work is not yet ended in Mecca, yet ere long I hope to pay
+at least a visit to you, O believers of Medina."
+
+"But," said the leader, "if you are recalled to your own district you
+will not forsake us?"
+
+"All things," replied Mohammed, "are now common between us. Your blood
+is my blood. Your ruin is my ruin. We are bound to each other by the
+ties of honor and interest. I am your friend and the enemy of your
+foes."
+
+He then chose twelve of the men to be the especial heralds of his faith,
+and all, placing their hands in his, swore fealty to him in life and in
+death.
+
+"If we are killed in your service, what shall be our reward?" asked one
+of the number.
+
+"Paradise!" cried the prophet. "Vales of eternal rest and felicity,
+odors of sweet spices on the air, blessed spirits to--"
+
+"Hold!" cried a voice from the air above. "Who are you, Mohammed, who
+can dare to promise that which belongs to the Creator alone? Impostor,
+take heed!"
+
+It was only Yusuf, who, in his anxiety to discover if the gloomy vale
+were indeed the nest of some daring mountain chief, had noiselessly
+descended to an overhanging ledge, and had heard the last confident
+assertion of the prophet.
+
+But the utmost consternation fell upon the Arabs below. Some, believing
+the voice to be that of a demon of the rock, were seized with sudden
+panic; others shouted excitedly, "Spies! spies!" and the assembly broke
+up in confusion, all scurrying off, leaving Yusuf and his guide again
+alone on the rock.
+
+"Amzi! Amzi!" shouted the priest, with a forlorn hope that his friend
+might have lingered behind the fleeing party; but the only response was
+the beat of hoofs flying in every direction, and the dull thud of the
+camels' padded feet. There was nothing better to be done than wait until
+morning, so Yusuf and the guide lay down on the hard rock for the rest
+of the night.
+
+For some time after this affairs seemed to be at a standstill. Mohammed
+still continued to preach, now from the hill Safa, now from the knoll El
+Akaba at the north of the town.
+
+His wife, Cadijah, had died some time before, and he had since married a
+widow, Sawda, and become betrothed to a child, Ayesha, the daughter of
+his friend and disciple, Abu Beker.
+
+But events in Mecca were fast hastening to a crisis. Abu Sofian, still
+the most mortal enemy to Mohammed and his religion, had succeeded Abu
+Taleb in the government of Mecca, and no sooner had he become head of
+the state than he determined to crush Mohammed, and exterminate his
+religion at any cost. A plot for the assassination of the prophet was
+formed. Several of the tribe of the Koreish and their allies were
+appointed to kill Mohammed, in order to avert the blood-revenge of
+Mohammed's immediate kin, the Haschemites, who, it was thought, would
+not dare to avenge themselves upon such numerous and such scattered
+foes.
+
+The attack was planned with the utmost secrecy in the cellar of a house,
+and at a time but the space of three hours before daybreak, when all
+Mecca lay chained in slumber.
+
+Yet not all. Abraham, the Jew, was, as usual, on the alert. Since his
+escape he had been prowling about the hills, penniless, and hence unable
+to leave the district. He had now come down to steal food, for
+necessity, in his eyes, rendered any such proceeding pardonable; and,
+perceiving a mysterious light issuing from a chink in the wall, his
+natural curiosity asserted itself. He lay down flat on the ground, put
+his ear to the chink, and succeeded in hearing every word of the plot.
+
+Here, then, was a chance to gain favor and protection from at least a
+few in Mecca. He would disclose the plot to Mohammed and his vizier, and
+beseech their protection as the price of his services as a savior of the
+prophet's life. Accordingly, a couple of hours before the time appointed
+for the assassination, and as soon as the cover of darkness rendered his
+own appearance in the city safe, he hastened to the prophet.
+
+No time was to be lost. Mohammed, accompanied by Abu Beker and the Jew,
+at once fled; while Ali, to deceive the spies, and keep them as long as
+possible in check, wrapped himself in the prophet's green cloak, moved
+round with it on for some time, and at last lay down on Mohammed's bed.
+
+When the assassins entered, intending to rush upon the sleeping form
+and destroy it, Ali threw the cloak off and sat up. In the meantime the
+fugitives had reached the cave of Thor, three miles distant, from
+whence, after three days, they escaped to Medina.
+
+This was the famous flight of the prophet, the Hegira, or Hejra, in the
+year 622 A.D. and about the fifty-third year of Mohammed's age.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+MOHAMMED'S ENTRANCE INTO MEDINA.
+
+                  "Oh, it is excellent
+    To have a giant's strength: but it is tyrannous
+    To use it like a giant."
+
+                              --_Shakespeare._
+
+
+Once more after the lapse of years let us look at Amzi as he sat one
+morning in his house at Medina.
+
+The cool and pleasant atmosphere of the town in contrast with the
+burning, breathless heat of Mecca had charmed him. He had immediately
+purchased a house and furnished it with the luxurious splendor which
+suited his rather voluptuous taste.
+
+The apartment in which he sat was in the middle story, the one sacred to
+the men in a house of Medina. Rich Persian carpets were on the floor,
+rugs of Inde were scattered about and piled with cushions filled with
+softest down. Low divans invited repose, and heavy curtains of yellow
+silk shut out the too bright glare of day. The ceiling, after the
+Persian fashion, was inlaid with mirrors, fitted in in different
+patterns, and divided by carved sticks of palm, stained red; and the
+sweet odor of richest perfumes of Arabia-Felix spread through the room
+as if emanating from the silken hangings of the wall.
+
+The window was open, and the breeze from the east, bearing, as it were,
+tales of the Nejd, the land of brave men and beautiful women, swayed
+the curtains softly. Outside, in the sloping garden, waved the graceful
+branches of the tamarisk, glittering with dew in the early morning sun;
+and near the window a jujube tree stretched its dark, shining leaves and
+yellow fruit temptingly near. Acacias with sweet-scented yellow
+blossoms, oleanders glowing with rosy bloom, and a thicket of
+silver-leaved castors separated the little plot from the gardens below,
+where grew gourds and cucumbers, lime and fig trees, grape-vines,
+water-melons and pomegranates; and beyond that lay a bright patch of
+Bursim, or Egyptian clover, like a yellow-green island on a darker sea.
+
+Amzi, comfortably habited in a jubbeh of pink silk, worn over a caftan
+of fine white silk flowered with green and confined by a fringed, yellow
+sash at the waist, reclined in a position of luxurious ease at the
+window. Between his plump fingers he held the amber stem of a handsomely
+carved pipe. He looked scarcely older than when on that memorable
+journey in which he first met Yusuf. His eye was still as bright, his
+hair scarcely more gray, and his cheek as ruddy as then; yet there was a
+somewhat discontented look on his face.
+
+His eye wandered over the rich garden before him, and he thought of
+barren, ashen Mecca. Then he looked restlessly back over the landscape
+below. Surely it was fair enough to calm a restless spirit.
+
+Immediately before, and to the eastward, the sun had risen out of a mass
+of lilac and rose-colored cloud. The tufted trees on the distant hills
+stood black and distinct against the splendor of the sky. To the right
+the date-groves of Kuba, famed throughout Arabia, struggled through a
+sea of mist that piled and surged in waves of amber and purple, leaving
+the tree tops like islands on a vapory sea. To the left the seared and
+scoriae-covered crest of Mount Ohod rose, dark and scowling, like a grim
+sentinel on the borders of an Elysian valley. In the rear lay the plain
+of El Munakhah, and the rush of the torrent El Sayh was borne on the
+breeze, bearing the willing mind beyond to the cool groves of Kuba,
+whence this raging flood dispersed itself in gentle rills, or was
+carried in silent channels to turn the water-wheels, or to fall, with
+musical plash, into wooden troughs that lay deep in the shade.
+
+The ripple of water,--ah, what it means to Arabian ears! Little wonder
+that the inhabitant of the desert land never omits it from his idea of
+paradise, save in his conception of the highest heaven,--a conception
+not lacking in sublimity--that of a silent looking upon the face of God.
+
+In the immediate foreground lay El Medina itself, with its narrow
+streets, its busy bazars, its fair-skinned people, and its low, yellow,
+flat-roofed houses, each with its well and court-yard, nestling cozily
+among the feathery-fronded date-trees.
+
+From the Eastern Road, a caravan from the Nejd was descending slowly
+into the town, and so clear was the atmosphere that Amzi could
+distinguish the huge, white dromedaries, and catch an occasional glint
+of a green shugduf, or the gorgeous litter of a grandee, trapped in
+scarlet and gold.
+
+It was indeed a fair scene, and Amzi enjoyed it to the full with the
+keen enjoyment of one who possesses an esthetic temperament, an intense
+love of the beautiful. Yet he began to feel lonely in this town of his
+adoption. It was long since he had seen Yusuf, and he commenced to think
+seriously of returning for a time to Mecca.
+
+Besides, he was tired of waiting for Mohammed's long-deferred visit, and
+he was anxious again to see the man whose strange fascination over him
+he scarcely dared to acknowledge even to himself. The emptiness and
+idleness of his own life was beginning to pall upon him, and he compared
+unfavorably his sluggish existence with the busy, quietly energetic way
+in which Yusuf was spending his days.
+
+One source of unfailing pleasure to him had been the companionship of
+Dumah, who had followed him to Medina, but was wandering about as usual,
+returning to Amzi when tired or hungry, as a birdling returns to its
+mother's wing.
+
+And Amzi had almost a mother's love for the boy, for poor Dumah seemed a
+child still; he had grown but little, his face was paler than of old,
+his eyes were as large and blue, and his bright hair fell in the same
+soft curls above his regular and clear-cut features. Like Yusuf, Amzi
+felt that the orphan's very helplessness was an appeal to his heart, and
+he did not lock its doors.
+
+Dumah now came in wearily. He lay down at Amzi's feet and put his head
+on his knee. The Meccan stroked his soft hair gently.
+
+"Where has my Dumah been?" he asked tenderly.
+
+"Watching the people going out foolishly. Dumah would not go with them."
+
+"Going where, lad?"
+
+"Out to the gardens where the lotus blows, and the date-palms wave, and
+the citron and orange grow."
+
+"And why go they, then, foolishly?" smiled Amzi.
+
+"Because they go to meet him, and they are carrying white robes, and
+they will bring him in as a prince,--the wicked one, who would place
+himself above our blessed Master!"
+
+Amzi started up quickly, and threw his pipe down.
+
+"Is Mohammed here?" he cried.
+
+"He is here. But you will not go too, Amzi? Alas that I told you! The
+angels I see in my dreams do not smile, they look away and vanish when I
+think of Mohammed. Yusuf does not love him! Let not Amzi!" pleaded the
+orphan.
+
+But the Meccan was gone. Hastening on towards the outskirts of the city,
+he met a great crowd of people, pressing about Mohammed and Abu Beker,
+each of whom was dressed in a white garment, and riding triumphantly
+upon a white camel, the prophet being mounted on his own beast El Kaswa.
+
+The little peddler, assigning himself a lower place, rode behind on a
+pack-mule.
+
+Mohammed had come, and was, from the very beginning, a monarch,
+surrounded by an army of blind devotees, believers in his holy mission,
+and slavishly obedient to his will.
+
+Amzi took the prophet to his house, and there entertained him as a
+respected Meccan friend, until Mohammed's home was erected. It was at
+Amzi's house, too, that the nuptials of Mohammed and the beautiful
+Ayesha, also those of Ali and the prophet's daughter Fatimah, took
+place.
+
+One of Mohammed's first acts was to have a mosque built, and, from it,
+morning and night the call to prayers was given:
+
+"God is great! There is no God but God! Mohammed is the prophet of God!
+Come to prayers. Come to prayers! God is great!"
+
+And from this mosque Mohammed exhorted with wondrous eloquence, the
+music of his voice falling like a spell on the multitudes, as they
+listened to teachings new and more living than the old, dead,
+superstitious idolatry to which they were in bondage; yet, had they
+known it, teachings whose choicest gems were but crumbs borrowed from
+the words of One who had preached in all meekness and love on the shores
+of Galilee and the hills of Palestine more than six hundred years
+before.
+
+They listened in wonder to condemnation of their belief in polytheism.
+
+"In the name of the most merciful God," Mohammed would say, "say God is
+one God, the Eternal God; he begetteth not, neither is he begotten, and
+there is not anyone like unto him!" Thus did he aim at the foundation of
+Christianity, seeking to overthrow belief in the "only begotten Son of
+God" as a divine factor of the Trinity. Jesus he recognized as a
+prophet, not as God's own Son; and, while he borrowed incessantly from
+the Scriptures, he refused to accept them, declaring that they had
+become perverted, and that the original Koran was a volume of Paradise,
+from which Gabriel rendered him transcripts, and was, therefore, the
+true word of God which had been laid from time everlasting on what he
+called the "preserved table," close to the throne of God in the highest
+heaven.
+
+And yet, during the greater part of his career, the utterances of this
+strange, incomprehensible man were characterized by a seemingly real
+glow of philanthropy and an earnest solicitude for the salvation of his
+countrymen from the depths of moral and spiritual degradation into
+which they had fallen. A missionary spirit seemed to be in him, in
+strange contrast and incompatibility with the sacrilegious words that
+often fell from his lips.
+
+In all the records of history there is nothing more wonderful than the
+marvelous success which attended Mohammed at Medina. Staid and sober
+merchantmen, men with gray heads, fiery youths, proselytes from the
+tribes of the desert, even women, flocked to him every day; and he soon
+realized that he had a vast army of converts ready to live or die for
+him, ready to fight for him until the last.
+
+Amzi, alone, of all his followers, seemed to stand aloof,
+half-believing, yet unwilling to proclaim his belief openly; simply
+waiting, as he had waited all his life, to see the truth, yet too
+indolent to set out bravely in the quest. He preferred to look on from
+aside; to weigh and calculate motives, actions and results; to judge men
+by their fruits, though the doing so called for long waiting.
+
+Yet Amzi grew more and more dissatisfied. He felt, though he knew not
+its cause, the want of a rich spiritual life, that empty hollowness
+which pleasures of the world and the mere consciousness of a moral life
+cannot satisfy.
+
+More than once he was tempted to declare himself a follower of the
+prophet, but he put it off until a riper season.
+
+Poor Dumah noted Amzi's frequent visits to the mosque with a vague
+dread. He had an instinctive dislike of Mohammed, whose assumptions of
+superiority to Jesus he understood in a hazy way, and resented with all
+his might.
+
+One day he entered with a tablet of soft stone to which a cord was
+attached. Putting the cord about Amzi's neck, he said:
+
+"Amzi, promise your Dumah that you will wear this always, will you not?
+Because Dumah might die, and could not say the words any more. Promise
+me!"
+
+"I promise you," smiled Amzi, and Dumah left the room contented.
+
+Amzi turned the tablet over, and read the familiar words traced upon the
+soft stone,--the words recognized as the corner-stone of Christianity:
+
+"God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that
+whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting
+life."
+
+Amzi smiled, and put the tablet in his bosom.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+MOHAMMED BECOMES INTOLERANT.--WAR.
+
+    "Our virtues disappear when put in competition with our
+    interests, as rivers lose themselves in the ocean."--_La
+    Rochefoucauld._
+
+
+Thirteen years had now passed since Mohammed first began to meditate in
+the Cave of Hira. During all that time he had preached peace, love and
+gentleness. With power, however, came a change in his opinions. He
+became not only pastor of his flock, and judge of the people, but also
+commander of an army. Worldly ambition took possession of his breast,
+and the voice of him who had cried, "Follow the religion of Abraham, who
+was orthodox and was no idolater. Invite men unto the way of the Lord by
+wisdom and mild exhortation.... Bear opposition with patience, but thy
+patience shall not be practicable unless with God's assistance. And be
+not thou grieved on account of the unbelievers. Let there be no violence
+in religion,"--now began to call, "War is enjoined you against the
+infidels. Fight therefore against the friends of Satan, for the
+stratagem of Satan is weak. And when the months wherein ye shall not be
+allowed to attack them be past, kill the idolaters wherever ye shall
+find them, and besiege them, and lay wait for them in every convenient
+place. Verily God hath purchased of the true believers their souls and
+their substance, promising them the enjoyment of Paradise on condition
+that they fight for the cause of God. Whether they slay or be slain,
+the promise for the same is assuredly due by the law, and the Gospel,
+and the Koran."
+
+Clemency, he claimed, had been the instrument of Moses; wisdom, that of
+Solomon; righteousness, that of Christ; and now the sword was to be the
+instrument of Mohammed.
+
+"The sword," he exclaimed, with flashing eye, "is the key of heaven and
+hell. All who draw it in the cause of the faith will be rewarded with
+temporal advantages; every drop shed of their blood, every peril endured
+by them, will be registered on high as more meritorious than fasting or
+prayer. If they fall in battle, their sins will at once be blotted out,
+and they will be transported to paradise!"
+
+This fierce, intolerant spirit took possession of Mohammed almost from
+his entrance into Medina. Chapter after chapter of the Koran was
+produced, breathing the same blood-thirsty, implacable hatred of
+opposition. Mohammed, in fact, seemed like one possessed in his
+enthusiasm, but his doctrines caught the fancy of the wild,
+impressionable Arabs, who flocked to him in crowds as his fame spread
+throughout the length and breadth of El Hejaz, throughout the Nejd, and
+even to the extremities of Arabia-Felix.
+
+And now the bloody cloud of war hovered over the peninsula, and the
+people trembled.
+
+The following letter from Amzi will describe the outbreak.
+
+                              =A=[9]
+
+    From Amzi the Meccan, at Medina,
+                              To Yusuf the priest, Mecca.
+
+    My Dear Yusuf:--
+
+    I can scarcely describe the emotions with which I write you again
+    after a six months' interval. Affairs here in Medina have taken such
+    an unlooked-for turn that I scarcely know what to think or what to
+    do.
+
+    Of Mohammed's wonderful progress, you have, of course, heard. You
+    should see him now, my dear Yusuf,--Mohammed, the peaceful trader,
+    the devout hermit, now little less than monarch, with all the sway
+    assumed by the most powerful despot; and yet those over whom he
+    wields his despotism are but too willing servants, ready to say as
+    he says, and to give their dearest heart's blood in his cause.
+
+    Indeed I know not what the outcome of it all will be. What
+    astonishes me most is that Mohammed has suddenly assumed an
+    aggressive attitude. Fire and the sword seem to be the watchword of
+    him whom we knew as the gentle husband of Cadijah, the mild preacher
+    who bowed his head and reviled not even when assailed with mud and
+    filth in the Caaba.
+
+    Needless to say, Yusuf, I am disappointed in him. You will be only
+    too glad to hear that. I hear that you have been exhorting the
+    people in Mecca to pay no heed to him; that you have been seeking to
+    promulgate your Hebrew faith, or rather the faith of your Hebrew
+    friend, of whose innocence and release I was glad to hear.
+
+    My brother, I pride in your courage, and in the strength of your
+    principles; yet, Yusuf, I beseech of you, be careful what you do or
+    say, lest you draw down upon your head a storm of fury which you
+    little expect. You have no idea of the revolution of feeling here in
+    Mohammed's favor, and of the fanatic zeal of many of his followers.
+    Be not too bold. You cannot cope single-handed with such an
+    overwhelming tide.
+
+    The past month, as you know, was the holy month Radjab, in which, as
+    in the month of Ramadhan, throughout all El Hejaz, life should be
+    held sacred, and no act of violence committed. Can you believe it
+    when I tell you that the prophet's men have attacked more than one
+    caravan of quiet traders and pilgrims upon their way to or from
+    Mecca? Such a sacrilege seems unpardonable in Arab eyes, but,
+    forsooth, the prophet has been favored with another revelation
+    justifying him in what he has done.
+
+    This, more than aught else, makes me wonder. You, Yusuf, know what a
+    lover of peace I have been; how it has ever grieved me to see even a
+    butterfly fluttering along the ground with a crushed wing. Judge,
+    then, of my horror, when I went out to the scene of the pillage and
+    saw men lying, some dead, with ghastly faces glaring up at the hot
+    sun, others with gaping wounds, and others moaning pitifully on the
+    road-way, with sand on their faces and in their hair. Yusuf, it made
+    me sick to see it. Had they been slain in fair battle I could have
+    borne it better. Yet I was enabled to give the poor wounded
+    creatures some water, all warm as it was from being carried so long
+    a distance; and some of them I had conveyed to my house, so that
+    every bed-chamber has been turned into a sick-room, and your friend
+    Amzi has been suddenly metamorphosed into a sick-nurse. Does that
+    astonish you?
+
+    Yet, Yusuf, though I get little sleep any night, and have to be on
+    my feet much during the day, I can assure you that I was never so
+    happy in my life before. The constant occupation, and the sense of
+    being able to render the poor creatures a little ease, is just what
+    I need at present to keep me from growing moody.
+
+    The other day I saw some one who knows of you--Uzza, the Oman Arab.
+    How or why he has come here I know not; but he is one of Mohammed's
+    most devoted followers. For your sake, I hope you may not meet him
+    in Medina.
+
+    I knew him, years ago, at Oman, and had letters from him for a time
+    after he went to Persia. Perhaps that will read you the riddle as to
+    how I knew so much of your past history, my priest. Recognizing your
+    name, and noting your priestly bearing, it was an easy matter to
+    connect you with the Guebre Yusuf, of whom I had heard.
+
+    I am convinced that you are looking after my Meccan affairs as
+    closely as possible, yet remember that Amzi has a house in Medina,
+    too, which has ever a door open for you.
+
+    Dumah sends his love. The poor lad is greatly excited over the
+    stirring events which are the talk of the town here.
+
+    Commend me to your friend Nathan and his family. Trusting to see or
+    to hear from you soon,
+
+                              And the peace,
+                                          Amzi.
+
+To this letter Yusuf returned the following answer:
+
+    Yusuf, at Mecca,
+                              To Amzi the Benevolent, Medina.
+
+    My Heart's Brother:--
+
+    Your most welcome letter lies before me, and it is quite unnecessary
+    to say with what mingled feelings of pleasure and pain I read
+    it,--pleasure, because, whether you will it or not, your confidence
+    in this false prophet is tottering; pain, because of the marvelous
+    power which this Mohammed seems to be wielding over your excitable
+    Arab populace. Strange, indeed, is his new attitude; we had not
+    deemed him possessed of a martial spirit; yet may we hope that this
+    procedure will be but as the stone which shall crush his ends,
+    falling upon his own head.
+
+    It is possible that I may be in Medina ere long. I am impatient to
+    see you and our poor Dumah again.
+
+    And so Uzza is there, too, to bring up afresh the darkest page of
+    my history; for Amzi, it was I, in my fanatic zeal, who induced the
+    Persian grandmother to give up his child for sacrifice. Scarcely was
+    it over when, even in my heathen darkness, my whole soul revolted
+    against what I had done, and against the faith which had sanctioned
+    such deeds of blood. It was then that I began to think and strive
+    against the mists of darkness, until at last I fought away from the
+    creed of my country.
+
+    I fear not to meet Uzza, although I know that he bears me no
+    good-will, and would not refrain from the assassin's knife did it
+    satisfy his wish for blood-revenge.
+
+    Our friend, Nathan, and his family are well. Did I tell you that
+    they have gone to live near Tayf?
+
+    I spent a pleasant day with them not long ago. They have a little
+    cabin in the mountains, and Nathan has a few flocks which he herds
+    out on the green hill-sides. They are all so happy, and so contented
+    with their pastoral mode of living that they think of moving back
+    into Palestina, as the pasturage is better there. It will be a long
+    journey, but, with the consciousness of the Father's care over them,
+    and the bond of love to shorten the way, they will not mind it.
+    Nathan's wife, in particular, is anxious to return to her
+    childhood's home, and never wearies of telling her children stories
+    of her girlhood days, when she and her sister, whom she still loves
+    passionately, watched their sheep on the hills of Hebron.
+
+    Mary and Manasseh have grown quite tall. Manasseh is almost a man,
+    fiery and impetuous as ever, yet wise beyond his years, and a devout
+    Christian.
+
+    Nathan is very happy. After all his trials he has perfect rest. His
+    face almost beamed when he said to me in the words of the Psalmist,
+    "Unless the Lord had been my help, my soul had almost dwelt in
+    silence. When I said, My foot slippeth, thy mercy, O Lord, held me
+    up. For the Lord is my defence, and my God is the rock of my
+    refuge."
+
+    He is very anxious about the hostile attitude which Mohammed has
+    taken. "God grant," he said, "that there may not be another season
+    of persecution. If there be, and the Lord will, I shall stay at
+    Medina to comfort, if I may, my poor brethren there. 'Blessed are
+    they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the
+    kingdom of heaven.' God grant that we may all be imbued with the
+    spirit of him who said, 'Love your enemies, bless them that curse
+    you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them that
+    despitefully use you.' Yet, Yusuf, it may be that we shall be forced
+    to defend our lives, and those of our wives and children,--God
+    knoweth. He will direct us, if we permit him, so that, living or
+    dying, it shall be well with us."
+
+    Is not such love, such comfort in the help and presence and sympathy
+    of God, worth more, infinitely more, than power or wealth or worldly
+    pleasure? Nothing that happens can overwhelm this happy family, for
+    they have the consciousness of God's love and care in all. They have
+    Jesus for a personal friend. Amzi, what would I not give to know
+    that you felt as they do, and as I learn to feel, more and more,
+    every day.
+
+    My friend, I could keep on in this strain for the whole night; but I
+    am weary, for to-day I talked for many hours with some of those who
+    are half-apostatizing to Mohammed.
+
+    So, Mizpah; and may the blessing of God be upon you.
+
+                                        Yusuf.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+WHEREIN THE BEDOUIN YOUTH KEDAR BECOMES A MOSLEM.
+
+    "Mine honor is my life: both grow in one;
+    Take honor from me, and my life is done."
+
+                              --_Shakespeare._
+
+
+The scene again opens far to the north of the Nejd, El Shark, or the
+East. Into one of its most favored spots, a green and secluded valley,
+surrounded by grassy slopes, the sun shone with the fresh brightness of
+early morning, sending floods of green-gold light through the leaves Of
+the acacias, now covered with yellowish blossoms heavy with perfume.
+
+By the side of a little torrent, rose the black tents of a Bedouin
+encampment. Flocks were on the hill-side, and the tinkling of the
+camel-bells and soft bleat of the lambs sounded faintly from the
+distance.
+
+At the head of the valley, upon a rounded boulder of granite sat a
+woman; and before her stood a young man to whom she was earnestly
+talking, at times stretching out her hands as though she were beseeching
+him for some favor.
+
+The woman was tall and well-built, her eyes were large and dark, and
+their brilliancy increased, according to Bedouin custom, by the
+application of kohl to the lids. Her face was keen and intelligent, and
+her hair, braided in innumerable small plaits, and surmounted by a much
+bespangled head-dress, was slightly streaked with gray.
+
+The youth was slight and agile, his every movement full of grace. His
+face was oval, regular in its contour, and full of expression, although
+the Jewish cast of his features had traces of Arab blood. He seemed to
+be in some excitement, for, with a trait peculiar to Bedouins, his
+restless and deep-set eyes were now half-closed until but a narrow,
+glittering line appeared, and now suddenly opened to their fullest
+extent and turned directly upon the woman to whom he talked.
+
+"Would you have me branded among the whole tribe as a coward, mother?"
+he was saying. "Are not the Bedouin lads from all over the Nejd flocking
+to the field, even as the sparrows flock before the storm clouds of the
+north? And will the son of Musa be the craven, crouching at home in his
+mother's nest?"
+
+"A flock of vultures are they, rather!" she cried
+passionately--"Vultures flocking to a feast of blood, to gloat over the
+carrion of brothers, sons, and husbands, left dead on the reeking plain,
+while in their solitary homes the women moan, even as moans the bird of
+the tamarisk, robbed of its young."
+
+"'Tis your Jewish heart speaks now, mother. Ah, but your Jewish women
+are too soft-hearted! Know you not that Bedouin mothers have not only
+sent their sons to battle, but have gone themselves and fought in the
+thickest of the fray?"
+
+"Ah, you are a true Bedouin, and ashamed of your mother!" returned Lois,
+with a sigh. "Truly, a Jewess has no place among the tribes of the
+wilderness."
+
+The youth's face softened. "I am not ashamed of my mother!" he said,
+quickly. "But my blood leaps for the glory of battle, for the clash of
+cymbals, the speed of the charge, the tumult, and the victory!"
+
+"But a hollow glory you will find it," she said scornfully. "Murder and
+pillage,--and all sanctioned in the name of religion!"
+
+"Even so, is not the name of harami (brigand) accounted honorable among
+the desert tribes?" asked the youth, quickly.
+
+"Alas, yes. Ye reck not that it has been said, 'Thou shalt not steal.'
+But you, Kedar, care not for the Jewish Scripture. Why need I quote it
+to you."
+
+"Arabian religion, Arabian honor, for the Arab, say I!" returned the
+youth haughtily. "Let me roam over the wild on my steed, racing with the
+breeze, lance in hand, bound for the hunt or fray; let me swoop upon the
+cowardly caravans whose hundreds shriek and scream and fall back before
+a handful of Bedouin lads, if I will. More honorable it is to me than to
+plod along in a shugduf on a long-legged camel with a bag of corn or a
+trifle of cloth to look after. Be the Jew if you will, but give me the
+leaping blood, the soaring spirit of the Bedouin!"
+
+The woman sighed again. "You will be killed, Kedar," she said. "Then
+what will all this profit you?"
+
+"To die on the field is more glorious than to breathe one's life out
+tamely in bed," replied the other.
+
+There was no use of reasoning with this rash youth.
+
+"And think you this Mohammed is worthy of your sacrifice?" she asked.
+
+"If he be really inspired, as hundreds now believe, is he not worthy of
+every sacrifice? Does he not promise his followers an eternal felicity?"
+
+"A vile impostor!" exclaimed the woman harshly. "Yet you will not
+believe what I say, until your own eyes see and your own ears hear! Go!
+Go! I shall talk no more to you! If you fall it shall be no fault of
+Lois'!"
+
+She arose and waved him off with an impatient gesture. Yet he lingered.
+
+"You will forgive me, mother?" he asked, gently.
+
+The woman's mother-heart welled to the brim. She answered brokenly:
+
+"My son, my son! Could I do aught else? Take my blessing with you! And
+now, here comes your father."
+
+Musa was feebler than upon that first night when he met Yusuf in his
+tent, and his hair had become almost white, yet there was the same
+dignity in his appearance.
+
+"Go, Kedar," he said, "and prove that you are indeed the son of Musa.
+Go, and see that you bring back good news of battle!"
+
+Kedar bent his head in token of assent.
+
+Before an hour had passed he was mounted on the swiftest of his father's
+horses--a short, fleshless animal, with legs thin and of steel-like
+muscle. But its slender neck, its small, snake-like head, its dilating
+nostrils, through which the light shone crimson, and its fiery,
+intelligent eye, showed its blood as it pawed the ground and neighed
+impatiently. A noble animal and a noble rider they looked as they were
+off like an arrow, Kedar's fine figure swaying with the movement of the
+steed as though rider and horse were one.
+
+All alone went the youth across hill and valley, over rock and torrent,
+fearless and swift as an eagle; for Kedar scorned to seek the protection
+of numbers, although quite aware of the fact that a large caravan, under
+Abu Sofian, was even then on its way from Syria to Mecca, and was within
+three hours' journey from him.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+ABU SOFIAN'S CARAVAN.
+
+
+While Kedar was thus speeding towards Medina, the caravan was also
+proceeding more slowly towards the south. It consisted of thirty
+horsemen and one thousand camels richly laden with grain, with spices,
+with purple of Syria, richest cloths of Damascus, and choicest perfumes
+of the northern regions.
+
+It was the month Ramadhan, and the peaceful traders went confidently and
+securely on their way, well pleased with the success of their journey
+and hopeful in anticipation of the large gain they were to make during
+the great bazar of the pilgrimage.
+
+While thus proceeding leisurely on, the leaders were somewhat surprised
+to see a solitary rider coming towards them in the greatest haste. He
+was mounted on a swift dromedary, and with head bent down so that his
+turban concealed his face, he kept striking the animal with his short
+camel-stick and urging it on with his shrill "Yakh! Yakh!"
+
+All breathless he at last reached the caravan. "Is Abu Sofian here?" he
+cried.
+
+"I am Abu Sofian," said the sturdy old chief. "What do you desire of
+me?"
+
+"I have been sent by Amzi the benevolent," returned the other. "He bids
+me say to Abu Sofian that it will be well for the caravan to advance
+with the greatest caution, as Mohammed and his forces are in ambush on
+the way."
+
+"What guarantee have I," said Abu Sofian, "that you are truly from Amzi
+the Meccan, and not an emissary of Mohammed sent to entrap us into some
+narrow glen?"
+
+"Here is your guarantee," replied the stranger, stretching forth his
+hand. "Recognize you not this ring?"
+
+"It is well," answered Abu Sofian, satisfied. "We are much beholden to
+you and to our friend Amzi, who we had feared was but too good a friend
+to this same Mohammed."
+
+"Can you trust Amzi?" asked one near, anxiously.
+
+"As my own soul," returned the leader. "Amzi's heart is gold; Amzi's
+words are jewels of purest luster. He speaks truth." Then to the
+messenger, "Know you what route Mohammed will take?"
+
+"I know not. He has, doubtless, spies, who will inform him of your
+movements, and thus enable him to act accordingly."
+
+"Then it remains for us to meet him by his own tactics," said Abu
+Sofian, "and no time is to be lost. You, Omair my faithful, speed to
+Mecca with what dispatch you may. Go by the by-paths which you know so
+well. Tell Abu Jahl, whom I have left in charge, to send us help
+quickly."
+
+Omair made obeisance and left at once.
+
+"You, Akab and Zimmah," continued the leader, "go by the hills ahead and
+find out what you can. As for us, we will keep our lips closed and our
+eyes and ears open. Abu Sofian is not yet so old that he has forgotten
+the signs of the wilderness."
+
+The vast procession moved on again slowly and in a dead silence, broken
+only by the trampling of the beasts and the moans of the camels.
+
+Presently, on coming near a spot which might be deemed hazardous ground,
+Abu Sofian ordered a halt and went forward himself, alone and on foot.
+With eye on the alert, ear on a tension to catch the slightest sound,
+and body bent downward to facilitate the closest scrutiny of the ground,
+the keen old man proceeded slowly, stepping with cat-like precision and
+quietness.
+
+Suddenly he uttered an exclamation. A small object lay dark on the
+yellow sand. He picked it up. It was a date-stone. He examined it
+closely. It was slightly smaller than the stones of the ordinary fruit.
+
+"A Medina date!" he exclaimed; "whoever has thrown it there!"
+
+Going a few paces further, he found several similar ones thrown by the
+wayside. The trampling of the sand, too, showed that a considerable
+force had been on the road at no distant time.
+
+He bent down again and directed his keen scrutiny on the road, then
+retraced his steps for a short distance. There were tracks pointing in
+both directions, but at one point the company seemed to have turned.
+
+It was clear, then, that for some reason the force had been ordered to
+turn and go back for a distance, probably to await the caravan in some
+ravine, and that they were now not very far away. It was necessary,
+then, to be as expeditious as possible.
+
+He hastily returned and gave the order that the route of the caravan be
+changed, and that the party should cross over the hills and proceed by a
+route close to the Red Sea until the place of danger was left behind.
+
+This was accordingly done, and the long lines passed anxiously yet
+laboriously onward over flinty summits, down steep and rugged
+hill-sides, past rocky clefts and over barren desert spots peopled only
+by the echoes that rang from the mountain sides, until at last the
+sparkling waters of the Red Sea lay below, and the anxious travelers
+felt that, for the present at least, they were safe.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+THE BATTLE OF BEDR.
+
+    "A Prodigy of Fear, and a portent
+    Of broached mischief to the unborn times."
+
+                              --_Shakespeare._
+
+
+The afternoon was intensely warm. Although the heat of the day was past,
+the houses of Mecca seemed to bake in the sun, the sand burned like a
+furnace, and a visible, shimmering heat seemed to fill the air.
+Nevertheless the ceremonies of Tawaf and the ablutions of Zem-Zem went
+on unceasingly, for it was the month of Ramadhan, and the half-naked
+pilgrims, with their scanty white garments, shaven heads, and bare feet,
+kept up the perpetual promenade about the temple, even when so hot as to
+be ready to drop of exhaustion. The courtyard was crowded with people,
+the carriers of Zem-Zem water were in constant demand, and, in the
+cooler recesses of the covered portico around the great yard, a humming
+trade went on, the venders' cries rising above the prayers of the
+pilgrims.
+
+Such was the scene upon which Omair suddenly staggered, all breathless,
+with haggard face, turban awry, and thin wisps of hair streaming in wet
+hanks over his brow.
+
+"Where is Abu Jahl?" he cried, gasping.
+
+"Why, what is wrong? Tell us!" cried the curious crowd in some
+consternation. "Where is Abu Sofian? Where is the caravan? Why have you
+come alone?"
+
+"Send me Abu Jahl!" was his only reply.
+
+The old man happened to be at the Caaba, and came anxiously at the
+unexpected summons.
+
+"Omair!" he exclaimed. "Allah! What has happened?"
+
+"Send them help!" gasped Omair. "Send them help at once, or not one in
+our fair caravan may escape! Mohammed is lying in wait for them in the
+mountain passes."
+
+"May Allah have mercy!" ejaculated the old man; and the crowd about
+shrieked and groaned.
+
+"Bring me the stair!" called Abu Jahl. "Place it close to the Caaba!"
+
+This done, he ascended to the roof where all might see him. His snowy
+beard descended to his waist over his flowing garments, and his white
+locks fell thinly from beneath his kufiyah.
+
+Silence fell upon the assembly below, and from every street men came
+hurrying in to hear the strange tidings.
+
+"In the name of Allah, hear!" called Abu Jahl in loud tones. "Ye of the
+tribe of Koreish, hear! Ye who love Abu Sofian, hear! Ye who have
+friends or goods in the great caravan from Syria, hear! Ye above whom
+the arch-impostor, Mohammed, aspires, and whom he would fain crush
+beneath his feet as the vile serpent in the dust, hear! He hath beset
+our friends in the fastnesses of the mountains. He swoopeth upon them as
+the eagle upon the defenceless lamb out of the fold! Who, then, among
+you, will follow Abu Jahl to deliver them?"
+
+An approving murmur rose, long and loud; then a hush fell as the aged
+man continued, appealing to the courage of his hearers:
+
+"Ye who fear not the foul rebel's sword, ye who would uphold the honor
+of your wives and little ones, nor send your children out upon the world
+as the offspring of cowards, beseech your gods for blessing, then mount,
+and meet me as soon as may be outside the temple gates. In the name of
+Allah, good-speed!"
+
+A shout of assent arose. The thoroughly excited multitude swayed and
+surged like the waves of the sea. Hundreds hurried off to do the behest
+of their leader, and, returning, hastened to perform Tawaf about the
+Caaba before setting out on their perilous journey.
+
+Yusuf, as a Christian, dared not enter the temple; but he heard the news
+from without. His heart was moved with compassion for the poor,
+defenceless traders, caught like mice in a trap, and he decided to fall
+into the ranks of the rescue party, intending, if his life were spared,
+to pay a visit to Amzi, at Medina.
+
+While the recruits were gathering, Henda, the wife of Abu Sofian, rushed
+up, her face wild and haggard with terror, her long black hair streaming
+on the wind, her eyes flashing with excitement, and her lips drawn back,
+exposing her yellow, fang-like teeth. A tigress she looked in her fury,
+and it was with difficulty that Abu Jahl prevented her from going with
+the expedition, which, in the cooler shades of evening, started off at a
+rapid pace, leaving her to nurse her vengeance until a later day.
+
+Hurried, yet long and tedious, was the journey, and the anxiety and
+impatience of the volunteers made it seem almost interminable.
+
+[Illustration: The youth made a quick lunge, piercing the priest's
+shoulder.--See page 46.]
+
+At length news was brought of the safety of the caravan, and of its
+deviation towards the sea. But the blood of the Meccans was up, and the
+fiery old leader was determined to punish Mohammed for his misconduct,
+and thus, perhaps, prevent him from committing similar atrocities in the
+future. Accordingly he sent part of his troops for protection to the
+caravan, and commanded the rest, about nine hundred in number, to push
+on; and among those ordered forward to the field was Yusuf.
+
+Mohammed, with three hundred and thirteen soldiers, mounted chiefly on
+camels, received word of this advance. His men were lying between Medina
+and the sea, and, as he thought, directly between the caravan and Abu
+Jahl's army. He told his men to be of good cheer, as Allah had promised
+them an easy victory; yet he was careful to omit no human means of
+securing an advantage. He posted his troops beside the brook Bedr, and
+had them hastily throw up an entrenchment to cover the flank of his
+troops. Then, sure of a constant supply of water, and safe from fear of
+surprise, he awaited the Meccan army.
+
+He himself ascended a little eminence, accompanied only by Abu Beker,
+and, in a small hut made of branches, he prayed for the assistance of
+three thousand angels. In his excitement, one of his old paroxysms came
+on, but this was regarded as auspicious by his men, to whom,
+superstitious as they were, every occurrence of this kind was an
+additional presage of victory and an additional spur to bravery in
+battle.
+
+And now the opposing force appeared, coming down the opposite hill, the
+men hot, weary, and covered with dust.
+
+After a preliminary skirmish between individual combatants, the battle
+began,--not a systematic charge in close ranks, not the disciplined
+attack of trained warriors, but a wild melee of camels, horses, flashing
+scimitars, gleaming daggers and plunging spears, in the midst of clouds
+of dust and streaming scarfs.
+
+The combat was long, and at one time the party of Mohammed seemed to
+waver. The prophet rushed out, threw a handful of dust into the air and
+exclaimed:
+
+"May confusion light upon their faces! Charge, ye faithful! charge for
+Allah and his prophet!"
+
+Nothing could withstand the wild dash made by his men. Filled with the
+passion of enthusiasm, the zeal of fanatics, and the confidence of
+success, they bore down like madmen. The Koreish, many of whom were
+fearful of enchantment by the prophet, were seized with sudden panic. In
+vain Abu Jahl tried to rally them. He was torn from his horse by a
+savage Moslem, and his head severed from his body. His troops fled in
+terror, leaving seventy men dead on the field and seventy prisoners.
+
+The bodies and prisoners were robbed, and the spoil divided. Mohammed,
+in order to avert dispute over the booty, very conveniently had a
+revelation at the time.--"Know that whenever ye gain any spoil, a fifth
+part thereof belongeth unto God, and to the apostle, and to his kindred,
+and the orphans, and the poor, and the traveler."
+
+Upon this occasion he claimed a considerable amount of silver, and a
+sword, Dhu'l Fakar (or the Piercer), which he carried in every
+subsequent battle.
+
+During the battle, Yusuf, the priest, had fought bravely. Mounted on a
+magnificent horse, his commanding figure had marked him out as an object
+worthy of attack. Accordingly he was ever in the thickest of the fight.
+With cool and calm determination his blows fell, until suddenly an event
+occurred which completely unmanned him, and gave his enemies the
+advantage.
+
+Among the opponents who singled him out for attack was a youth mounted
+on a horse of equal power and agility. The youth was rather slight, but
+his skill in thrusting and in averting strokes, and his evidence of
+practice in every exercise of the lance, rendered him a fitting
+adversary for the priest with his superior strength.
+
+For some time their combat had gone on single-handed, when the youth's
+head-dress falling off revealed a face strikingly familiar to Yusuf. It
+was Manasseh's own face, pale, and with clots of blood upon it!
+
+The priest was horror-stricken. He forbore to thrust, and the youth,
+seizing the opportunity, made a quick lunge, piercing the priest's
+shoulder, and felling him to the ground. A new opponent came and engaged
+the youth's attention; the panic fell, and the priest, seeing that it
+was useless to remain, managed to mount and ride off after the
+retreating troops.
+
+Scarcely injured, yet covered with blood, he dismounted at Amzi's door
+in Medina.
+
+"Yusuf! My brother!" cried the Meccan in astonishment, "what means
+this?"
+
+In a few words Yusuf told the tale of the battle, and Amzi placed him
+comfortably upon a soft couch, insisting upon ministering to him as
+though he had been severely wounded.
+
+"So, Yusuf the gentle too has become a seeker of man's blood!" he said.
+"Verily, what an effect hath this degenerate age!"
+
+"Believe me, friend," returned the other, earnestly, "you too would have
+gone had you been in Mecca and had heard of our poor friends, all
+unarmed, and apparently in the power of the enemy. When the advance to
+Bedr was ordered, I was one under authority, and had no choice but to
+submit, though I had little enough love for the stench of blood."
+
+"Yet," returned Amzi, "Yusuf's life is too precious to be risked in such
+madness. It is not necessary for him to court death; for the time may
+soon come when he shall be forced to fight in self-defence. Till then,
+let foolish youths dash to the lance's point if they will."
+
+Yusuf bowed his head, and in a low tone replied: "'O God, the Lord, the
+strength of my salvation, thou hast covered my head in the day of
+battle. He hath delivered my soul in peace from the battle that was
+against me. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of
+death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me. He that dwelleth in
+the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the
+Almighty. I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my
+God; in him will I trust.' Amzi, whether in life or in death, it shall
+be as he wills."
+
+Amzi looked at him curiously. "Yusuf," he said, "is there no extremity
+of your life in which your religion fails to give you comfort? It seems
+to furnish you with words befitting every occasion."
+
+"Comfort in every hour of need," returned Yusuf, "deliverance in every
+hour of temptation, is our God able to bestow if we seek him in spirit
+and in truth. Things temporal, as well as things spiritual, call for his
+almighty love and attention; and our love for him brightens every
+pathway in life. It is the knowledge of this which has upheld his
+children in all the ages;--not one of them who has not gloried in
+feeling that 'God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in
+time of trouble. Therefore will we not fear, though the earth be
+removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea.'
+Not one of them but has at some time found comfort in the promises,
+'When the poor and the needy seek water, and there is none, and their
+tongue faileth for thirst, I the Lord will hear them; I, the God of
+Israel, will not forsake them. He that keepeth Israel slumbers not, nor
+sleeps. Fear thou not, for I am with thee; be not dismayed, for I am thy
+God; I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold
+thee with the right hand of my righteousness.' Think of this help, Amzi,
+in every struggle: in the struggle, worse than any time of battle, with
+one's own sinful heart. And there is not one of God's children but has
+realized the blessedness of following the commands of Jesus, 'Have faith
+in God. Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock,
+and it shall be opened unto you.' Amzi, you who love gentleness and
+peace, truth and humility, cannot you find in Christ and his loving
+precepts all you would ask? Can anything appeal to your warm heart more
+than such injunctions as these?--'Love your enemies, bless them that
+curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them that
+despitefully use you and persecute you. When thou doest alms, let not
+thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth. Let your light so shine
+before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father
+which is in heaven. Judge not, that ye be not judged. Watch ye,
+therefore, and pray always. Pray that ye enter not into temptation.'"
+
+He paused, out of breath; for such had been his study of the Scriptures
+that the words came in a flood to his lips.
+
+Amzi sighed. "Yes, Yusuf," he said, "such words seem to me full of
+goodness and sweetness; yet, try as I may, I cannot realize their true
+import. I cannot rejoice, as you and your friends do, in your religion
+and its promises."
+
+"My Amzi," returned the priest, "how can you be warmed except you come
+to the fire? Remember the man with the withered hand. Did he not stretch
+it out in faith? My friend, like him, act! Reach out your heart to God.
+He will not fail you. Look not upon yourself. Look upon God, who is,
+indeed, closer to you than you can imagine. Put your hand in his, behold
+his love manifested to us in the coming of his dear Son, and feel that
+that love is to-day the same, proceeding from the Father in whom is 'no
+variableness, neither shadow of turning.'"
+
+Amzi sighed. "Yusuf," he said, "it appears all dark, impenetrable, to
+me. A wall of adamant seems to stand between me and God. Pray for me,
+friend. In this matter I fear I am heartless."
+
+In spite of this assertion, there was genuine concern in the tone, and
+the priest's face flushed in the glad light of hope.
+
+"Amzi," he exclaimed, "my hope for you increases. Even now, you begin to
+realize your own self: it remains for you to realize God's self. Know
+God--would I could burn that upon your heart! All else would be made
+plain."
+
+Amzi sighed again. For a time he sat in silence, then he said:
+
+"I have been reading of the tabernacle, and of the sacrifices therein."
+
+"Typical of the death of Christ," returned Yusuf. "A constant emblem of
+that mind which was, and is to-day, ready to suffer, that we may
+understand its infinite love."
+
+"Strange, strange!" said Amzi, musingly. Then after a long silence:
+"Yusuf, have you ever noted the resemblance of the Caaba to the reputed
+appearance of the tabernacle?"
+
+"The resemblance struck me from the first glance--the courtyard, the
+temple itself, and the curtain (or 'Kiswah') corresponding to the veil
+of the tabernacle. This same Caaba may trace its origin in some dim way
+to the ancient tabernacle, of which, in this land, the significance must
+have become lost in the centuries during which the Ishmaelitish race
+forgot the true worship of God."
+
+"And what think you of the course which affairs are now taking in
+Arabia?" asked Amzi. "You believe in the supervision of God; why, then,
+does he permit such outbreaks as the present one is proving to be?"
+
+"I certainly believe that the Creator sees and knows all things. I
+believe, too, that even to Mohammed, at one time in his life, the Holy
+Spirit appealed, as he did to me, and, I hope, does now to you,
+Amzi,--for his pleadings come sometime to all men; but, I think that if
+in earnest at first, Mohammed--if, indeed, he be not a monomaniac on the
+subject of his divine calling--has given himself up to the wild
+indulgence of his ambition, forgetting Him whose power is able to direct
+us all aright. Hence, he guides himself, rather than seeks to be guided,
+and, in such a case, he may sometimes be allowed to go on in his own
+way, bearing with him those who are so foolish as to accept his
+teaching. Something of this kind may, indeed, be one of the secrets of
+the crimes and calamities which enter into many human lives. God leaves
+us free to choose. When we come to know him we choose to be his
+followers. If we are indifferent to him, he may, at times, look on
+without interfering in our lives except to send us occasionally great
+trouble, or great joy, as an appeal to us. His mercy is great. He pities
+and pleads with us, yet he leaves us free."
+
+"And what, think you, will be the effect upon Arabia of this rising?"
+
+Yusuf shook his head. "I know not," he said. "We cannot see now, nor
+mayhap until ages have rolled by; but 'at eventide it shall be light.'"
+
+So talked Amzi and the priest until the gray dawn shone in, and the
+voice of Bilal, the muezzin, was heard calling from the mosque:
+
+"God is great! There is no God but God! Mohammed is the prophet of God!
+Come to prayers! God is great!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+THE PERSECUTION BEGINS.
+
+    "In doing good we are generally cold and languid and
+    sluggish.... But the works of Malice and Injustice are quite in
+    another style."--_Burke._
+
+
+Among those left dead on the field of Bedr were the father, uncle and
+brother of Henda, the wife of Abu Sofian. Fierce and savage as was her
+nature, she was yet capable of deep feeling, and her love for her
+kindred was one of the ruling passions of her life.
+
+When the caravan at last reached Mecca in safety, she rushed to meet Abu
+Sofian, weeping wildly, wringing her hands in grief, and throwing dust
+on her long hair. She besought him frantically to avenge their death,
+and he, knowing that the debt of "blood revenge" was now upon him, and
+that blood alone would wipe the stain from his honor, gathered two
+hundred swift horsemen and set out almost immediately for Medina.
+
+On the way he ravaged the whole country, burning the villages and
+date-groves of Mohammed's followers.
+
+When within three miles of Medina the prophet sallied out to meet him. A
+brief contest took place, and Abu Sofian was once more defeated in what
+was jestingly called the Battle of the Meal Sacks.
+
+The Moslems were exultant over their success, but Abu Sofian returned to
+Mecca, the blood-dues still unpaid, and with bitter enmity gnawing at
+his heart.
+
+In the meantime Mohammed began to assume all the airs of an independent
+sovereign. He married a beautiful maiden, Hafza, to whom he entrusted
+the care of the Koran, according as it was revealed; and shortly
+afterwards he issued a decree by which all true believers were ordered
+to face Mecca when praying. Thus early in his career of conquest he had
+fixed upon Mecca as the future holy city of the Moslems. As usual, the
+Koran was called in to authorize him in thus fixing the Kebla, or point
+of prayer.
+
+"Unto God belongeth the East and the West. He directeth whom he pleaseth
+in the right way. Turn, therefore, thy face towards the holy temple of
+Mecca; and wherever ye be, turn your faces towards that place."
+
+At this time also he sanctioned the retaining of the holy fast of
+Ramadhan and the pilgrimages connected therewith. As he was well aware
+that the doing away with the great bazar upon which the prosperity of
+Mecca so largely depended would loose a host of enemies upon him, he
+declared:
+
+"O true believers, a fast is ordained you, as it was ordained unto them
+before you, that ye may fear God. The month of Ramadhan shall ye fast,
+in which the Koran was sent down from heaven, a direction unto men."
+
+Henceforth, during the fast, all true believers were to abstain from
+eating or drinking, and from all earthly pleasures, while the sun shone
+above the horizon and until the lamps at the mosques were lighted by the
+Imaums. It is needless to say that the Moslems obviated this
+self-sacrifice by sleeping during the day as much as possible, giving
+the night up to all the proscribed indulgences of the interdicted
+season.
+
+And now Mohammed's hatred to the Jews began to show itself, and the
+awful persecution of the little Jewish band in Medina commenced.
+
+Poor Dumah was one of the first to bring the rod of wrath upon himself.
+When wandering down the street one day, not very long after the Battle
+of Bedr, he paused by a well, just as Mohammed, accompanied by his
+faithful Zeid, appeared in the way. Dumah saw them and at once began to
+sing his thoughts in a wild, irregular lament. His voice was peculiarly
+sweet and clear, and every word reached the ear of the enraged prophet.
+The song was a weird lament over those slain at Bedr:
+
+    "They are fallen, the good are fallen,
+    Low in the dust they are fallen;
+    And their hair is steeped in blood;
+    But the poison-wind shrieks above them,
+    Sighing anon like the cushat,
+    And breathing its curses upon him,
+    Upon him, the chief of impostors.
+    As he passes the leaflets tremble,
+    And the flowers shrink from his pathway;
+    And the angels smile not upon him,
+    For he maketh the widow and orphan;
+    And the voice of Rachel riseth
+    In mourning loud for her children.
+    And no comfort doth fall upon her.
+    Soft like the balm of Gilead."
+
+Turning to one of his followers, Mohammed commanded angrily:
+
+"Seize that singer!"
+
+Dumah heard the exclamation, and was off like the wind, followed by two
+or three Moslems, each anxious to secure the victim first, and thus win
+the approval of the august Mohammed.
+
+On, on, straight to the house of Amzi fled Dumah. Bursting open the
+door, he rushed in, his long hair disordered, his face purple with
+running and his eyes wide with terror.
+
+"Save me, Yusuf! Save me, Amzi!" he cried. "Mohammed will kill me!
+Mohammed will kill me!"
+
+Yusuf sprang to the door, and the poor fugitive threw himself at Amzi's
+feet, clinging to his garments with his thin, white hands.
+
+But the pursuers were already upon him. Yusuf strove in vain to detain
+them, to reason with them.
+
+"Can you not see he is a poor artless lad? Can you not have mercy?" he
+cried.
+
+"It is the order of the prophet of Allah!" was the response.
+
+Yusuf resisted their entrance with all his might, but, unarmed as he
+was, he was quickly thrown down, and the terrified Dumah was dragged
+over his body and hurried off to be put in chains in a Moslem cell.
+
+Amzi was distracted. There seemed little hope for Dumah. The small
+Jewish band then in Medina could not dare to cope with the overwhelming
+numbers of Moslems that swarmed in the streets. If Dumah were delivered
+it must be by stratagem; and yet what stratagem could be employed?
+
+Early in the evening Amzi and the priest withdrew to the roof for
+consultation.
+
+"You believe that your God is all-powerful--why do you not beseech him
+for our poor lad's safety?" cried Amzi passionately.
+
+"I have not ceased to do so since his capture," returned Yusuf. "But it
+must be as the Lord willeth. He sees what is best. Even our blessed
+Jesus said to the Father, 'Not my will, but thine be done.'"
+
+Amzi was not satisfied. "Can he then be the God of Love that you say, if
+he could look upon the death of that poor innocent nor exercise his
+power to save him?"
+
+"Amzi, I do not wonder at you for speaking thus. Yet consider. We will
+hope the best for our poor singer. May God preserve him and enable us,
+as instruments in his hands, to deliver him. But God may see differently
+from us in this matter. Who can say that to die would not be gain to
+poor Dumah? All witless as he is, he shall have a perfect mind and a
+perfect body in the bright hereafter. We know not what is well. We can
+only pray and do all in our power to effect his deliverance; we must
+leave the issue to God."
+
+Amzi bowed his head on his hands and groaned. Yusuf raised his eyes
+towards heaven; the tears rolled down his cheeks, and his lips moved.
+Even he could not understand the mysteries of this strange time. Yet he
+was constantly comforted in knowing that "all things work together for
+good to them that love God."
+
+Saddest of all was the vision of the handsome, dark face that, contorted
+in the fury of combat, had glared upon him from the Moslem ranks in the
+Battle of Bedr, while Manasseh's hand showered blows upon the head of
+his best friend--for the sake of the prophet of Islam.
+
+"Manasseh! Manasseh!" he exclaimed in bitter sadness. "Why hast thou
+forsaken thy father's God? O heavenly Father, do thou guide him and lead
+him again into thy paths!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+AMZI FINALLY REJECTS MOHAMMED.
+
+    "'Do the duty which lies nearest thee' which thou knowest to be
+    a duty! Thy second duty will already have become
+    clearer."--_Carlyle, "Sartor Resartus."_
+
+
+Upon the following morning Yusuf hastened to obtain an interview with
+Mohammed. The prophet lived in an ostentatiously humble abode--a low,
+broad building, roofed with date-sticks, and thatched with the broad
+leaves of the palm tree.
+
+Mohammed absolutely refused to see him. Ayesha, the youngest and fairest
+of the prophet's wives, sent to inform him that Mohammed had nothing to
+say to the Christian Yusuf. So with heavy heart he turned away and
+sought the house of Zeid, deeming that he, as the prophet's adopted son
+and most devoted follower, might have some influence in obtaining
+Dumah's release.
+
+Zeid sat in a low, airy apartment, through whose many open windows a
+cool breeze entered. By him sat his newly-wedded wife, unveiled, for at
+that time the rules in regard to veiling were not so strictly insisted
+upon as at a later day, when the prophet's decree against the unveiling
+of women was more rigorously enforced.
+
+Even Yusuf noted her marvelous beauty. There was a peculiarity of
+action, a something familiar about her, too, which gave him a hazy
+recollection of having seen her before; but not for several moments did
+the association come up in his memory, and he saw again the little
+Jewish home of Nathan in Mecca, the dim light, and the beautiful child
+whose temples Nathan's wife was so tenderly bathing. Yes, after the
+lapse of years, in a flash he knew her for Zeinab!
+
+She listened with interest to the tale of the Jewish singer; but there
+was a heartlessness in her air, and a certain contempt in the look which
+she bent upon the Christian who was thus making intercession for an
+unworthy Jew.
+
+"I have neither eyes to see, tongue to speak, nor hands to act, save as
+the prophet is pleased to direct me," was Zeid's reply, in the most
+determined tone.
+
+Yusuf, seeing no hope, left the house, and shortly afterwards Zeid, too,
+went down into the town. Scarcely had he left when Mohammed entered.
+
+Zeinab was still at the window, which opened directly on the courtyard.
+A myrtle bush grew near, and she listlessly plucked some of the white
+blossoms and twined them in the braids of her glossy black hair. She
+wore a loose gown of sky-blue silk with a drape of crimson, and deep
+pointed sleeves of filmy, white lace. Her veil was cast aside, and when
+the prophet entered she turned her magnificent dark eyes, with their
+shading of kohl, full upon him.
+
+Ever susceptible to the influence of beauty, he exclaimed, "Praise be
+God, who turneth the hearts of men as he pleaseth!" And he at once
+coveted her for his wife; although according to law she bore the
+relation of daughter to him.
+
+He intimated his desire to Ali, who, in turn, broke the news to Zeid.
+Zeid returned pale and trembling to his home. He loved his wife deeply;
+yet his devotion to the prophet and the sense of obligation which he
+owed him as foster-father, for having freed him from servitude, appealed
+to him strongly. Bowing his head upon his wife's knee, he wept.
+
+"Why do you weep, Zeid?" she asked.
+
+"Alas!" he cried, "could one who has known thee as wife forbear to weep
+at having thee leave him?"
+
+"But I will never leave my Zeid."
+
+"Not even to become the wife of the prophet?"
+
+"Mohammed does not want me for his wife," she said quickly.
+
+Zeid sighed. "Could you be happy were you his wife?" he asked.
+
+The beauty's ambitious spirit rose, but she only said: "Were I made his
+wife, it would be the will of Allah."
+
+Zeid pushed her gently from him, and went out. "Mohammed," he said,
+seating himself at the prophet's feet, "you care for Zeinab. I come to
+offer her to you. Obtain for your poor Zeid a writ of divorce."
+
+The prophet's face showed his satisfaction. "I could never accept such a
+sacrifice," he said, hesitatingly.
+
+"My life, my all, even to my beloved wife, belongs to my master,"
+returned Zeid. "His pleasure stands to me before aught else."
+
+"So be it, then, most faithful," said the prophet. "O Zeid, my more than
+son, a glorious reward is withheld for you."
+
+Then, as ever, a revelation of the Koran came seasonably ere another
+day, to remove every impediment to the union of Mohammed and Zeinab.
+
+"But when Zeid had determined the matter concerning her, and had
+resolved to divorce her, we joined her in marriage unto thee, lest a
+crime should be charged on the true believers in marrying the wives of
+their adopted sons: and the command of God is to be performed. No crime
+is to be charged on the prophet as to what God hath allowed him."
+
+There were those in Medina who resented Mohammed's selfishness in thus
+appropriating Zeinab to himself, and there were those who questioned the
+honor of such a proceeding; but this questioning went on mostly among
+the few Bedouin adherents who had flocked into the town in his service,
+for the most sacred oath of the highest class of Bedouins has long been,
+"By the honor of my women!"
+
+In none did the prophet's action inspire more disgust than in our two
+friends, Yusuf and Amzi. Amzi had long since lost all faith in the
+prophet as a divine representative; and this marriage with Zeinab only
+confirmed his distrust.
+
+"Pah!" he said to Yusuf, "he not only lets his own impulses sway him,
+but he uses the sanction of heaven to authorize the satisfaction of
+every desire, no matter who is trampled upon in the proceeding. Was
+there ever such sacrilege?"
+
+Yusuf returned: "For this I am thankful, brother: that you at last
+apply the term 'sacrilege' to the claims of this impostor."
+
+"Think you he is no longer in earnest at all for the raising of his
+countrymen from idolatry?"
+
+"He seeks to throw down idols, but to raise himself in their stead.
+Cupidity and ambition, Amzi, have well-nigh smothered every struggling
+seed of good in Mohammed's haughty bosom."
+
+"Do you not think that, at the beginning, he imagined himself inspired?"
+
+"Mohammed is strangely visionary. At the beginning he, doubtless,
+thought he saw visions, but, if the man thinks himself inspired now, he
+is mad."
+
+"Yet what a personality he has!" said Amzi, musingly. "What a charm he
+bears! How his least word is sufficient to move this crowd of howling
+fanatics!"
+
+"A man who might be an angel of light, were he truly under divine
+guidance," returned Yusuf. "And, mark me, Amzi, his influence will not
+stop with this generation. The influence of every man on God's earth
+goes on ever-rolling, ever-unceasing, down the long tide of eternity;
+but, in every age, there are those who, like Mohammed, possess such an
+individuality, such a personality, that their power goes on increasing,
+crashing like the avalanche down my native mountains."
+
+"How eloquently such a thought appeals to right impulse, right action!"
+said Amzi, thoughtfully. "Did a man realize its import fully, he would
+surely be spurred on to act, not to sit idly letting the world drift
+by."
+
+"'No man liveth unto himself,'" said Yusuf slowly. "Whether we will it
+or not, we are each of us ever exerting some influence for good or for
+ill upon those with whom we come in contact. No one can be neutral. Acts
+often speak in thunder-tones, when mere words are heard but in
+whispers."
+
+"I fear me, Yusuf," said the Meccan, with a half-smile, "that Amzi has
+neither thundered in action, nor even whispered in words. So little good
+has he done, that he almost hates to think of your great influence
+theory."
+
+Yusuf smiled and slipped his arm about the Meccan's shoulder. "Amzi,
+the name of 'benevolent' belies your words," he said. "Think you that
+your home duties faithfully performed, your pure and upright life, pass
+for naught?"
+
+"You would stand aghast, Yusuf," returned Amzi, "if I told you the
+amount of time that I have squandered, simply in dreaming, smoking, and
+taking my ease."
+
+"Time is a precious gift," replied Yusuf, "it flows on and on as a great
+river towards the sea, and never returns. It appears to me, every day,
+more clearly as the talent given to all men to be used rightly. I, as
+well as you, have let precious hours pass, and, in doing so, we have
+both done wrong. Yet I pray that we may every day see, more and more,
+the necessity of well occupying the hours,--'redeeming the time, because
+the days are evil.'"
+
+"Would that I had your decision of purpose, your firmness of will!" said
+Amzi, wistfully. "Yusuf, it would be impossible for me to spend all my
+time as you do,--visiting, relieving, studying, speaking ever the word
+in season, and ever working for others. I should miss my _kaif_."
+
+"Even if you know it was in the cause of the Lord?" asked Yusuf, with
+gentle reproof. "Yet, Amzi, you have done as much as I, considering your
+opportunities. The great thing is to do faithfully whatever comes to
+one's hand, whether that be great or small. Know you not that it was
+said to him who had received only two talents, 'Well done, good and
+faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make
+thee ruler over many things.' As bright crowns await the humble
+home-workers as the great movers of earth, provided all be done 'as unto
+the Lord.'"
+
+"But," returned Amzi, impatiently, "my 'good works,' as you call them,
+have not been done 'as unto the Lord.' My charities have been done
+simply because the sight of misery caused me to feel unhappy. I felt
+pity for the wretched, and in relieving them set my own mind at ease,
+and gave satisfaction to myself. I feel that it is right to do certain
+things, and so I do them under a sense of moral obligation."
+
+"Then," said Yusuf, "has this acting under a sense of moral obligation
+brought you perfect satisfaction, perfect rest?"
+
+"Frankly, it has not."
+
+Yusuf rose, and, placing both hands on Amzi's shoulders, said earnestly:
+"My friend, who can say that every good impulse of man may not be an
+outcome of the divine nature implanted in him by the Creator, and which,
+if watered and developed, will surely burst into the flower of goodness
+when once the influence of God's Spirit is fully recognized and ever
+invoked? Amzi, you have many such seeds of innate good. Your very
+longings for good, your tone of late, show me that you are near this
+blessed recognition. Why will you not believe? Why will you not embrace
+the Lord Jesus Christ? We are all weak of ourselves, but we have
+strength in him. Amzi, my friend, pray for yourself."
+
+He turned abruptly and left Amzi alone, to ponder long and earnestly
+over the conversation of the past hour.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+THE FATE OF DUMAH.
+
+    "Death is the liberator of him whom freedom cannot release, the
+    physician of him whom medicine cannot cure, and the comforter of
+    him whom time cannot console."--_Colton._
+
+
+And now began a veritable reign of terror for the Jews of Medina. The
+first evidence of the closing of Mohammed's iron hand was shown in his
+forcing them to make Mecca, rather than Jerusalem, their kebla, or point
+of prayer. Many refused to obey this command, and were consequently
+dragged off to await the pleasure of the prophet.
+
+At first the keenest edge of Moslem vindictiveness seemed to be directed
+against the bards or poets, for the power of stirring and pathetic
+poetry in arousing the passionate Oriental blood to revenge was
+recognized as an instrument too potent to be overlooked.
+
+Ere long even the form of imprisonment was, to a great extent, set
+aside, and the knife of the assassin was set at work. Among those who
+thus fell were Kaab, a Jewish poet who strove to incite the Koreish to
+aggressive measures against the Moslems; and Assina, a young woman who
+had been guilty of writing satires directed against the prophet himself.
+
+Yusuf and Amzi became greatly alarmed for the safety of Dumah. Every
+possible means of rendering assistance to the poor singer seemed to be
+cut off. They could not even find any clue to his whereabouts, and
+feared that he, too, had fallen beneath some treacherous blade.
+
+As yet, Amzi and Yusuf had been permitted to wander at will. For hours
+and hours did they roam about the streets seeking for some clue to
+Dumah's place of imprisonment, but all efforts were futile, until one
+day Amzi heard a faint voice singing in the cellar of one of the Moslem
+buildings. He lay down by the wall, closed his eyes, and strained his
+ears to catch the sound. It was assuredly Dumah, singing weakly:
+
+    "Oh, why will they not come,
+    The friends of Dumah!
+    For living death is upon him,
+    And the walls of his tomb close over,
+    Yet will not in mercy fall on him.
+    Does the sun shine still on the mountain,
+    And the trees wave?
+    Do the birds still sing in the palm-trees,
+    And the flowers still bloom in Kuba?
+    And yet doth Dumah languish
+
+    "But Dumah's friends have forgotten him,
+    Nor seek him more,
+    And even the angels vanish,
+    And the tomb is all about him:
+    O Death, come, haste to Dumah!"
+
+The voice sank away in a low wail, and Amzi sprang up. His first impulse
+was to rush in and batter at the door of Dumah's cell; his second, to
+call words of comfort through the wall. Yet either would be imprudent
+and might ruin all, so he hastened home to Yusuf.
+
+"I will go to him immediately," said the priest.
+
+"But how?"
+
+"In disguise if need be," was the reply.
+
+"In disguise!" exclaimed Amzi. "Friend, with your physique, think you
+you can disguise yourself? Not a Moslem in Mecca who does not know the
+figure of Yusuf the Christian. Nay, Yusuf, your friend Amzi can effect a
+disguise much more easily. Here,"--running his fingers through his gray
+beard,--"a few grains of black dye can soon transform this; some stain
+will change the Meccan's ruddy cheeks into the brown of a desert Arab.
+The thing is easy."
+
+"As you will, then," said the priest; and the two were soon busy at work
+at the transforming process.
+
+With the garb of a Moslem soldier, Amzi was soon, to all appearance, a
+passable Mussulman, with divided beard, and chocolate-brown skin.
+
+He set out, and, having arrived at the door of the sort of barracks in
+which Dumah was imprisoned, mingled with the soldiers, quite unnoticed
+among the new arrivals who constantly swelled the prophet's army.
+
+With the greatest difficulty, yet without exciting apparent suspicion,
+he found out the exact spot in which Dumah was confined. Upon the first
+opportunity he slipped noiselessly after the attendant who was carrying
+the prisoner's pittance of food. Under his robe he had tools for
+excavating a hole beneath the wall, and his plan was to step silently
+into the room, secrete himself behind the door, and permit himself to be
+locked in, trusting to subsequent efforts for effecting the freedom of
+himself and Dumah.
+
+Silently he glided into the darkened room behind the keeper. All within
+seemed dark as night after the brighter light without; but Dumah's eyes,
+accustomed to the darkness, could see more clearly. He penetrated the
+disguise at once.
+
+"Amzi! Amzi!" he cried out delightedly, "you have come! You have come!"
+
+Amzi knew that all was undone.
+
+"Treachery!" called the keeper.
+
+The Moslems came pouring into the room. Amzi was overpowered, and
+pinioned on the spot.
+
+"What means this?" cried Asru, the captain of the guard.
+
+"Treachery, if it please you," returned the keeper. "An asp which has
+been in our camp with its poison-fangs hid! No Moslem, but an enemy--a
+friend of this dotard poet!"
+
+"Search him!" was the order.
+
+The tools were found.
+
+"Aha!" said the captain. "Most conclusive proof, wretch! We will teach
+you, knave, that foxes are sometimes trapped in their own wiles. Off
+with him! Chain him!"
+
+Amzi was hurried off, and Asru strode away to execute some other act of
+so-called justice. He was a man of immense stature, heavy-featured, and
+covered with pock-marks, yet his face was full of strength of character,
+and bore traces of candor and honesty, though the lines about the mouth
+told of unrestrained cruelty and passion.
+
+At home Yusuf waited in an agony of suspense. The day passed into night,
+the night into day, the day into night again, yet Amzi did not come.
+Yusuf could bear it no longer. Anything was better than this awful
+waiting. Only once he almost gave up hope and cried in the words of the
+Psalmist, "O Lord, why castest thou off my soul? Why hidest thou thy
+face from me?" Then like balm of healing came the words, "Cast thy
+burden upon the Lord, and he will sustain thee; he shall never suffer
+the righteous to be moved."
+
+Dressed in his quiet, scholarly raiment, and quite unarmed, he set out
+in search of Amzi. Arriving at the place, he saw none whom he knew. He
+was stopped at the door.
+
+"I wish to see the captain who has command here," he said.
+
+"You are a peaceable-looking citizen enough," said a guard, "yet we have
+orders to search all new-comers, and you will have to submit, stranger."
+
+Yusuf was searched, but as neither arms nor tools were found upon him,
+he was allowed to have audience with the captain.
+
+"Ah!" said Asru, recognizing him at once. "What seeks Yusuf, a
+Christian, of a follower of Mohammed the prophet?"
+
+"I seek but the deliverance of two harmless, inoffensive friends," he
+replied.
+
+"A bold request, truly," said the other. "Yet have I not forgotten my
+debt of gratitude to you. I have not forgotten that it was Yusuf who
+nursed me through the foul disease whose marks I yet bear, when all
+others fled;" and he passed his hand over his pock-marked face.
+
+"Of that speak not," returned Yusuf, with a gesture of impatience.
+"'Twas but the service which any man with a heart may render to a needy
+brother. However, if you are grateful, as you say, you can more than
+repay the debt, you can make me indebted to you, by telling me aught of
+Amzi, the benevolent Meccan, whose hand would not take the life of a
+worm were he not forced into it."
+
+"He is here in chains," said Asru haughtily, "as every spy who enters a
+Moslem camp should be."
+
+"Amzi is no spy!" declared Yusuf emphatically.
+
+"His sole object, then, was to free that half-witted poet?" asked Asru,
+incredulously.
+
+"It was none other. He loves him as his own son, as do I. Amzi would
+suffer death willingly, Yusuf would suffer death willingly, would it
+spare that poor, confiding innocent!"
+
+The priest's eyes were flashing, and his tones bore witness to his
+earnestness. He did not notice, nor did Asru, a pair of bright eyes that
+peered at him from the chink of the doorway; he did not know that a face
+full of petty, vindictive spite was partially hidden by the darkness
+without, or that two keen ears were listening to every word he said.
+
+"Yusuf," returned the captain in a low tone, "you are the only man who
+has ever seemed to me good. Your words, at least, are ever truth. You
+wonder, then, that I follow the prophet? Simply because the excitement
+of war suits me, and"--he shrugged his shoulders with a laugh--"it is
+the best policy to be on the winning side. Most of these crazed idiots
+believe in him, and fear that he will work enchantments upon them if
+they do not; but the doctrine of the sword and of plunder goes farther
+with a few, of whom Asru is one. Because I believe in you, Yusuf, I
+shall try to carry out your request. But it would cost me my life were
+it found out, so it must be seemingly by chance. Rest assured that, bad
+as I am, cruel as I am, I shall see that Yusuf's friends have some
+'accidental' way of escape."
+
+So spoke Asru, nor knew that a pair of feet were hurrying and shuffling
+towards the prophet, while a soldier kept guard at the door.
+
+"May heaven bless you for this!" cried the priest. "So long as Amzi and
+Yusuf breathe you shall not lack an earthly friend."
+
+"Tush!" exclaimed the captain. "'Tis but the wish to make old scores
+even. You serve me; I serve you. We are even."
+
+"Then I shall leave you," said Yusuf, rising with a smile.
+
+Asru opened the door.
+
+"Hold!" cried a guard. "By order of the prophet, Asru is my prisoner!"
+
+"Wherefore?" cried Asru, attempting to seize his dagger.
+
+"Because, though it is politic to be on the winning side, it is not
+always safe to be a traitor and to countermand Mohammed's orders,"
+replied the prophet's musical voice, as the soldiers gave way to permit
+his advance.
+
+Asru freed himself and dashed forward, wielding his dagger right and
+left, but it was a rash effort. He was instantly overpowered and bound
+hand and foot. The priest shared the same fate.
+
+The prophet looked down upon the captain. "Asru," he said, "you whom I
+deemed a most faithful one, you who have proved false, know that death
+is the meed of a traitor. Yet that you may know Mohammed can show mercy,
+I give you your life. For the sake of your past services I grant it you,
+and trust that, having learned obedience and humility, you may once
+again grace our battle-fields nobly. Guards, chain him, yet see that he
+is kept in easy confinement and lacks nothing. Send me Uzza."
+
+The Oman Arab came forward. He was a dark-browed man, under-sized, and
+with one shoulder higher than the other. His eyes were long and narrow,
+with a look of extreme cunning about them, and his mouth was cruel, his
+lips being pressed together so tightly that they looked like a long
+white line.
+
+"Upon you, Uzza, O faithful, as next in command, I confer the honor of
+the position left vacant by Asru. Do thou carry out its obligations with
+honor to thyself and to the prophet of Allah."
+
+Uzza prostrated himself to the ground.
+
+Mohammed turned to Yusuf. "Whom have we here? What said you in your
+accusation, Abraham? An accomplice of Asru, was it?"
+
+The little peddler, the silent watcher at the door, came forward,
+hopping along as usual, but with malignant triumph in his face.
+
+"This, O prophet," he said, making obeisance, "is not only an accomplice
+of Asru, but a sworn enemy of the prophet of Allah and of all who
+believe in him."
+
+"Why, methinks I have seen him before," said Mohammed, passing his hand
+over his brow. "Is not this the gentle friend of Amzi?"
+
+"He is the friend of Amzi," returned the Jew, "but even Amzi lies in
+chains as a spy among the Moslems."
+
+"I had forgotten," said the prophet. "Yet what harm hath this gentle
+Meccan done?"
+
+"He is Yusuf, the Magian priest," said the Jew. "And believe, O prophet
+of Allah, the Magians are your most bitter enemies."
+
+Uzza started and leaned forward with intense interest. Yusuf felt his
+burning gaze fixed on his face.
+
+"What proof have you that this is a Magian priest?" asked the prophet,
+wearily.
+
+"See!" exclaimed the Jew.
+
+He tore back the priest's garment, and there was the red mark of the
+torch outlined distinctly against the white skin.
+
+"Ha!" cried Uzza, starting forward, the veins of his forehead swelling
+with excitement. "The very mark! The secret mark of the priests among
+those who worship fire and the sun! This, O Mohammed, is not only a
+priest, but a priest who has fed the temple fires, and as such has been
+pledged to uphold the Guebre religion at whatever cost."
+
+Yusuf said nothing.
+
+"Can you not speak, Yusuf?" asked Mohammed. "Have you no word to say to
+all this?"
+
+"It is all true, O Mohammed," replied Yusuf, quietly. "It is true that
+in my youthful days I was a priest at Guebre altars. Now, I am not Yusuf
+the Magian priest, but Yusuf the Christian, and a humble follower of our
+Most High God and his Son Jesus."
+
+"Dare you thus proclaim yourself a Christian to my very face?" exclaimed
+Mohammed. "Magian or Christian, ye are all alike enemies. Off with him!
+Do with him as you will, Uzza,--yet," relenting, "I commend him to your
+mercy." He turned abruptly and left the apartment.
+
+Yusuf was immediately taken and thrown into a close, dark room. He was
+still bound hand and foot.
+
+The little Jew entered, and sat down with his head on one side.
+
+[Illustration: "He knows that Yusuf's hands reek with blood," said
+Uzza.--See page 58.]
+
+"Now, proud Yusuf," he said, "has come Abraham's day. Once it was
+Yusuf's day; then the poor peddler, the little dervish, was scourged and
+chained, and well-nigh smothered in that vile Meccan chamber. Now it has
+come Abraham's day, and Yusuf and Abraham will be even. How does this
+suit your angelic constitution? Angelic as you are, you cannot slip
+through chains and bolted doors so easily as the little Jew. Oh, Yusuf,
+are you not happy? Uzza hates you; I saw it in his face. Did you ever
+know him before?" The Jew's propensity for news was to the fore as
+usual.
+
+Yusuf answered nothing.
+
+"Tell me," said the Jew, giving him a shake, "what does Uzza know of
+you?"
+
+"He knows," said a thin, grating voice from behind, "that Yusuf's hands
+reek with the blood of Uzza's only child, the fair little Imri, murdered
+in the cause of religion; and ere I could reach him--yes, priest, with
+vengeance in my heart, for had I found you then your blood would have
+blotted out the stain of my child's on your altar!--the false priest had
+fled, forsaken the reeking altar, left it black in ashes, black as his
+own false heart. And then, that vengeance might be satisfied, was Uzza's
+blade turned against the aged grandmother who had delivered the little
+one up to Persian gods. O priest, your work is past, but not forgotten!"
+
+"Uzza," cried the priest, "I neither ask nor hope for mercy. Yet would
+God I could restore you your child! Its smile and its death gurgle have
+haunted my dreams through these long years! 'Twas in my heathendom I did
+it!"
+
+"That excuse will not give her back to me," said Uzza, stepping out of
+the room with the Jew, as the warden came with the keys.
+
+It was not Uzza's purpose to bring about Yusuf's speedy death. As the
+cat torments the mouse which has fallen into its power, so he resolved
+to keep the priest on the rack for a considerable length of time.
+
+Hearing of the conversation between him and Asru, he knew that exquisite
+torture could be inflicted on the priest through Dumah, and determined
+to strike at him first through the poor singer. Dumah's execution was,
+accordingly, ordered.
+
+Early one morning, Amzi, looking out of a little chink in his window
+through which the bare court-yard below was visible, was horrified to
+see a scene revolting in its every detail, and over which we shall
+hasten as speedily as may be.
+
+There in the gray morning light stood Yusuf, bound and forced to look on
+at the death of the bright-haired singer, whose sunny smile had been as
+a ray of sunshine to the two men.
+
+Amzi looked on as if turned to stone--heard Dumah's last cheerful words,
+"Do not weep, Yusuf; it will be all flowers, all angels, soon. Dumah is
+going home happy,"--then, he fell on his face, and so lay for hours
+unconscious of all. Reason came slowly back, and he realized that
+another of the tragedies only too common in those perilous days had
+taken place.
+
+"I am going home happy," rang in his ears. The cold moonlight crept in,
+shining in a dead silver bar on the ceiling. Amzi lay looking at it,
+until it seemed a path of glory leading, for Dumah's feet, through the
+window and up to heaven.
+
+"I am going home happy." Was that home Amzi's home too? Ah, he had never
+thought of it as his home, though he remembered the words--"In my
+Father's house are many mansions." He imagined he saw Dumah in one of
+those bright mansions, happy in eternal love and sunshine, while he,
+Amzi, was without.
+
+For the first time in his life Amzi was concerned deeply about his soul;
+and now there was no Yusuf to answer his questions. Ere another day had
+passed he, too, might be called upon to undergo Dumah's fate. He could
+not say "I am going home happy." How, then, might this blessed assurance
+be his? He strove to remember Yusuf's words, but they seemed to flit
+away from his memory. His whole life appeared so listless, so selfish,
+so taken up with gratification of self! At last he seemed a sinner. How
+could he obtain forgiveness?
+
+He turned over in agony, and the little stone tablet fell against his
+bosom. With difficulty, on account of the manacles on his hands, he drew
+it forth and traced the words with his finger.
+
+"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that
+whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting
+life."
+
+As when a black cloud passes away from the moon and a flood of
+brightness fills the whole air below, so the light burst upon Amzi. He
+saw it all now! His talk with Yusuf on the love of God came back to him,
+and he shouted aloud with joy:
+
+"Praise the Lord, he hath set me free!"
+
+"Then for the sake of mercy, help me to get out of this too," said a
+voice from the other side of the partition. It was Asru.
+
+"Alas, my friend," returned Amzi, "chains are still on my body. It is my
+soul that soareth upward as an eagle."
+
+"Wherefore?"
+
+Amzi read the verse of Scripture aloud.
+
+"I have heard somewhat of that before," said Asru. "Read it again."
+
+Amzi did so, and explained it as well as he could. Asru listened
+eagerly. This new creed interested him by its novelty, especially since
+he was in forced inaction and had nothing else to think of. But it also
+appealed to a heart which had some noble traits among many evil ones;
+and as Amzi talked, sorrow for his sins came upon him.
+
+"But the promise cannot be given to such as I," he said, wistfully. "A
+long life of wickedness surely cannot win forgiveness."
+
+"O friend," returned Amzi, eagerly, "'believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
+and thou shalt be saved.' How often did they tell me those words and I
+would not believe, could not understand!"
+
+And then Amzi told the story of the thief on the cross, as he had read
+it and talked it over with Yusuf. His voice thrilled with eagerness,
+and, on the other side of the wall, Asru wept tears of repentance. To
+him too, the door was opening, and a great longing for the love of
+Christ and for a better life filled his bosom. So they talked until the
+noise of the awakening Moslems in the passage without rendered it
+impossible for them to hear each other. But joy had come to both Amzi
+and Asru within the prison-walls.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+A SCENE IN PALESTINE.
+
+    "I had rather choose to be a pilgrim on earth with Thee than
+    without Thee to possess heaven. Where Thou art, there is
+    heaven: and where thou art not, there is death and
+    hell."--_Thomas a Kempis._
+
+
+It was a scene perfect in its calm beauty. A small, low, white house,
+flat-roofed, and dazzlingly clean, nestled at the foot of one of the
+fairest hills in Palestine; and before the door swept the river Jordan,
+plashing with that low, soft ripple which is music everywhere, but
+nowhere more so than in the hot countries of the East.
+
+A grove of banana and orange-trees sheltered the house, and the delicate
+fragrance of the ripening fruit mingled with the perfume of late roses.
+On the green hills near, sheep rambled at will, and an occasional low
+bleat arose above the busy hum of bees, giving an air of life to the
+quiet scene.
+
+In the shade of the trees sat Nathan, his wife and Mary. They had been
+talking of Manasseh,--poor Manasseh, left behind in barren Arabia!
+Nathan too had wanted to stay with his distressed countrymen, but
+failing health had forced him to seek the more genial atmosphere of the
+North; and, after a long, tedious journey, he at last found himself safe
+once more in his beloved Palestine, poor in worldly goods, yet serene
+and hopeful as ever.
+
+And fortune was at last smiling on the Jewish family. Nathan's health
+had come back to him in the clearer, more bracing air of the Northern
+land, his flocks were increasing, and the only gloom upon their perfect
+happiness was the absence of Manasseh, from whom they were not likely to
+hear soon. And yet they gloried in knowing that Manasseh had chosen to
+meet tribulation for the sake of his faith, and that, wherever he was,
+he was helping others and fighting on the side of right.
+
+"Father," said Mary, "how grand it is to be able to do something great
+and noble in the cause! Were I a man, I would go with Manasseh to fight
+for the Cross."
+
+Nathan stroked her hair softly. "The life of everyone who is consecrated
+to God is directed by him," he said. "To Manasseh is given the
+privilege of defending the faith and helping the weak by his strong,
+young arm; to Mary is given the humble, loving life in which she may
+serve God just as truly and do just as great a work in faithfully
+performing her own little part. Think you not so, mother?"
+
+"Ah, yes," returned the mother, with her gentle smile. "Life is like the
+cloth woven little by little, until the whole pattern shows in the
+finished work; and it matters not whether the pattern be large or small.
+So the little things of life, done well for Christ's sake, will at last
+make a noble whole of which none need be ashamed."
+
+"But mother, watching the sheep, grinding the meal, washing the
+garments, seem such very little things."
+
+"Yet all these are very necessary things," returned the mother quietly,
+"and if done cheerfully and willingly, call for an unselfish heart. A
+gentle, loving life lived amid little cares and trials is no small
+thing, my child."
+
+Mary kissed her mother. "Mother, you always say what comforts one; you
+always make me wish to live more patiently and lovingly."
+
+"And yet, Mary," said her father, "mother's life has been one round of
+small duties."
+
+Mary sat thinking for a moment. "Yes, father," she answered slowly, "I
+see now that mother's life has been the very best sermon on duty. I
+shall try to be patient and happy in simply doing well whatever my hands
+find to do. But I wish Manasseh were home;" and she looked wistfully to
+the west, where bands of color were spreading up the sky, saffron at the
+horizon, blending into gold and tender green above, while all melted
+into a sapphire dome streaked and flecked with rosy pink rays and bars.
+
+"How he would enjoy this glorious sunset! Oh, father, how dreadful if he
+were to be killed!--if he were nevermore to sit with us looking at the
+sunsets!" Her voice trembled a little as she spoke.
+
+"We are committing him to the care of Almighty God," returned Nathan,
+solemnly. "God is love, and whatever he does will be best."
+
+"You find great comfort, father, in believing that 'all things work
+together for good to them that love God,'" said Mary.
+
+"For the children of God, everything that happens must be best."
+
+"Even persecution and death?"
+
+"Even persecution and death, if God so will."
+
+Mary looked at his placid face for a long time, then she said: "How very
+peaceful you and mother are!"
+
+"How could we be otherwise," the father replied, smiling, "with Jesus
+with us each hour, each moment? And we know that he 'will never leave
+nor forsake us.' I think, too, that he is very close to my daughter.
+Mary, is there anything in this world that could take the place of Jesus
+to you? Would wealth or honor or any earthly joy make you perfectly
+happy if you could never pray to Jesus more, never feel him near you as
+an ever-present Friend, nevermore have the hope of seeing his face?"
+
+Mary clasped her hands, and her face glowed. "Never, oh, never!" she
+cried. "I would rather be like poor blind Bartimeus begging by the
+wayside, yet able to call, 'Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!'"
+
+The sun had now set, and the sky had faded with that suddenness common
+in Eastern lands.
+
+Nathan arose. "Let us now offer up prayer for the safety of Manasseh,
+and for the steadfastness of the brethren; for we know that where two or
+three are gathered together in Jesus' name, there is he in the midst of
+them. Let us pray!"
+
+The three knelt in the dim chamber, with silence about and the evening
+stars above, and prayed for the lad who, amid very different scenes, was
+in the heart of the strange revolution. And then they sang the words of
+that sublime psalm, than which no grander poem was ever written:
+
+    I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.
+
+    My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth.
+
+    He will not suffer thy foot to be moved; he that keepeth thee will
+    not slumber.
+
+    Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.
+
+    The Lord is thy keeper; the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand.
+
+    The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night.
+
+    The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil; he shall preserve thy
+    soul.
+
+    The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this
+    time forth, and even for evermore.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+THE BATTLE OF OHOD.
+
+    "Dost thou not know the fate of soldiers?
+    They're but Ambition's tools, to cut a way
+    To her unlawful ends."
+
+                              --_Southern._
+
+
+While these events had been taking place in the North, Henda had given
+Abu Sofian little peace, urging him every day to pay the dues of
+blood-revenge for her relatives, and taunting him with cowardice in his
+long delay.
+
+At length, in the third year of the Hegira he gathered a considerable
+army, and with three thousand men of the Koreish tribe, among whom were
+two hundred horsemen, left Mecca, accompanied by Henda and fifteen of
+the matrons of Mecca bearing timbrels and singing war-like chants.
+
+The whole army advanced with the intention of besieging Medina, but
+Mohammed's men entreated him to let them encounter Abu Sofian outside of
+the city, and he yielded to their entreaties. With only one thousand
+men,[10] fifty of whom were chosen archers, the prophet took up his
+stand on a declivity of Mount Ohod, about six miles north of the city.
+There, on its black and barren slope, he divided his army into four
+parts, three of which bore sacred banners, while the great standard was
+placed before Mohammed himself.
+
+In order to imbue his men with courage, he came out in full view of the
+whole army, and, in a loud voice that penetrated even the farthest
+ranks, gave promise of victory. Then, for the sake of those who should
+be killed in battle, he expatiated upon the delights of that Paradise
+which surely awaited all who should be slain in the cause, representing
+it such a paradise as would be peculiarly adapted to the tastes and
+stimulating to the imagination of the Arabs--a race accustomed to arid
+wastes, burning sands, and glaring skies; a paradise of green fields and
+flowery gardens cooled by innumerable rivers and sparkling fountains,
+which glittered from between shaded bowers inter-woven with perfumed
+flowers. He gave them promise of streams literally flowing with milk and
+clearest honey; of trees bending with fruit which should be handed down
+by houris of wondrous beauty; he told them of treasures of gold, silver,
+and jewels. "They shall dwell in gardens of delight, reposing on couches
+adorned with gold and precious stones.... Upon them shall be garments of
+fine green silk and brocades, and they shall be adorned with bracelets
+of silver, and they shall drink of a most pure liquor--a cup of wine
+mixed with the water of Zenjebil, a fountain in Paradise named
+Salsabil."
+
+Such was the sensual character of the paradise promised to his followers
+by Mohammed. The soldiers were listening eagerly to the words when the
+army of Abu Sofian was seen, advancing in the form of a crescent, with
+Abu Sofian and his idols in the center, and Henda and her women in the
+rear, sounding their timbrels, and singing loud war-chants.
+
+The horsemen of the left wing of the Koreish now advanced to attack the
+Moslems in the flank, but the archers fired upon them from the top of
+some steep rocks, and they retired in confusion.
+
+Hamza, a Moslem leader, then shouted the Moslem cry, "Death! Death!" and
+rushed down the hill upon the center. The crash and roar of battle
+began. High in air gleamed spear and lance; horses shrieked and reared,
+and tossed their long manes; dark, contorted visages and shining teeth
+shone out from clouds of dust; sashes floated on the air, and sabres
+flashed in the sunlight; all was mad confusion.
+
+In the melee two young men met hand to hand. Both were tall and slight,
+and had dark, waving hair. So like were they that a warrior near them
+called out, "Behold, doth Manasseh fight with Manasseh!" But the youths
+heard not, recked not. Their blows fell thick and fast, until at last
+the Moslem gave way, and fell, wounded and bleeding, in the dust by the
+side of Hamza, who lay stiffening in death.
+
+Then arose the shout, "The sword of God and his prophet!" and Abu
+Dudjana, armed with the prophet's own sword, waved it above his head and
+dashed into the thick of the battle.
+
+Mosaab, the standard-bearer, followed close and planted the standard at
+the top of a knoll. An arrow struck him in the eye. He fell, and the cry
+arose that the prophet himself had fallen. Ali seized the standard and
+floated it aloft on the air; but the Moslems, seized with confusion,
+would not rally, and withdrew to the hill-top.
+
+The Koreish, thinking Mohammed killed, forbore to follow them, and began
+the revolting work of plundering the dead. Henda and her companions
+savagely assisted in the gruesome task; and, coming upon Hamza, the
+fierce woman mutilated his dead body.
+
+By him she found the handsome youth, whom she believed to be Manasseh,
+so torn and covered with blood as to conceal his Moslem adornments. To
+Manasseh she had taken a strange fancy, and she now ordered the youth to
+be conveyed in safety to the camp, with the army which was forming in
+line of march.
+
+The band of Jews who had come with the forces of Abu Sofian, mainly for
+the purpose of delivering those of their afflicted brethren who had
+refused to join Mohammed, and of whom many were imprisoned in Medina,
+now joined with a band of the Koreish, who desired the freedom of some
+of their tribe, and, while the excitement of battle was still fresh, the
+party entered the city by stealth, then, dashing furiously down the
+street to the guard-house, overpowered the guards and battered open the
+doors, setting many of the prisoners free. Among these were Amzi, Asru,
+and Yusuf.
+
+It was Manasseh himself who broke in the door of the apartment in which
+Yusuf was confined.
+
+An exclamation of pleasure burst from him on recognizing the priest, and
+he threw his arms about his neck.
+
+"Yusuf! My dear Yusuf!" he cried.
+
+"My boy!" exclaimed the priest, in astonishment. "What means this?"
+
+"It means that you are free," said the youth as he knocked off the
+chains. "Haste! We must on to the camp ere the Moslems return. Anything
+more than this I will tell you on the way."
+
+Once again Yusuf stepped out into the pure air, along with many others
+who bore part of their chains in the broken links that still clanked
+upon their wrists and ankles.
+
+In passing through the court-yard, the priest noticed some one crouched
+in a pitiable heap in a corner of the yard. Manasseh hauled him out. It
+was the peddler, with ashen face and eyes rolling with fear.
+
+"Come along, my man!" laughed Manasseh. "Like the worm in a pomegranate,
+you are apt to do harm if left to yourself."
+
+Abraham writhed and begged for mercy.
+
+"Come along!" said Manasseh, impatiently. "I shall not hurt you; I shall
+merely look after you for awhile."
+
+Thus consoled, the peddler hopped on with alacrity. A hasty mount was
+made and the party set out for the camp of Abu Sofian.
+
+Yusuf then had a chance to ask the question burning at his heart. "How
+comes it, Manasseh, that you again fight against the prophet? When last
+I saw you, you wore the green of the Moslem."
+
+"I!" said the youth in astonishment. "You jest, Yusuf!"
+
+"It was surely you who met me on the field of Bedr."
+
+"Yusuf, are you mad? It was never I."
+
+"Then who can it have been? It was your very face."
+
+"For once, Yusuf, your eyes have played you false. How could you have
+believed such a thing of Manasseh?"
+
+"A strange resemblance!" mused Yusuf; then--"Whom see I before me
+yonder?"
+
+"Manasseh's eyes do not play him false, and he declares it to be Amzi,"
+said the youth.
+
+They hastened up the narrow street, now crowded with soldiers,
+prisoners, camels, and horses; and, escaping the missiles thrown by
+infuriated Moslem women from the housetops, soon overtook Amzi and Asru.
+All proceeded at once to the camp of Abu Sofian.
+
+Some large tents were set apart for the wounded Koreish, and here Yusuf
+and Amzi found speedy occupation in binding wounds, and giving drinks of
+water to the parched soldiers. Manasseh entered with them.
+
+"What means this?" cried Henda. "Did I not have you conveyed, soaked
+with blood, among the wounded of the Koreish?"
+
+"I have not been wounded to-day," returned Manasseh. "Read me this
+riddle, Henda. There must be a second self--"
+
+"Here, Manasseh!" interrupted Yusuf from one side. "Had you a twin
+brother, this must be he."
+
+Yusuf was bending over a youth whose dark eyes spoke of suffering, and
+who lay listlessly permitting the priest to bathe his blood-covered
+brow. His eyes were fixed on Manasseh, who was quickly coming forward,
+and those near wondered at the striking resemblance, more marked than is
+often found between brothers.
+
+"Who are you, friend?" asked Manasseh, curiously.
+
+"Kedar the Bedouin!" returned the youth, proudly. "Though how I came
+into a Koreish camp, is more than I can explain."
+
+"For that you may thank your resemblance to me," laughed Manasseh. "You
+are weak, Kedar, my proud Bedouin, and we will ask you to talk but
+little; yet, I pray you, tell me, who was your father?"
+
+"Musa, the Bedouin Sheikh,"--haughtily.
+
+"And your mother was Lois, daughter of Eleazar?"
+
+"Even so," returned the other, wonderingly.
+
+"My cousin!" exclaimed Manasseh, delightedly seizing his hand.
+
+"And son of my Bedouin friend, Musa!" exclaimed Yusuf.
+
+So the Bedouin youth, the rash, hot-headed Moslem recruit, found himself
+among friends in a Koreish camp.
+
+Night had now fallen, and under cover of darkness, Mohammed's army
+silently returned to Medina.
+
+There were those who censured the prophet for his conduct at this
+battle; and some even dared to charge him with deception in promising
+them victory. But Mohammed told them that defeat was due to their sins:
+"Verily, they among you who turned their backs on the day whereon the
+two armies met at Ohod, Satan caused them to slip for some crime which
+they had committed."
+
+To quiet those who lamented for their slain friends, he brought forth
+the doctrine that the time of every man's death is fixed by divine
+decree, and that he must meet it at that time, wherever he be.
+
+In the morning the majority of Abu Sofian's forces set out for Mecca.
+Among them were Yusuf and Amzi, also Asru the captain; and it was with
+no small sense of comfort that the half-starved prisoners sat again
+about Amzi's well-stocked board.
+
+Manasseh was with them. Kedar, scorning to desert the Moslem army, had
+refused to leave Medina, and, by the earnest intercession of Yusuf and
+Amzi, whose word was of some import in Meccan ears, he had been given
+his freedom.
+
+It was with deep relief that all felt the short respite from the blare
+of battle; and, though they looked forward to the future with anxious
+forebodings, and though their joy was clouded by the death of Dumah,
+they were thankful for present blessings. Not alone prayer, but praise,
+was an essential part of their religion, and their voices ascended in
+song,--
+
+    I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be
+    in thy mouth.
+
+    My soul shall make her boast in the Lord; the humble shall hear
+    thereof, and be glad.
+
+    O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together.
+
+    I sought the Lord, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my
+    fears.
+
+    They looked unto him, and were lightened; and their faces were not
+    ashamed.
+
+    This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of
+    all his troubles.
+
+    The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and
+    delivereth them.
+
+    O taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man that
+    trusteth in him.
+
+    O fear the Lord, ye his saints; for there is no want to them that
+    fear him.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+THE BATTLE OF THE DITCH.
+
+    "Blood! blood! The leaves above me and around me
+      Are red with blood."
+
+
+In the year which followed, Mohammed's forces were more than once
+directed against Syrian caravans, and the plunder divided among the
+Moslem troops after one-fifth had been appropriated by the prophet; but
+otherwise the truce was unbroken, until at the end of the year, the
+Koreish, uniting with neighboring tribes, many of whom were Jews, formed
+the plan of a grand attack which was to free El Hejaz forever from the
+power of the Islam despot.
+
+From the Caaba the call was given to all who could be appealed to
+through religion, through the interests of commerce, or through desire
+for blood-revenge in consequence of the battles of Bedr and Ohod. To the
+more earnest Jews the undertaking took the form of a vast religious war,
+undertaken against the hosts of Satan for the deliverance of a land in
+bondage; to the Meccan merchants it assumed the guise of a commercial
+transaction which would again restore the trade so long ruined by
+Mohammed's hostile measures; to the Koreish and the desert tribes it
+seemed the grand opportunity of clearing the honor stained by the
+unrevenged death of their friends.
+
+Accordingly a host of volunteers to the number of one hundred thousand
+offered themselves, and the vast array set out. Among the volunteers
+were Yusuf, Amzi, Asru, and the valiant Manasseh, all of whom deemed the
+necessity of the hour a sufficient reason for entering upon a course
+foreign to the laws of peace which they would fain have seen
+established.
+
+A mighty host it seemed in a land whose battles had chiefly been
+confined to skirmishes between different tribes. As it wound its way
+down the narrow valley, the women of Mecca stood upon the housetops,
+listening to the trampling, and beseeching their household gods to bless
+the enterprise.
+
+Long ere they reached Medina the prophet had received word of their
+advance, and had had a ditch or entrenchment dug about the city as a
+sort of fortification.
+
+Abu Sofian ordered his tents to be pitched below on the plain, and, this
+done, he at once laid siege to the city.
+
+But his bad generalship ruined the undertaking. For a month he kept his
+men wholly inactive, and during that time Mohammed busied himself in
+sending emissaries in the midst of Abu Sofian's men for the purpose of
+sowing disaffection among them; and so completely was this done that the
+besieging force became hollow and rotten to its core. Tribe after tribe
+left. The few faithful besought their leader to permit them to attack
+the city, and when at last the order was given, but a feeble remnant of
+the original host remained. Notwithstanding this, the command "Forward!"
+was hailed with tumultuous joy, and the besiegers pressed forward in
+irregular yet serried masses.
+
+Scarcely had the attack begun when a terrific storm arose. It was in the
+winter season, and a sudden hurricane of cold winds came shrieking
+through the gaps of the mountains to the north.
+
+Amzi, having, as an influential Meccan, been appointed to the command of
+a division, charged boldly forward in the teeth of the tempest, waving
+his sword above his head and cheering his men on with his hopeful voice.
+Yusuf, Asru and Manasseh pressed forward close behind him. A cloud of
+arrows met them, yet they poured impetuously on. And now the bank was
+climbed and the conflict became almost hand-to-hand. The priest's tall
+form rendered him conspicuous in the fray. Some one came hacking and
+hewing his way towards him. It was the agile Uzza. The priest was beset
+on all sides and was defending himself against fearful odds, when the
+face of Uzza, fiend-like in its hate, burst upon him as a new opponent.
+He raised his weapon for a blow, but the vision of a Guebre altar upon
+which a little, bleeding child lay, rose before him, and his arm fell.
+
+Uzza perceived his advantage. With a howl of triumph he cried, "False
+priest, you shall not escape me this time!" and made a fierce stroke
+with his scimitar. But the blow was parried.
+
+"Simpleton! Would you let him kill you?" cried a harsh voice close by
+the priest. And the next moment Uzza fell with a death-groan at the feet
+of Asru.
+
+And now the storm struck with full fury, howling among the houses of
+Medina, whistling shrilly on the upper air, and bending the palm trees
+low along its furious path. Thatches were torn from the roofs and
+carried whirling through the air; clouds of dust were blown high along
+the streets, and black, ragged clouds scurried across the sky as if
+urged on by demon-force. Horses neighed loudly. Many of them became
+unmanageable, and dashed, with terrified eyes and distended nostrils,
+through the midst of the flying soldiery. The tents of Abu Sofian were
+torn from their pegs and hurled away. Then the rain descended in sheets,
+or, whirled round by the wind, swirled along in columns with almost the
+force of a water-spout.
+
+Suddenly a cry was raised: "It is Mohammed! The prophet has raised the
+storm by enchantment!"
+
+The cry echoed from mouth to mouth above the roar of the tempest. The
+superstitious Arabs were seized with terror and fled precipitately,
+believing themselves surrounded by legions of invisible spirits. Amzi
+and his little band stayed until the last; then, deserted by all and
+blinded by the descending torrents, they, too, were obliged to withdraw,
+and another victory, that of the Battle of the Ditch, had fallen to the
+prophet.
+
+This was the last expedition undertaken by the Koreish against their
+victorious enemy. Mohammed, of course, attributed his great conquest to
+divine agency. In a passage from the Koran he declared:
+
+"O true believers, remember the favor of God toward you, when armies of
+infidels came against you, and we sent against them a wind and hosts of
+angels which ye saw not."
+
+The heart sickens in following further Mohammed's willful career of
+blood. During the following five years he is said to have commanded
+twenty-seven expeditions and fought nine pitched battles. Against the
+Christian Jews in particular the bitterest expressions of his hate were
+directed; and to his dying day this incomprehensible man, from whose
+lips proceeded words of mercy and of deadliest rancor, words of love and
+of hate, words of purity and of gross sensuality--this strange man
+persecuted them to the last, nor ever ceased to direct his arms against
+all who followed that gentle Jesus of Nazareth of whose power this
+blood-marked, self-proclaimed prophet of Allah was envious.
+
+His followers, dazzled by the glare of his brilliant victories or
+solicitous for self-preservation, constantly swelled in numbers, but
+there were a few who, like Kedar, had heard of the peaceableness of the
+religion of Jesus Christ, and who began to sicken of the flow of blood
+which deluged the sands of El Hejaz, and ran even into the Nejd, the
+borders of Syria, and of Arabia-Felix.
+
+Kedar often longed for the friendly touch, the hearty, kindly words, of
+the friends whom he had met and parted from as in a dream. He had soon
+refused to believe in Mohammed's divine appointment. Even this Bedouin
+youth had enough penetration to see that religion must stand upon its
+results, and that the private life of Mohammed would not stand the test
+of inspection. Fain would he have left his ranks many and many a time.
+The brand of coward he knew could not be attached to him for leaving
+victorious ranks to ally himself with the few and feeble Jews, yet there
+was something in the idea of "turning his coat" which he did not like.
+He imagined in a vague way that such a proceeding would compromise his
+principles of honor, and he had not reached the wisdom of that great
+educator, Comenius, who, not long ere his death, wrote a treatise upon
+"the art of wisely withdrawing one's own assertions." So he fought
+doggedly on, until circumstances again threw him into the bosom of his
+friends.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+THE FAMILY OF ASRU.
+
+    "God's in his heaven, all's right with the world."
+
+
+On the evening upon which the Battle of the Ditch was fought, the wife
+of Asru, and his daughter, Sherah, now almost grown to womanhood, were
+returning from performing Tawaf at the temple. They had prayed for the
+success of the Koreish expedition; they had drank of the well of Ismael,
+Zem-Zem, and had poured its water on their heads. Now they were
+hastening home to offer prayers to their household gods in the same
+cause, for, during Asru's apostasy to the Moslem ranks, his wife, a
+woman of the Koreish, and her family had never swerved from their
+hostility to Mohammed and all connected with him. For their obstinacy in
+this, they had been cruelly abused by Asru, who, with the superiority
+which most men in the East assume over women, ruled as a tyrant in his
+house.
+
+It was with unspeakable satisfaction that Sherah and her mother found
+that Asru had at last broken all connection with the prophet, but a
+change had come into his manner which was to them most unaccountable.
+Instead of cruelty now was kindness; instead of stormy petulance, now
+was patience; and yet, Asru had not mentioned the cause of his new life.
+A sort of backwardness on the subject, a desire to know more of it
+before communicating with others, strove with him against the dictates
+of his conscience, and he had as yet been dumb. He had not concealed his
+connection with the little band of Jewish Christians. In spite of the
+jeers of his friends among the Koreish, he had attended their meetings
+regularly. That had been the extent of his active Christian work; yet
+his life had been preaching while his lips were still.
+
+Sherah and her mother talked of him as they walked.
+
+"Mother, however it be, father was never kind until he went to the
+Jewish meetings."
+
+"True. Yet many of these same Jews are wicked, thieves, low robbers, not
+fit for such as Asru to mingle with," said the mother haughtily.
+
+"Yet not the Jews who attend the church," returned the girl, quickly. "I
+know them. Most of them are poor, but not thieves; they seem quiet,
+industrious people. Then, Amzi attends there now, you know, and Yusuf,
+who, when the plague was raging, spent weeks in attending the sick. Did
+he not come to father and sit with him night after night, when,
+mother--I shame to say it--both you and I fled!"
+
+The mother walked in silence for a moment.
+
+"There must be some strange power that urges a man to do such acts," she
+said, musingly. "It would be easier far to go out to battle, urged on
+by the enthusiasm of conquest, and cheered by the music and clash of
+timbrels to deeds of bravery. It takes a different spirit to enter the
+houses of filthy disease, to court death in reeking lazar-houses, to sit
+for weeks watching hideous faces and listening to the ravings of madmen
+through the long, hot nights of the plague-season."
+
+"Mother, I am convinced that their religion prompts them to do it. What
+else can it be?"
+
+"What is their religion?"
+
+"I know not; yet we may know for the going, perhaps. See, the lights
+gleam in their little hall. They hold meeting to-night. Let us go."
+
+"What! And let the proud tribe of the Koreish, the guardians of the
+Caaba, see a woman of the Koreish enter there?"
+
+"We can go in long cloaks, mother, and it is well-nigh dark. Come, will
+you not?"
+
+The pleading voice was so earnest that the mother consented. Yet, that
+the influence of the gods in the result of the battle might not be lost,
+they first entered their own house, prostrated themselves before the
+gods, and besought their aid in the Koreish cause. Then, donning long
+outer cloaks, and veiling their faces closely, the two slipped out of a
+back way and stealthily hastened towards the Jewish church.
+
+It was late when they arrived. Neither Yusuf nor Amzi was present to
+raise the hearts of their hearers with words of simple and earnest
+piety, no voice of Manasseh was there to lead in the songs of praise,
+but an old man with snowy hair and a saint-like face was standing behind
+a table, a volume of the Scriptures before him, and the voices of the
+congregation, some twenty in number, arose in the old, yet ever new
+words:
+
+"The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in
+green pastures; he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my
+soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
+Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will
+fear no evil, for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort
+me."
+
+The Koreish woman listened. She could not understand all this. Yet it
+was beautiful,--"green pastures," "still waters." Could it be that these
+people knew of an Elysian spot, unknown to Meccans--that their God led
+them to such favored retreats? She could restrain her impatience no
+longer.
+
+"Where are the green pastures and still waters?" she cried, impetuously,
+"that I too may go to them!"
+
+The old man smiled with serene kindness. "Daughter," he said, "the green
+pastures and still waters are the pleasant places of the soul. Hast thou
+never known what it was to have doubts and fears, restlessness and
+dissatisfaction in the present, uncertainty for the future, a feeling
+that there is little in life, and a great gulf in death?"
+
+"I have felt so almost every day," she replied, passionately.
+
+"Hast thou not found comfort in thy gods?" he asked, gently.
+
+"Alas, I fear to say that I have not!" she exclaimed.
+
+"And why fearest thou thus?" he said.
+
+"Ah, knowest thou not that the gods are gods of vengeance?" she replied
+in an awed whisper.
+
+"I know naught of your gods," he returned. "Our God is a God of love. He
+gives us the certainty of his presence ever with us in this life, his
+companionship in death, and the privilege of looking upon his face and
+being 'forever with the Lord' in the world to come."
+
+"And are you not afraid of death?" she asked. "To me it seems a dreadful
+thing. It makes me shudder to think that I too must one day suffer the
+struggle for breath, and then lie still and cold."
+
+"To those who love the Lord 'to die is gain,'" he said. "Have we not
+sung 'Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I
+will fear no evil, for Thou art with me'? Surely one who believes that,
+and knows that he is going to be always with the Lord, always able to
+look on his face, need not fear death."
+
+"It is a beautiful thought," the woman said, bowing her head on her
+hands.
+
+"Yet not more beautiful than the thought that the Holy Spirit is ever
+with us; that Jesus himself is our brother, and understands all our
+little troubles; that he has promised to help us in overcoming all evil.
+'For every one that asketh receiveth, and he that seeketh findeth, and
+to him that knocketh it shall be opened.' 'If a son shall ask bread of
+any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? If he ask a fish,
+will he for a fish give him a serpent? Or if he shall ask an egg, will
+he offer him a scorpion? If ye, then, being evil, know how to give good
+gifts to your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give
+the Holy Spirit to them that ask him.' Daughter, these are the very
+words of Jesus. Do they not show you the way to the still waters and
+green pastures? Do you not see that the love of our God acts upon the
+heart as gentle showers upon the barren land, causing it to rejoice and
+bring forth fruit worthy of being presented to our Lord and Master? 'He
+hath loved us with an everlasting love.' He loves us ever, therefore in
+our returning this love to him doth the 'peace of God that passeth all
+understanding' lay hold upon our hearts."
+
+"But ye are Jews!" she said. "Such promises are not for the Koreish."
+
+"Such promises are for all," was the confident reply. "Jesus said
+whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
+None so sinful that Jesus cannot wash out the stain; none are excluded
+from his mercy. Daughter, believe, receive. Let the love of God enter
+thine heart, and repent best by doing thine evil deeds no more. Only
+come to Jesus himself. Only have faith in him."
+
+The Koreish woman hid her face in her hands again, and answered nothing.
+The old man turned to the Scriptures and read the story of Jesus and the
+woman of Samaria, raising his voice in triumphant fervor as he reached
+the words: "Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall
+never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a
+well of water springing up into everlasting life."
+
+Then he turned to the words spoken by Jesus to his disciples just before
+his betrayal, and read: "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give unto
+you. Let not your heart be troubled," and, "Abide in me, and I in you.
+As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself except it abide in the vine,
+no more can ye except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the
+branches; he that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth
+much fruit; for without me ye can do nothing."
+
+The woman listened. With the quick appreciation of the Arab for metaphor
+and simile, she grasped the meaning of the words, and a new, wonderful
+train of thought came into her mind as she sat with bowed head while
+simple, pleading, heart-offered prayer was sent up to the Throne of
+Grace, and the parting hymn was sung.
+
+Then the little band gathered around her, speaking words of cheer, and
+the aged leader dismissed her with a gentle, "Come again, daughter."
+
+As Sherah and her mother walked home, the last remnant of the fearful
+storm that had visited Medina passed over Mecca. They saw the ragged
+clouds borne wildly over the northern hills; they saw the stunted aloes
+bending low beneath the sweep of the wind. Yet to them there was a
+grandeur in it, for there was still upon them the influence of the
+Divine presence, and they thought of Him who "walketh upon the wings of
+the wind."
+
+And as they went on, bowing their heads before its spent fury, Asru,
+Amzi, and Yusuf, far to the northward, struggled on with the fugitive
+army, wondering at the continued triumph of the false prophet, yet
+serene in the confidence that in the Divine Hands all was well, and that
+in the far-distant end, however blurred to human vision, all must work
+for good to those who love God, even though the reason of his working,
+the seeming mystery of the fortunes of the great conflict, might not be
+unravelled until in the bright hereafter, when all things will at last
+be made plain.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+MANASSEH AND ASRU AT KHAIBAR.
+
+    "Spirit of purity and grace,
+      Our weakness, pitying, see!
+    O make our hearts thy dwelling-place,
+      And worthier Thee."
+
+
+The Koreish, after their disastrous defeat at the Battle of the Ditch,
+returned in bitter disappointment to Mecca. Many even of the bravest of
+the tribe felt that it was hopeless to strive against the prophet, whose
+phenomenal success seemed to render his troops invincible. Many, too,
+with the superstition at all times common to the Arabs, were in deadly
+dread of his "enchantments," and were only too ready to listen to his
+bold assertions that the momentous storm at the siege of Medina had been
+caused in his favor by heavenly agency; that a great host of angels had
+been in invisible co-operation with the Moslems and had drawn their
+legions about the ill-fated company, crying, "God is great!" and
+striking panic to the hearts of the besiegers.
+
+Because of these superstitions the hearts of the Arabs failed them, and
+they day after day lessened in their hostility, and increased in their
+spirit of submission to the now famous prophet of El Islam.
+
+The Jews, however, held out to the last, and against them the reeking
+blades of Mohammed's army were turned. The Jewish tribes of the
+Koraidha, Kainoka, and the Nadhirites, in the vicinity of Medina, were
+speedily overthrown, and their goods taken possession of by the Moslems.
+Then, before the blood cooled on the scimitars, these conquests were
+followed by the dastardly assassination of the few Jews who were still
+in Medina, and, being possessed of considerable property, were a
+tempting bait to the avaricious prophet, who now, making religion a
+cloak to cover his greed and ambition, went to the wildest excesses in
+attaining his objects.
+
+Many of the Jews, escaping dearly with their lives, fled to the city of
+Khaibar, five days' journey to the northeast of Medina, a city inhabited
+by Jews, who, living in the midst of a luxuriant farming district, had
+grown rich in the peaceful arts of agriculture and commerce. Others
+hastened thither in the hope that Khaibar might become the nucleus of a
+successful resistance of Mohammed's power in the near future; and among
+the latter class was Manasseh.
+
+Late one afternoon he arrived in the rich pasture-lands surrounding the
+city. The air of peace and prosperity, the lowing of herds and bleating
+of sheep, delighted him; and, though weary from his journey, it was with
+a light heart that he urged his flagging horse between the long groves
+of palm-trees until the city came in sight.
+
+His martial spirit glowed as he noted the heavy out-works, and the
+strength of the citadel Al Kamus, which, built on a high rock, and
+towering ragged and black against the orange sky of the setting sun,
+seemed to the young soldier almost impregnable.
+
+He was welcomed at the gates as another recruit to the gathering forces,
+and, on his request, was at once directed to the house of the chief,
+Kenana Ibn al Rabi, a man reputed to be exceedingly wealthy. Here he was
+courteously received by Kenana and his wife Safiya; and, in a long
+conference, he informed the chief of the numbers and zeal of Mohammed's
+army, urging upon him the immediate strengthening of the city, as it was
+highly probable that the prophet would not long desist from making an
+attempt upon a tid-bit so tempting as that which Khaibar presented.
+
+That evening an informal council of war was held in the court-yard of
+the chief's house. Al Hareth, a brother of Asru, a man who, although an
+Arab, had been appointed to high office, and had proved himself one of
+the most distinguished commanders of the Jewish colony, was present;
+and, among others, Asru himself entered.
+
+"Asru!" exclaimed Manasseh, delightedly, hurrying him aside to an
+arbor, "you here! I thought I had become separated from you all in that
+ill-fated storm. Where are Amzi and Yusuf, know you?"
+
+"Gone to Mecca with Abu Sofian's remnant of an army--as miserable and
+hang-head lot of fugitives as ever disgraced field!" said Asru
+contemptuously. "By my faith, it shamed me to see our brave friends in
+their company, even for the journey!"
+
+"Why did they go to Mecca?"
+
+"Because they were firmly convinced that Mecca will be the next point of
+attack," said Asru, "but methinks they shall find themselves mistaken.
+Mohammed will keep Mecca as a sort of sacred spot, dedicated to his
+worship--and the worship of Allah!" with infinite scorn. "But Khaibar is
+a pomegranate of the highest branches, too mellow, too luscious, too
+tempting, to elude his grasp. Yes, Manasseh, Khaibar will be his next
+point of attack. However, I am truly glad that Yusuf and Amzi have gone
+home. The Jews and Christians in Mecca will be safe enough for some time
+to come, and our friends are getting too old to endure much fatigue of
+battle."
+
+"Aye, Asru, you and I are better fitted to face the brunt of the charge
+and the weariness of the march. The work of Yusuf and Amzi should be
+milder, though not less glorious, than ours."
+
+"You say well," returned the other, with kindling eye. "Asru, for one,
+can never forget what they have done for him."
+
+"Asru, are all the stories of the wickedness of your past life--your
+cruelty, your treachery, your blasphemy--true?"
+
+"Manasseh, let my past life go into the tomb of oblivion if you will.
+'Tis a sorry page for Asru to look upon. The cruelty, the
+blasphemy,--aye, boy, I was full of it; but treacherous, never! Whatever
+Asru was, and no devil was blacker than he in many ways, he was never
+guilty of perfidy, except you call the trying to free Amzi and poor
+Dumah perfidy."
+
+"I am glad," returned Manasseh, quietly; "yet it would not matter now,
+since our Asru is a changed man."
+
+Asru looked at the youth earnestly. "Manasseh," he said, "does the old
+nature never come back upon you? Or have you never known what it was to
+feel wrong impulses?"
+
+"Wrong impulses!" exclaimed the other. "Yes, Asru, many and many a time.
+Yet, when one does not even look at the evil, but keeps his face turned
+steadfastly towards the right, the old self seems to lose its hold. In
+drawing near to God we draw away from evil."
+
+"Your words, I know, are true," returned the other; "yet the keeping
+from doing wrong seems to me the hardest thing in living a Christian
+life."
+
+"But, Asru," said Manasseh, "perhaps you are not loving enough. The more
+you love Jesus, and the more you feel him in your life, the easier it
+will be to turn from temptation--to hate the thing that inspires it. If
+you really love him you simply cannot do what will pain him."
+
+"But the temptation to act hastily, to speak unkindly, comes upon me so
+often, Manasseh, that I grow discouraged."
+
+"The only safety is in always looking Above for help. Believe me, Asru,
+I speak from experience. Temptation in itself is not sin; the yielding
+to it is. Little by little the temptations bother us less, and we grow
+in grace. You know this is expected of us. Paul speaks of 'perfecting
+holiness in the fear of the Lord.' He says, too, 'The weapons of our
+warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of
+strongholds.' He said, also, to the Philippians, 'It is God that worketh
+in you, both to will and to do of his good pleasure,' and the Lord
+himself has said, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is
+made perfect in weakness.' So, Asru, my friend, the whole secret is in
+accepting that gift, in knowing him, and in keeping the soul in a
+constant state of openness for the working of the Holy Spirit--a
+'pray-without-ceasing' attitude in which one's whole life is resolved
+into the prayer: 'Thy will, not mine, be done.'"
+
+Asru regarded Manasseh curiously.
+
+"How is it, young as you are," he said, "that these things are so plain
+to you?"
+
+"Ah, you forget," said Manasseh, "what a blessed home training I have
+had, and that from my childhood I have had Yusuf for my counsellor. For
+these Christian friends of my childhood, I never cease to be thankful."
+
+Asru turned his face away. "And I, too, have children, Manasseh," he
+said in a low voice, "children who, with their mother, are little better
+than idolaters, and I have never told them differently."
+
+"But you will teach them?" returned Manasseh.
+
+"Ah, yes, if God spares me through this perilous time I shall teach
+them."
+
+"Have you heard or seen aught of Kedar, lately?" asked Manasseh,
+abruptly.
+
+"In the Battle of the Ditch I saw him for a moment, charging furiously
+against one of Abu Sofian's divisions. He was in advance of the rest,
+riding with his head bent in the teeth of the tempest. On a knoll above
+me, I saw him for a moment, between me and the sky, his hair and long
+sash streaming in the wind; then the rain came, and I saw him no more.
+Aye, but he is a brave lad!"
+
+"Poor cousin!" said Manasseh. "It is misplaced bravery. Would he were
+one of us!"
+
+"He is not a Christian; and, unless he were so, a spirit like his would
+scorn to be one of such a craven, contention-torn mob as that which Abu
+Sofian brought to the field. Strange, is it not, that the little band of
+Christians find themselves allied to a set of idolaters, against one who
+would cast idols down?"
+
+"Aye, but Mohammed would trample Christians and idolaters alike. Think
+you that defeat was owing wholly to cowardice of the soldiers?"
+
+"Not so much, perhaps, as to bad generalship of the leader," returned
+Asru. "Nevertheless the superstition of the heathen Arabs, and their
+fear when the cry of Mohammed's enchantment was raised, made a craven of
+every one of them. Manasseh, had we had ten thousand Christian Jews,
+there might have been a different story."
+
+"We are nearly all Jews, here," said Manasseh, proudly. "Have you happy
+forebodings for the issue of the next combat?"
+
+Asru shook his head, gloomily. "There will be a brave resistance on the
+part of our garrisons," he said, "although many of the men are well-nigh
+as ignorant and superstitious as the heathen Arabs; but Mohammed's
+forces have swelled wondrously since the 'enchanted' storm. Well, we can
+but do our best. Now, I see that the council has assembled. They call
+us. Come."
+
+The two left the arbor and joined the others in the middle of the
+garden. And there, while the stars shone peacefully above in the evening
+sky, and the palm-trees waved, and a little bird twittered contentedly
+over its nest in an olive bush, these men talked of measures of
+fortification, of tactics of war, and schemes of blood-shed; a
+conversation forced upon them, not as a matter of choice but of
+necessity--the necessity of a desperate few, earthed by a relentless
+conqueror and a ruthless despot, whose intolerance to all who denied his
+claims has never been surpassed in earth's history.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+MOHAMMED'S PILGRIMAGE.
+
+    "Five great enemies to peace inhabit with us, viz.: Avarice,
+    Ambition, Envy, Anger, and Pride."--_Petrarch._
+
+
+In the meantime Yusuf and Amzi had taken up the old routine of life in
+Mecca--the faithful doing of the daily round, the little deeds of
+charity, the duties of business, the attendance at meetings in the
+little church. Everything seemed to sink back into the old way, yet
+there was not a man in the city but held himself in readiness to take
+up arms were an attack made upon them to wrest from them their freedom.
+
+And word came that Mohammed was coming,--coming, not in war, but in
+peace, on his first pilgrimage to the Caaba. Mecca was instantly thrown
+into the wildest confusion. Some deemed the prophet's message honorable,
+but the majority were dubious, and thought that if Mohammed once gained
+an entrance, notwithstanding the fact that it was the sacred month Doul
+Kaada, his coming would be but to deluge the streets with blood.
+
+A hasty consultation was held, and a troop of horse under one Khaled Ibn
+Waled, was sent out to check the prophet's advance. Mohammed, however,
+by means of his spies, early got word of this sally, and, turning aside
+from the way, he proceeded by ravines and by-paths through the
+mountains; and, ere the Meccans were aware of his proximity, his whole
+force was encamped near the city.
+
+A deputation came from his army to the dignitaries of Mecca bearing
+messages of peace; but their reception was haughty.
+
+"Go to him who sent you," was the reply to their overtures, "and say
+that Meccan doors are shut to one against whom every family in Mecca
+owes the revenge of blood."
+
+For days the deputation was sent, with the same result, until at last
+ambassadors of the prophet entered with the offer of a truce for ten
+years.
+
+The promise of a long respite from blood, and the hope of securing time
+to recuperate their forces, caught the ear of the Meccans. A deputation
+was appointed to treat with the prophet, and Amzi, though a Christian,
+by reason of his wisdom and learning was chosen as one of the
+representatives.
+
+Yusuf accompanied him to an eminence above the defile in which the
+Moslem tents were pitched. A strange sight it was. Far as eye could
+reach, tents, white and black, dotted the narrow valley; horses were
+picketed, and camels browsed; and in the foreground one thousand four
+hundred men were grouped, waiting to hear the issue of the
+conference,--one thousand four hundred men, bare-footed, and with
+shaven heads, and each wearing the white skirt and white scarf over the
+shoulder, assumed by pilgrims. Strangely different were they from the
+ordinary troops of the prophet, strangely unrecognizable in their garb
+of humility and peace; yet a second glance revealed the fact that each
+carried a sheathed sword.
+
+Yusuf remained above, but Amzi descended with the embassy sent with the
+message that the treaty, if suitable, would be at once ratified.
+Mohammed, who, in place of his green garb, now with obsequious humility
+wore the pilgrims' costume, expressed his pleasure at the amicable
+attitude of the Meccans. He was seated upon a white camel named El Kaswa
+in honor of the faithful beast which had borne him in the earlier
+vicissitudes of his fortunes. Beside him, at a table placed on the sand,
+sat his vizier and son-in-law, Ali, to whom was given the task of
+writing the treaty as dictated by Mohammed.
+
+"Begin, O Ali," said the prophet, "'In the name of the most merciful
+God'--"
+
+Sohail, the spokesman of the Meccan deputation, immediately objected,
+"It is the custom of the Meccans to begin, 'In Thy name, O God.'"
+
+"So be it," assented the prophet; then, continuing, he dictated the
+opening of the body of the treaty--"'These are the conditions on which
+Mohammed, the apostle of God, has made peace with those of Mecca.'"
+
+A deep murmur of disapproval arose throughout the Meccan embassy.
+
+"Not so, O Mohammed!" cried Sohail again. "Had we indeed acknowledged
+you as the prophet of God, think you we would have sent Khaled Ibn Waled
+with armed men against you? Think you we would have closed the streets
+of Mecca against one whom we recognized as an ambassador of the Most
+High? No, Mohammed, son of Abdallah, it must not be 'apostle of God.'"
+
+Mohammed again bowed in token of submission. "Write thus, then, O Ali,"
+he said. "'These are the conditions on which Mohammed, son of Abdallah,
+has made peace with those of Mecca.'"
+
+He then proceeded to the terms of the treaty, stipulating that the
+prophet and his followers should have access to the city at any season
+during the period of truce, provided they came unarmed, habited as
+pilgrims, and did not remain over three days at a time.
+
+This business concluded, the embassy from Mecca retraced its way; and
+Mohammed, changing his mind about entering the city at that time,
+ordered that prayers should be offered up on the spot, that seventy
+camels should there be sacrificed, and that the pilgrims should then
+return home.
+
+This was accordingly done, and the people went back in some
+disappointment to Medina, where the prophet announced the success of his
+mission in a new passage from the Koran:
+
+"Now hath God verified unto his apostle the vision wherein he said, Ye
+shall surely enter the holy temple of Mecca, if God please, in full
+security."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV.
+
+THE SIEGE OF KHAIBAR.--KEDAR.
+
+    "The drying up a single tear has more of honest fame than
+    shedding seas of gore."
+
+
+In the same year, the seventh year of the Hejira, Mohammed made the
+expected attack on Khaibar. The chief, Kenana, got word of his approach,
+and ordered that the country for miles around the capital should be laid
+waste. For days the long roads leading into the city from every
+direction, swarmed with a moving line of anxious-faced people, driving
+their camels and sheep ahead of them, and leading mules laden with
+household property. Low wagons creaked beneath the weight of fodder for
+the animals, and corn and dates for the people; and the loud "Yakh!
+Yakh!" of the camel-drivers mingled with the thud of the camel-sticks
+falling upon the thick hides of the lazy animals.
+
+Asru was given charge of the expedition for laying waste the country;
+and never was a more considerate destroyer.
+
+"Here, here!" he would cry to an aged man, "let me load that animal for
+you!" and he would lift the heavy burden to the back of the pack-mule,
+while the old man would say, "You are surely a kind soldier after all."
+
+"I will carry this sick girl," he would say, to another, and would lift
+her as gently as a mother and place her in the shugduf in which she was
+to be conveyed to the city.
+
+His spirit of gentleness spread among his men.
+
+"Let us be kind to our friends, men," he would urge upon them. "The day
+is fast coming when we can scarcely be kind to our enemies, be we never
+so willing."
+
+So the people, though sad as they looked back upon their smouldering
+homes and blazing palm trees, were filled with love for the gentle
+soldiers, and went up with a new motive in striking for their liberty,
+for there is naught that will bring forth the strongest powers of action
+like the impulse of love.
+
+Ah, the blight and misery of war! Manasseh looked out from the citadel
+upon the scene which he had deemed so fair--the waving corn-fields, the
+groves of palms and olives and aloes, the nestling houses, the pastures
+covered with flocks--now but a blackened and smoking waste, with here
+and there the skeleton of a palm tree pointing upward like a bony
+finger; and here and there a reeking column of black smoke, or the dull
+glare of a burning homestead.
+
+The people murmured not. "Better let it lie in ashes than permit it to
+fall into the hands of the impostor!" they cried, and they muttered
+curses upon the head of the destroyer of their happiness and prosperity.
+
+All were at last in and the anxious waiting began. Keen eyes peered from
+the citadel night and day. Watchmen were posted at every point of the
+out-works and spies were sent broadcast through the country.
+
+Then the fateful word came. Breathless scouts told of an army fast
+approaching, twelve hundred men and two hundred horse, commanded by the
+prophet himself, his vizier Ali, and his friend Abu Beker.
+
+Al Kamus, the citadel, was immediately crowded with men, and soldiers
+were posted along the walls, neither strong in numbers nor in arms, for
+many were armed but with staves and stones. Desperation was in their
+hearts, and calm, resolute faces looked forth for the advancing host.
+
+Just as the morning sun flashed defiantly from the towers of Al Kamus,
+the Moslem army came in sight. At first it seemed like a moving,
+shapeless mass over the blackened fields,--and as the rising sun fell
+upon it, the moving mass became dotted with glints and lines of silver,
+like the ripple of waves on a sunlit sea; but the watchers recognized
+the deadly import of those bright gleams, and by the flash of scimitars
+and lances were able to compute in a vague way the strength of their
+opponents.
+
+On they came until the stony place called Mansela was reached, and
+there, beneath a great rock, the host halted. The anxious watchers from
+the city could not discern the exact meaning of this, but more than one
+guessed that the halt was made for the offering of ostentatious prayer
+by the prophet.
+
+This indeed was the case. As Mohammed came in full view of the citadel
+he cried out: "There, O believers, is the eyrie to which ye must climb.
+But victory has been promised us. Angels shall again lend us their
+invisible aid. Therefore have courage, O believers! Remember that for
+each of those vile infidels slain, a double joy awaits you in paradise.
+Know ye that every drop of an unbelieving Jew shed is as the crystal
+drops of nectar of paradise to the happy follower of Mohammed, the
+prophet of God. And fear not that ye be slain in this combat, O
+faithful! Ye will not be slain except your appointed time has come, when
+ye must in any case die. Remember that to be slain in battle for the
+cause of Islam is to reap a glorious reward!"
+
+Then, mounting the great rock, he called with a loud voice: "La illaha
+il Allah! Mohammed Resoul Allah!" (There is no God but God! Mohammed is
+the prophet of God!)
+
+And while the fanatics below prostrated themselves he prayed long and
+loudly.
+
+Then the tents were pitched and the siege began. For many days it
+lasted. So abundant had been the supplies of food, and so numerous the
+droves of animals brought into the city, that those within the walls had
+no fear of famine. But so complete was the devastation of the country
+that the prophet's troops began to suffer for want of food. Yet they
+waited, as a suitable time of attack had not arrived. In the meantime
+they were engaged in digging trenches as a protection to the troops.
+
+Manasseh and Asru were much together. They had become like brothers, and
+night after night they met on the citadel and looked out over the
+strange scene that was presented to the inhabitants of Khaibar every
+evening during the siege. For, daily, just as the sun was setting, the
+whole Moslem army, with the prophet praying loudly at its head, set out
+in solemn procession, then proceeded round and round the city until
+seven circuits were completed, as in Tawaf at the Caaba.
+
+Many among the more superstitious Jews of Khaibar and their few Koreish
+adherents felt a thrill of awe as they looked upon this ceremony,
+fearing that the prophet was again practicing his arts of enchantment
+upon them; but the performance never failed to bring the smile of scorn
+to Asru's lips.
+
+"Blind fanatics!" he exclaimed one evening. "A precious set of idiots!"
+
+But Manasseh looked serious. "Asru," he said, "of course, I do not
+believe in all this; yet there is a something solemn in it to me. It
+makes me think of the seven circuits made about Jericho, when the
+priests blew upon the trumpets and the walls fell."
+
+"Ah, but the voice of Jehovah gave the order then; now,"--and he smiled
+contemptuously--"the commanding voice is that of Mohammed, the peaceful
+Meccan trader, anon the gentle prophet of Allah, anon the blood-thirsty
+vulture and cut-throat robber, destroyer of life and liberty."
+
+"Verily, Asru the Moslem soldier has completely changed," returned
+Manasseh, smiling.
+
+"Aye, Manasseh, thanks to the peaceful Gospel of Jesus, Asru the Moslem,
+the lover of war, would now fain see this fair land smiling with happy
+homes and peaceful tillers of the soil. What is that about the child and
+the cockatrice?"
+
+"'And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the
+weaned child shall lay its hand on the cockatrice' den. They shall not
+hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of
+the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea,'" quoted
+Manasseh solemnly.
+
+Asru looked thoughtfully out towards the distant hills, but he did not
+see them. He saw a quiet home in Mecca, where a pale-faced wife, a
+beautiful daughter, and two bright-eyed boys, sat.
+
+"Manasseh," he said at length, "it may be that I shall be killed in this
+battle. If I am and you are spared, go to my wife and children. Tell
+them the Gospel for me. My great regret is that I myself put it off
+until too late. Will you, Manasseh?"
+
+Manasseh pressed his friend's hand warmly. "You may trust me, if I
+live," he said simply. And the soldier was satisfied.
+
+"Manasseh, I am rich," he continued. "See that my wealth is used for the
+best."
+
+Manasseh pressed his hand again, and the tall soldier left him, feeling
+that, whatever happened, this young man's fidelity and integrity could
+be depended upon.
+
+And now the Moslem army began to weary of inaction. Several desultory
+attacks were made by them, and battering-rams were set in play against
+the walls, but with no effect, until a grand attempt was decided upon.
+Night had scarcely faded into morning, and the rock of Mansela still
+stood black and shapeless against a gray sky, when a commotion was seen
+in the Moslem camp. Mohammed's troops no longer made the wild onslaught
+of untrained Bedouin hordes. The experience of scores of engagements had
+taught their leader the necessity of system; and now the host began to
+move in regular order in three main divisions. Above the center one
+floated the sacred flag of the prophet; to the right waved Ali's
+standard, a design of the sun; and to the left fluttered the Black Eagle
+of Abu Beker's division.
+
+The battle began by an assault led by Abu Beker. Scaling-ladders were
+placed, and the Moslems swarmed up the walls, but a desperate band led
+by Al Hareth met them, and the besieging party, after a sharp fight, was
+compelled to withdraw. Shouts of triumph and jeers of derision arose
+from the city walls. The Moslems were frantic. Cries of vengeance were
+heard from their ranks.
+
+Then Ali, shouting, "For God and the prophet!" dashed forward. He was
+dressed in scarlet, and wore a cuirass of steel. Over his head he waved
+the prophet's sword, and at the head of his division floated a sacred
+banner. Straight on he dashed towards a breach in the wall, and there,
+on a pile of loose stones, he fixed the standard.
+
+Al Hareth rushed to the fore, and a desperate, single-handed combat
+ensued. The Moslem army and the garrison of the city alike held their
+breath. The contest was unequal. In a moment Al Hareth had fallen, and a
+mighty cheer burst from the prophet's men.
+
+Manasseh was stationed at the head of a band of horsemen, whom he was
+now with difficulty keeping in check. Yet for a moment he forgot all in
+watching a figure that was ascending the breach.
+
+Whose but Asru's that gigantic form? Whose but Asru's that floating
+turban of white--that helmet in which flashed a diamond placed there by
+Kenana's own hand? Whose but Asru's that clanking sword and that
+three-pronged spear which none but he could wield?
+
+"Surely now the Moslem will waver!" thought the youth; and with bated
+breath he watched this second combat, waged beside the bleeding form of
+Asru's dead brother.
+
+With dauntless air the Moslem awaited the coming of Asru. They closed
+upon each other. The armies looked on, motionless, breathless, the
+combatants struggled, a writhing mass, broken only by the flash of the
+spear and glitter of the lance, as deadly blows were dealt or
+parried--and the sunshine rained from above. The very air seemed to
+stand still in watching, and the clash of every stroke was borne, with
+painful distinctness, to the ears of Asru's friend.
+
+The combat was an equal one, Ali's agility matching well the superior
+strength of his antagonist, and it was not soon over. At last the Moslem
+seemed to stagger.
+
+There, there, Asru, strike! He falls, he falls! There is your advantage!
+Strike! Joy, joy! victory is ours!
+
+But no! Ye gods, what is wrong! Why stands Asru there, helpless? Why
+does he not act? By Allah, he loses time! Ha! his turban end has become
+twisted over his eyes beneath his helmet! Help! Help! Ye gods! Ha! Ali
+rises with a sharp recoil! He strikes! Woe! Woe! Asru is down!
+
+A shout breaks afresh from the Moslem army as the brave Asru's body is
+dragged to one side of the breach. And now the Moslems dash forward like
+an avalanche. The breach widens; the green and yellow turbans swarm
+within the walls. Manasseh's horse dash forward. Over the open square a
+detachment of Moslem horse is spurring, the horsemen bending low as they
+ride, their maddened animals, gorgeous in trappings of scarlet, yellow
+and blue, with tails knotted at the ends, "like unto the heads of
+serpents." With regular sway the long spears swing with the motion of
+the horses.
+
+Clash! The opposing forces meet. Men fall. Horses roll over in the dust.
+Back! Back! The Moslems are in headlong flight! Yet one youth fights on.
+Straight for the young Jewish leader he dashes. Blows rain on each side.
+Some of the Jewish horse close round.
+
+"Keep off, men!" shouts Manasseh. "Would ye attack a man fifty to one?"
+
+Blows fall faster and breath comes in short gasps.
+
+The Moslem's horse gives way beneath him, and falls with a shriek
+backwards. The gallant youth springs to his feet, then throws up his
+arms and falls. His turban drops off from his brow, and, for the first
+time, Manasseh recognizes Kedar.
+
+He turns sick. Is the Moslem dead? No, his heart still beats. "Here,
+men, take him into that house. I will seek him later."
+
+On goes the young leader to a fresh scene of battle. Alas! in the
+meantime the poorly-armed Jews have been everywhere driven back. The
+Moslems have entered the citadel; the Jews give way before them
+everywhere. Even his own hopeful spirit cannot revive them. They are
+seized with a panic and fly, leaving the brave youth almost alone.
+
+Manasseh was soon overpowered, bound, and thrown into the corner of a
+great hall of the citadel, where he lay apparently forgotten, listening,
+with heavy heart, to the shrieks and cries of his countrymen without,
+and to the hum of war, gradually growing fainter, until it ceased, and
+he knew that the conflict was over. The Moslems began to enter the hall,
+among them Mohammed.
+
+The prophet took his seat at the end of the apartment, and presently
+several of the chief citizens were brought in with hands bound. Manasseh
+perceived that a tribunal was being held, and, from his corner, listened
+eagerly to the sentence passed upon each.
+
+It soon appeared that treasure was the prophet's aim. Exorbitant demands
+were made upon the rich merchants, who, pale and trembling, offered
+their all in exchange for their lives. Among the rest, Kenana, with his
+handsome wife, was brought in.
+
+"They tell me, Kenana," said the prophet, "that you have immense wealth
+stored up in this citadel. If you desire your life, inform me where this
+treasure is."
+
+"I have no treasure in the citadel," said Kenana, proudly; "and if I
+had, the apostle of Azazil should not know of it."
+
+The prophet's face colored with passion. "Apostle of Azazil! O
+blasphemer!" he exclaimed. "Do you then thus defy the only, the true
+prophet of Allah?"
+
+"I do."
+
+"Then we shall see what can be done with a stubborn infidel spirit!"
+returned Mohammed. "Hither! Apply the torture!"
+
+A machine of fiendish invention was applied to the chief's hands. His
+fingers were squeezed until the bones cracked; his veins swelled in
+agony; yet no sound escaped his lips. He could not, or would not, tell
+where the treasure was concealed, and he was handed over to a Moslem
+whose brother Kenana had slain. Manasseh closed his eyes in horror, for
+he knew that Kenana's fate was sealed.
+
+[Illustration: The Moslem's horse gives way beneath him!--See page 76.]
+
+Kenana's wife, Safiya, was taken by Mohammed, and on the homeward march
+she became the wife of the prophet.
+
+Manasseh lay there in great depression of spirit. He was weary in mind
+and cramped in body, and it almost seemed as though he were completely
+forsaken. Yet his ever-present source of comfort returned to him, and
+like a sweet refrain came the words into his mind: "Thou hast been a
+strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge
+from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible
+ones is as a storm against the wall."
+
+The half-starved Moslem troops now began to clamor for food, and the
+defenceless Jewish women were forced to prepare victuals and to serve
+their conquerors. Among these women entered Zaynab, the niece of Asru.
+She placed a shoulder of mutton before the prophet, then went towards
+the door. Perceiving Manasseh in the corner, she severed his bonds with
+a quick stroke of a small dagger, then, shielding him as best she might,
+she bade him begone.
+
+"Have hope!" she whispered in his ear. "I have poisoned the prophet."
+
+Manasseh uttered an exclamation of horror.
+
+"Why not?" she said, with a laugh. "Manasseh fights with a lance, Zaynab
+with poison. Now, fly, ere they see you!"
+
+Manasseh hastened down the dark streets to the house in which Kedar had
+been placed. He found the youth moaning feebly. Hurrying out, he caught
+a couple of stray camels, and fastened a shugduf in its place. Then,
+raising the youth in his strong arms, he laid him in the shugduf, and
+set off in the darkness.
+
+To Mecca he must go. It was a long, weary way. He had little money, and
+the few provisions which a Jewish woman in the house gave him would not
+last long; yet he trusted to Providence, and remembered with
+satisfaction that the dates were now at their ripest. He would nurse
+Kedar tenderly; they would journey in the cool shades of night when
+there was less danger of being stopped on the way. Planning thus, he
+proceeded, as noiselessly as possible, with his precious burden, through
+a gap in the wall, and urged his faithful beasts on in the cool night
+breezes over the blackened plain.
+
+Then he thought of Asru. Asru must not be left to be rudely thrown into
+a grave by infidel hands. There was danger in it, but he must go back.
+Kedar was sleeping. He fixed the camels by a charred palm grove, and
+went back, with flying feet, through the gloom. The towers of Al Kamus
+rose above him, with lights twinkling on the battlements. He wondered if
+the prophet were yet alive and what would be the result to Arabia if he
+were dead. On, on, through the darkness, until the fatal breach was
+reached. It was quite deserted, peopled only by a heap of dead bodies,
+from which, in the night time, the superstitious Arabs shrank in horror.
+Groping among them, he soon came upon Asru's huge form, which he readily
+recognized by its armor. He dragged the precious clay of his friend from
+the mass of dead and brought it, with difficulty, outside of the wall;
+and there beneath a palm tree, he hollowed out a lonely grave,
+loosening the clay with a battle-axe taken from a dead Arab, and
+throwing the clods out with his shield. He then cut a wisp of hair from
+the dead soldier's long locks, placed it in his bosom, kissed the cold
+brow, and uttered a short prayer over the lifeless form. Tenderly he
+placed the body in the shallow grave, and covered it with the clay,
+then, breathing a last farewell, left Asru forever in this life.
+
+In the meantime Mohammed and one of his followers had begun to eat of
+the poisoned mutton. The soldier was ravenous with hunger, and set upon
+the tempting roast with eager relish. Mohammed partook of it more
+slowly.
+
+Suddenly the soldier threw up his arms, and fell back in a convulsion.
+Mohammed started back in consternation. He, too, felt pain, and raised
+the cry of "Poison!" The Moslems came rushing in in great alarm.
+Antidotes were given him, and he shortly recovered, with but a slight
+sensation of burning in his head. The poor soldier was soon stiff in
+death.
+
+Mohammed sent for the woman who had brought him the mutton. She came at
+once.
+
+"Know you who put the poison in this meat?" he asked.
+
+"It was I," she confessed, boldly.
+
+"And how dared you perpetrate so wicked a scheme?"
+
+"If you were a true prophet," she replied, "you would have known that
+the meat was poisoned; if not, it were a favor to Arabia to rid it of
+such a despot."
+
+"See then," exclaimed the prophet, "how Allah hath preserved the life of
+his apostle! Behold, I forgive you. Return to your tribe, and sin not in
+like manner again."
+
+So saying, with one of his strange freaks of magnanimity, he waved her
+off, and soon afterward went to rest.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV.
+
+MANASSEH AND KEDAR AT MECCA.
+
+    "Home, sweet home."
+
+
+The flame of a smoky oil-dip dimly lighted a spacious room in the house
+of Amzi. At the low table sat Yusuf and his friend with a chart before
+them, anxiously following, with eye and finger, the course of Mohammed's
+northern exploits.
+
+The thoughts of both were with Manasseh. A knock sounded at the bolted
+door. Yusuf opened it, and there, like a cameo in the setting of
+darkness, was the youth himself.
+
+"Manasseh, my son!" cried both in astonishment.
+
+He stepped in, now laughing, now brushing tears from his eyes. "There!"
+he said, freeing himself from their embraces, "I have one more surprise.
+I come like a grandee, bearing my company in a litter. Help me bring him
+in."
+
+They stepped out, and Manasseh's second face, that of Kedar, peered from
+the curtains of the shugduf. None the less warm was the greeting
+extended to the Moslem, whose weak and trembling frame was an instant
+call upon their sympathy.
+
+"Now," said Manasseh, piling up a heap of cushions, in his impetuous
+way, "get us some supper, will you not? I can eat my own share, and half
+of Kedar's. Like the birds, he takes but a peck at a time."
+
+Supper was ordered, and soon attendants entered bearing platters, until
+the copper table was burdened with the most tempting dishes of
+Mecca--roast of spiced lamb, slices of juicy melon and cucumber,
+pyramids of rice, pomegranates, grapes of Tayf, sweetmeats, fragrant
+draughts of coffee.
+
+Kedar watched with a languid smile. The peace of this quiet home life
+affected him almost to tears. Strange had been his emotions when he
+awoke to consciousness in the shugduf, alone with Manasseh, in the
+wilderness--feelings first of indignation, then of gratitude, then of
+admiration for Manasseh, in whom he now discovered the leader of the
+Jewish horse. And on the way this admiration had ripened into love for
+the unselfish Jewish youth.
+
+The weariness of the long journey began to tell upon him now, and he was
+glad that he was among friends. He could eat but little, and was content
+to listen to Manasseh's bright talk, and to watch him as, with flashing
+eye and eloquent gesture, he fought over again the Battle of Khaibar, or
+when, with hushed tone and tearful eye, he told of the death of Asru,
+and his lonely burial.
+
+"I must seek his widow and his children," said he. "This is all I have
+brought them;" and he drew the tangled, blood-stained lock of hair from
+his bosom.
+
+Silence fell on the little group as they looked upon it, then Yusuf's
+tones, falling like the low, deep cadence of a chant, repeated the
+words:
+
+"And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb
+shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him. And they shall see his
+face; and his name shall be in their foreheads. And there shall be no
+night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the
+Lord God giveth them light; and they shall reign forever and forever."
+
+"Amen!" responded Amzi, fervently. And Manasseh looked out of the window
+towards the bright heavens above Abu Kubays, imagining that he could see
+Asru, clad in shining apparel, with a happy smile on his lips, and the
+courageous eyes of old looking forth with a new love-light from his
+radiant countenance.
+
+"Do you know his family?" he asked.
+
+"Ah, yes; they are now regular attendants at the Christian church. They
+have destroyed all their household gods."
+
+"What!" exclaimed Manasseh, "is this true! How I wish Asru had known it!
+What joy it would have given him!"
+
+Amzi smiled. "Dare you think, Manasseh, that he does not know it long
+ere this,--that he did not know it even at the breach of Khaibar? I like
+to think that our Asru now has a spiritual body wholly independent of
+time or space, capable of transporting itself whenever and wherever the
+mind dictates."
+
+"We cannot know these things as they are, in this time," remarked Yusuf.
+"But the day is not very far distant now, Amzi, when you and I shall
+explore these mysteries for ourselves."
+
+So the talk went on. Kedar listened with interest. He thought it a
+curious conversation, and felt so strangely out of place that it seemed
+as though he were dreaming, and listening to the talk of genii.
+
+Next morning he was in a decided fever. Then came long days of pain and
+nights of delirium, in which Manasseh and his two friends hovered like
+ministering spirits about the youth, whose wounds had healed only to
+give place to disease far more deadly. In those terrible nights of
+burning heat his parched tongue swelled so that he could scarcely
+swallow; he tossed in agony, now fancying himself chained to a rock
+unable to move, while the prophet urged him on to the heights above
+where the battle was raging; now imagining himself fastened near a
+burning furnace whose flames were fed by the bodies of those whom he had
+slain. He would cry out in terror, and beads of perspiration would start
+upon his forehead. He lived the whole war over again, and his only rest
+was at times when, partially conscious, he felt kindly hands placing
+cool bandages on his burning head, or gently fanning his face.
+
+The time at last came when he sank into a heavy sleep, and awoke calling
+"Mother."
+
+It was Manasseh who came, almost startled by the naturalness of the
+tone.
+
+"I have been very ill, Manasseh?"
+
+"Very."
+
+"Long?"
+
+"For weeks. But you must not talk. You will soon be well now."
+
+The invalid closed his eyes, not to sleep, but to think. Presently he
+opened them.
+
+"Manasseh, if I had died, would I have seen Asru?"
+
+Manasseh was embarrassed. "I--I cannot say," he stammered. "I do not
+know you well enough to be sure."
+
+"You do not think I should. I do not think so either," he returned
+decidedly, and closed his eyes again.
+
+In a few days he was able to talk.
+
+"Manasseh, did I hear Yusuf praying for me once when I was ill?"
+
+"He prayed for you every day,--not only that you might be spared to us,
+but that you might come to know Jesus, and to reject Mohammed."
+
+"I do not think that I ever accepted him--that is, in a religious
+sense," he returned.
+
+Manasseh's eyes opened wide in astonishment. "Then why did you follow
+him?" he asked.
+
+"Because, I suppose, his successes dazzled me. It seemed a grand thing
+to be a hero in the war--to ride, and charge, and drive all before me.
+Aye, Manasseh, it is after the war that the scales fall from one's
+eyes."
+
+"How could you, then, follow one whom you did not accept, and must,
+therefore, have deemed an impostor?"
+
+"I tell you, Manasseh, I gave little heed to matters of religion. For
+the first time, during the last few days, I have thought of a religious
+life, or of a hereafter, as I lay here feeling that but for you and your
+friends, I should even now be in the unknown land beyond the grave."
+
+Manasseh talked long and earnestly to the now convalescent youth. Yusuf
+and Amzi too talked gently to him when he seemed inclined to hear, but,
+in his present weak state, they deemed that the consciousness of living
+in a godly house would appeal more strongly than words of theirs. The
+weeks passed on, yet he gave no indication that their hopes were being
+realized. Once indeed he said:
+
+"Manasseh, would that I had had a godly training such as yours!"
+
+"Did your mother not tell you of these things?"
+
+Kedar shook his head. "My poor mother drifted away from her early
+training in our half-heathen Bedouin atmosphere," he said. "The
+Bedouins know little of Christ. They have traditions of the creation, of
+the deluge, and such old-time stories; in all else they are almost
+heathen. When I am well, Manasseh, we will go to them--to my father--and
+you will tell them, Manasseh?"
+
+Manasseh nodded a smiling assent.
+
+It was with no little trepidation that Yusuf and Amzi watched for some
+sign of spiritual growth in the young Bedouin. As the days wore on, and
+he was able to get about, though still weak, he was willing to attend
+the Christian meetings; but he sat in silence, and persisted in wearing
+the garb of a Moslem. The friends did not understand his attitude. They
+did not recognize the sort of petulant shamefacedness that hindered him
+from coming forth boldly in defence of principles which he fully
+endorsed in his secret heart, and made him fear to cut himself loose
+from the side on which he had taken so bold a stand, lest the epithet of
+"turncoat," be fixed upon him. Kedar had not yet been touched by that
+"live coal" which alone can set man in touch with God, and free him from
+all human restrictions. But though he said little, he was thinking
+deeply. He was not indifferent; and there is ever great room for hope
+where there is not indifference.
+
+And while the little Meccan household was thus engrossed in its own
+circle, momentous events were happening without the capital.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI.
+
+INTERVENING EVENTS.
+
+
+During the months that followed, Mohammed still went on in his career of
+conquest--a course rendered easier day by day, as his enemies were now
+weak indeed. The tribes of Watiba, Selalima and Bedr speedily gave way
+before him, but were permitted to remain in their homes upon the
+payment of a heavy yearly tribute.
+
+He made one more pilgrimage to Mecca, and on this occasion the Koreish,
+in accordance with the truce, offered no resistance; hence for three
+days the prophet and his shaven followers walked the streets of Mecca,
+and performed Tawaf at the Temple.
+
+Mohammed found the Caaba still desecrated by idols, and, while pressing
+his lips to the sacred Black Stone, he solemnly vowed to conquer Mecca
+and to remove the pollution of images from the floor of the sanctuary.
+
+In the meantime, the prophet enticed many of the most prominent families
+of Mecca to his standard. By his marriage with the aunt of Khaled Ibn
+Waled he secured the alliance of that famous soldier; and by marrying
+Omm Habiba, daughter of Abu Sofian, he hoped to gain the friendship of
+his ancient and inveterate enemy.
+
+But time seemed to lag, and his restless spirit soon set itself to look
+about for some pretext by which he might attack Mecca. A casual skirmish
+of a few soldiers of the Koreish with a detachment of his soldiers gave
+the necessary excuse, and he at once charged the Koreish with having
+broken the truce. They were anxious to make overtures of peace, but
+Mohammed would listen to nothing.
+
+All saw plainly that no concessions would conciliate a conqueror thus
+bent upon hostility, and the attitude of Mecca became that of a patient
+waiting, a dread looking for a surely impending calamity ready to fall
+at any hour.
+
+And yet, when it did come, the Meccans were not expecting it, so silent,
+so sudden was the swoop of the conqueror. Every road leading to Mecca
+was barred by Mohammed, so that none might tell of his plans. All his
+allies received a mysterious summons to meet him at a point some
+distance from Mecca, and they came none the less readily that they did
+not know why they were thus assembled.
+
+With a host of ten thousand men, Mohammed set out over the barren
+plains, and through the defiles of the mountains. Like a vast funeral
+procession the long train wound its way in a silence broken only by the
+dull tread of the beasts and the whispered ejaculations of the soldiers.
+In the night they reached the appointed valley. Lines of men came
+pouring in from every side, and at last, as a signal to all the rest,
+Omar, the chief in command, gave the order that the watch-fires be
+lighted,--and at once every summit sent up its spire of flame.
+
+The citizens of Mecca were stricken with awe.
+
+"I myself will go and see what this means," said Abu Sofian; and with a
+single companion he set out over the hills. As they stood in sight of
+the great host below, the step of men sounded near them. They were
+seized as spies, and hurried off to the tent of Omar.
+
+The bright light of Omar's camp-fire revealed the white hair and
+flashing eye of the grim old warrior.
+
+"By the prophet of Allah! Ye have brought in a rich prize!" exclaimed
+Omar, and his dagger flashed in the firelight as he drew it to plunge
+into Abu Sofian's bosom. But deliverance was near. Out from the darkness
+galloped Al Abbas, uncle of Mohammed, mounted on the prophet's white
+mule. He caught the Meccan up with him, and hastened off to the tent of
+the prophet.
+
+"Ha!" exclaimed Mohammed, "you have come at last, Abu Sofian, to
+acknowledge the supremacy of the prophet of Allah?"
+
+"I come," said Abu Sofian surlily, "to beg mercy for my people."
+
+"Will you, then, acknowledge Mohammed as the prophet of God? Do this,
+Abu Sofian, and thy life shall be spared, and terms of peace granted to
+all Meccans who are willing to follow their leader's example."
+
+Abu Sofian gave a surly assent, and was set free. Favorable terms for
+the inhabitants of the city were then presented to him; and, that he
+might be able to take back with him a full account of the strength of
+the prophet's army, he was placed with Al Abbas at the head of a narrow
+defile, through which the whole army, with fluttering banners and
+proudly flapping standards, passed before him.
+
+Even the stern old warrior stood aghast at the mighty multitude. He
+returned to the city, and, from the roof of the Caaba, once more
+assembled the people of Mecca. Then, while they listened, with bowed
+heads and heaving sobs, he told them of the great host, of the
+uselessness of resistance, and of the terms offered in case of
+submission. To this course, humiliating as it was, he strongly urged
+them. Silent in despair, or weeping wildly, they returned to their
+homes, and that night the darkness which fell seemed like a pall upon
+the stricken city.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII.
+
+THE TRIUMPHANT ENTRANCE INTO MECCA.
+
+    "One murder made a villain; millions, a hero."--_Porteus._
+
+
+Upon the following morning ere the sun rose, a deputation was sent to
+the prophet to inform him that his terms had been accepted.
+
+The people of Mecca were curious to note the triumphant entrance of the
+great conqueror. Many, indeed, threw themselves upon their faces in
+agony of lost hope; but the housetops swarmed with people, and the side
+of Abu Kubays was moving with a dense crowd of women and children, who,
+at a safe distance, watched for the strange pageant.
+
+The prophet was allowed to enter the borders of the town unmolested, but
+when the deserter, Khaled Ibn Waled, appeared, the rage of the Koreish
+knew no bounds; a howl of derision arose, and an ungovernable mob fired
+straight upon him with their arrows. Khaled dashed upon them with sword
+and lance, but Mohammed, noting the commotion, rode up and ordered him
+to desist.
+
+The melee subsided, and, just as the sun rose over Abu Kubays, the
+conqueror entered the city. He was habited in scarlet, and mounted upon
+a large Syrian camel; and, as he rode, followed by the whole host of his
+army, he repeated aloud passages from the Koran.
+
+Straight on towards the Caaba he went, looking neither to right nor to
+left. Its gates were thrown open before him, and the vast procession,
+with the prophet at its head, performed Tawaf about the temple. Then,
+ere the mighty trampling ceased, Mohammed entered the Caaba--that Caaba
+in which he had been spat upon and covered with mud thrown by derisive
+hands. Little wonder that he felt his triumph complete!
+
+Three hundred and sixty idols still stared from the walls of the temple,
+and, ere night fell, not an image remained to pollute an edifice in
+which, if in ever so blind a manner, the name of the living God had been
+once mentioned.
+
+Mohammed then took his stand upon the little hill Al Safa, and gave the
+command that every man, woman, and child in Mecca, save those detained
+by illness, should pass before him.
+
+Kedar found his weakness a sufficient reason for remaining at home, but
+Yusuf, Amzi, and Manasseh were forced to join the long procession.
+
+One by one, the inhabitants knelt before the victor, renouncing idolatry
+and declaring their fealty to him as their governor and spiritual head.
+But a few among the Christian Jews refused to acknowledge him as the
+prophet of God.
+
+"As conqueror we accept you," they said; "as subjects we will obey you
+in all that does not interfere with our worship of the true God, and his
+Son, the Christ. But as Mohammed prophet of God, we will not acknowledge
+you."
+
+The prophet, however, was in a lenient frame of mind. At no time a cruel
+tyrant when victory was once assured, he was still less inclined to be
+so upon a day when everything augured so favorably for the future.
+Moreover, when it seemed to him practicable, Mohammed delighted in
+showing mercy. This trait is but one of the incomprehensible features of
+his strange, contradictory character.
+
+"So be it," he returned, graciously. "I give you your lives and
+property. They are a gift from the prophet ye despise. Yet, lest ye be
+stirrers up of sedition, I enjoin you to leave the city with what
+expedition ye will. Go where ye please, provided it be out of my
+dominions; take what time ye need to settle your affairs, and dispose of
+your property; then, in the name of Allah, I bid you good speed."
+
+The Jews, among them Yusuf and Amzi, passed thankfully on. A tall,
+gaunt, Bedouin woman, with flashing eyes and hands showing like the
+claws of a vulture beneath her black robe, came next. It was Henda in
+disguise.
+
+"What!" exclaimed the prophet, with a smile, "has Abu Sofian taken to
+the hills again, that his wife thus comes in Bedouin garb?"
+
+Henda, seeing that her disguise was penetrated, fell at his feet
+imploring for pardon.
+
+"I forgive you freely," he said, raising her to her feet. "You will now
+acknowledge your prophet?"
+
+"Never!" cried the Koreish woman.
+
+"Boldly said!" returned Mohammed. "The wife of Abu Sofian doth not
+readily follow in the path of her master. He has trained her but poorly.
+Yet, go in peace, O daughter of the Koreish, and know that the prophet
+of Islam has a merciful heart."
+
+Thus passed the whole long day until the stars shone through the blue;
+and Mohammed went to rest, serene in his triumph, yet troubled by bodily
+pain, for, ever since he had eaten the poisoned mutton at Khaibar, his
+health had been steadily declining.
+
+In a few days he returned to Medina. A fresh revelation of the Koran,
+commending fully his doctrine of the sword, was there proclaimed from
+the mosque; and to Khaled was given the task of subjugating the
+remaining tribes.
+
+The prophet's health now began to give way rapidly, and he resolved upon
+a last pilgrimage to the holy city. In the month Ramadhan, at the head
+of one hundred thousand men, the mightiest expedition he had ever led,
+he started for Mecca. He rode in a litter, and about him were his nine
+wives, also seated in litters; while, at the rear of the procession,
+trudged a great array of camels destined for sacrifice, and gayly
+decorated with ribbons and flowers.
+
+About a day's journey from Mecca, at twilight, the vast host met the
+troops of Ali, returning from an expedition into Yemen, and these
+immediately turned with the pilgrimage. It was a weird and impressive
+scene. In the night, the augmented host now pressed onward, with
+increased impatience, over a plain strewn with basaltic drift. The soft
+thud of padded feet sounded over the hard ground. Huge camels loomed
+shapelessly through the uncertain haze. No voice of mirth or singing
+arose from the vast assemblage, but the night-wind sighed through the
+ribs of the scant-leaved acacias above, and stooped to blow the red
+flames of the torches back in a smoky glare; while, here and there, a
+more pretentious light, issuing from between the curtains of a shugduf,
+shed a passing gleam upon the dusky faces of the pilgrims, plodding like
+eerie genii of the night over the barren wilds.
+
+Next morning, the host reached Mecca. The prophet once more entered the
+sacred court-yard of the temple, and was borne sadly about the Caaba in
+Tawaf. Then, weak as he was, he insisted upon taking part in the
+sacrificial ceremony. With his own hand he slew sixty-three camels, one
+for each year of his life. Then he ascended the pulpit and preached to
+the people.
+
+Upon his return to Medina, he preached again from the mosque, enjoining
+upon the faithful strict compliance with the form of worship set forth
+in the Koran and by the example of the prophet--the giving of alms;
+prayer towards the kebla; the performance of Tawaf, and ablutions at
+Zem-Zem; prostration prayers at the Caaba, and all the rites of
+pilgrimage. Thus did Mohammed formulate the rules for the future
+guidance of the Moslem world.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII.
+
+KEDAR AT THE CAABA.
+
+
+Once more the shades of night hung over the Eastern world. And there,
+while the hush of slumber fell upon the hills of the North, the cities
+of the South awoke to life and bustle, for during the earlier half of
+the hours of darkness the Oriental awakes from the lethargy of the day,
+and really begins to live. The moon, almost at full, and glowing like a
+silver orb on a purple sea, rose slowly over the black top of Abu
+Kubays, tipping its crest with a shimmering line of light, and throwing
+its radiance across the vale below, where all lay shapeless in shade
+save the top of the huge temple, which, with its pall-like kiswah
+(curtain), arose like a bier above the low houses about it. Upon it the
+moonbeams fell with solemn, white light, and the young man standing
+alone by one of the pillars of the portico felt a thrill of awe as he
+looked upon the mysterious structure, and thought of the great antiquity
+of the institution.
+
+For the moment, lost in contemplation, he was oblivious to the swarming
+of the dusky multitudes now pouring into the court-yard on all sides.
+Then, as the increasing hum fell upon his ears, he gave them his
+attention. It was the scene of which he had so often heard, and upon
+which he now looked for the first time. There were the people at Tawaf,
+walking, running, or standing with upturned eyes, sanctimoniously
+repeating passages of the Koran; there were the frantic few clinging to
+the great folds of the kiswah, as though its contact procured for them
+eternal salvation; there were the crowds gulping down copious draughts
+of the brackish water of Zem-Zem, or pouring it upon their heads.
+
+There, too, within a stone's throw of the temple, were the busy stalls
+of the venders, whence issued cries of:
+
+"Cucumbers! Cucumbers O!"
+
+"Grapes! Grapes!--luscious and juicy with the crystal dews of Tayf!
+Grapes, O faithful!"
+
+"Who will buy cloth of Damascus, rich and fit for a king? Come, buy thy
+lady a veil! Buy a veil to screen her charms blooming as the rosy light
+of morn, to screen her hair black as midnight shades on the hills of
+Nejd, and her eyes sparkling like diamonds of Oman!"
+
+"O water! Precious water from Zem-Zem! Water to wash away thy sin, and
+help thee into Paradise! O believer, buy water of Zem-Zem!"
+
+And there, beneath the twinkling lights of the portico, sat a group of
+Abyssinian girls, waiting to be sold as slaves.
+
+As the youth looked upon it all with no little curiosity he observed the
+crowd give way before a man clothed wholly in white, who proceeded
+directly to the Caaba and, pausing beneath the door, gave utterance to a
+loud prayer, while the people about fell prostrate on the ground. Then,
+in a loud voice, he commanded that the stair be brought. Attendants
+hastened to roll the bulky structure into its place, and the priest, or
+guardian of the temple, ascended, and received from his attendants
+several buckets of water which he carried into the edifice.
+
+Presently, small streams began to trickle from the doorway, and the
+guardian's white vestments again appeared, as he proceeded to sweep the
+water out, dashing it far over the steps. The people rushed beneath it,
+crowding over one another in their anxiety holding their upturned faces
+towards it and counting themselves blessed if a drop of it fell upon
+them. It was the ceremony of washing the Caaba.
+
+[Illustration: "Be not discouraged, my son," was Yusuf's reply.--See
+page 87.]
+
+The youth beside the pillar, though he wore Moslem garb, looked on in
+contempt; and, barely waiting for the conclusion of the ceremony, walked
+proudly from the enclosure, merely pausing to examine somewhat
+critically the Black Stone, which, deserted for the moment, was visible
+in the red light of a torch above. Then, passing through the nearest
+gate, he walked, rather feebly, towards the house of Amzi.
+
+Yusuf, wearied after a long day's work, was resting upon the carpeted
+Mastabah (platform) which forms a part of the vestibule of every
+comfortable house in Mecca. There was no light in the apartment save
+that afforded by the dim glimmer of a fire-pan, over which bubbled
+a fragrant urn of coffee. His thoughts had been wandering back over
+the events of his changeful life; events which would culminate, as
+far as his immediate history was concerned, in his early banishment
+from this city of his adoption. The little Jewish band would go
+together--precisely where, they did not know,--Amzi, Manasseh, the
+family of Asru, a few other devoted souls, and, it was to be hoped,
+Kedar.
+
+Yusuf's thoughts dwelt upon Kedar. To-night he seemed to feel a sweet
+assurance that his prayers in the youth's behalf were soon to be
+answered; and, in the darkness, he cried out for the lad's salvation,
+until the blessed Lord seemed so near that he almost fancied he could
+put forth his hand and feel the strong, loving, helping touch of Him who
+said, "I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of
+mine.... And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold; them also I
+must bring; and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold,
+and one shepherd."
+
+A step sounded on the door-stone, and the very youth of whom Yusuf was
+thinking entered.
+
+"Well, my Kedar," said the priest, "have you been enjoying the moon?"
+
+"I have been to the Caaba," returned Kedar, with amused contempt in his
+voice, "yet I have neither swung by the kiswah nor drenched myself, like
+a rain-draggled hen, at Zem-Zem."
+
+"And you have not kissed the Black Stone?"
+
+"Neither have I kissed the stone. By my faith, if it has become
+blackened by the kiss of sinners, those poor simpletons caress it in
+vain! On the word of a Bedouin, it can hold no more, since it is as
+black as well may be already."
+
+"The worship of our little church, then, suits you better?" The priest's
+tone scarcely concealed the anxiety with which he asked the question.
+
+"You seem to worship in truth," returned the youth, solemnly. "You seem
+to find a comfort in your service which these poor blindlings seek in
+vain. Aye, Yusuf, in living among you I have noted the peaceful tenor of
+your lives, the rest and confidence which nothing seems to overthrow.
+You rejoice in life, yet you do not fear death! Could such a life be
+mine, I would gladly accept it. But I do not seem to be one of you."
+
+The priest made no reply for a moment. Kedar did not know that he was
+praying for the fit word. Then his deep, tender tones broke the silence.
+
+"You believe in Jesus, whom we love?"
+
+"I believe that he was the Son of God; that he lived on the very hills
+to the north of us; that he died to reveal to us the greatness of his
+love. Yet--" He paused.
+
+"'Whosoever believeth on the Son hath everlasting life,'" said Yusuf in
+a low tone.
+
+"I know, but--" the youth hesitated again.
+
+"But what, Kedar?" asked the priest.
+
+"Jesus said to Nicodemus," returned the youth, "'Except a man be born
+again, he cannot see the kingdom of heaven.' Yusuf, this is what bothers
+me. I cannot understand this being born again."
+
+"Let us call it, then, just 'beginning to love and trust Jesus,'" said
+Yusuf quietly.
+
+Kedar almost started in his surprise. This aspect of the question had
+never appeared to him before. For a long time he sat, deep in thought,
+and Yusuf did not break in upon his meditations.
+
+"Is that all?" he asked at length.
+
+"That is all," returned Yusuf. "To trust him you must believe in him,
+love him, recognize his love, and leave everything to his
+guidance--everything in this physical life, in your spiritual life, and
+in the life to come. Then you will find peace. All your days will be
+spent in a loving round of happy labor, in which no work seems low or
+trifling--happy because love to Jesus begets the wish to do his will in
+every affair of life; and perfect love renders service, not a bondage,
+but the joyful spontaneity of freedom."
+
+Kedar was again silent, then he said slowly:
+
+"Yusuf, I begin to understand it all now; yet--is there something wrong
+still?--I have not the overpowering thrill of joy, the exuberance of
+feeling, the wondrous rapture of delight, which Amzi says he
+experienced, when, in the prison of Medina, he saw the light."
+
+"Be not discouraged, my son," was the reply. "To different temperaments,
+in religion as in all else, the truth appeals in different ways. If you
+are trusting implicitly now in God's love, go on without doubt or fear.
+Most Christians--growing Christians--find that at different stages in
+their experience certain truths stand out more clearly, and, as the days
+go by, their difficulties clear away like mists before the morning sun."
+
+"Yusuf, can I ever become such a Christian as you?" returned Kedar, in a
+half-awed tone at the thought.
+
+"My son, look not on me," returned Yusuf, tenderly. "Strive only to
+perceive Jesus in all your life, to find him a reality to you--a
+companion, ever with you, walking by your side in the hot mart, riding
+by you in the desert, sitting by you in solitude,--then, where he is,
+evil cannot come. Your life will become all upright, conscientious, and
+loving, for his life will show through yours."
+
+"And do temptations never come to those so blessed?"
+
+"Ah, yes, Kedar, so long as life lasts 'our adversary, the devil, goeth
+about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.' Yet, think you
+that the God who 'stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, who layeth
+the beams of his chambers in the waters, who maketh the clouds his
+chariot, who walketh upon the wings of the wind, who maketh his angels
+spirits, his ministers a naming fire'--think you that such an One is not
+able to stand between you and the tempter? Think you that he before whom
+devils cried out in fear, is not able to deliver you from the power of
+evil? Kedar, know that the Christian may even glory in his own weakness,
+for Jesus has said, 'My strength is made perfect in weakness;' and yet,
+while thus feeling his helplessness, the believer must ever be conscious
+of the unconquerable strength of Christ, and should rest serene in the
+knowledge that, clothed in the full armor of God, he is able to
+withstand all the darts of the wicked one."
+
+Kedar said no more, but from that hour his humility, his patience, his
+gentleness, began to show forth as the outcome of the power of that
+working of the Spirit, whose fruit is "love, joy, peace, long-suffering,
+gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX.
+
+KEDAR RETURNS TO HIS HOME.
+
+    "Death exempts not a man from being, but only presents an
+    alteration."--_Bacon._
+
+
+When Kedar left Yusuf on that memorable night it was not to sleep. He
+ascended the stair and went out upon the hanging balcony, where he could
+look at the sky and the mountains, and ponder over the conversation of
+the evening. His was not the excitable, rapturous joy experienced by
+many, but a feeling of quiet contentment that settled upon his soul, and
+brought a calm smile to his features.
+
+So he sat, when Manasseh burst upon him exclaiming, "What! my invalid
+able to stay up all the night as well as half the day! Come, listen to
+me! I have news!"
+
+"Yes?"
+
+"This evening a courier from Medina arrived in the city. He has with him
+a proclamation requiring all unsubmissive Jews to leave Mecca by
+to-morrow night at the latest."
+
+"So soon!" exclaimed Kedar. "Where are they to go?"
+
+"I have just talked with Yusuf, and with Amzi, who, poor fat man! is
+trying to get a little sleep in the fresh air of the housetop. They
+propose that we join my father's family in Palestine. Of course, I do
+not object!" added the youth, with a smile.
+
+"Think you it will be safe for so small a band to face the dangers of
+the desert alone?" asked Kedar.
+
+"A caravan leaves for Damascus to-morrow," replied Manasseh.
+"Fortunately we may obtain its protection."
+
+"Good! Then I shall turn aside to the table-lands of Nejd and see my
+parents again," said Kedar.
+
+"Think you your parents would join our band?"
+
+Kedar shook his head. "Not likely. You see my father has lived all his
+days as a Bedouin. To be tied down to commerce he would consider a
+degradation. Neither would he become a shepherd, as watching sheep is a
+task held fit for women only in our tribe."
+
+"And will you stay with them, Kedar?" asked Manasseh.
+
+"I know not. We will see what the future has in store; but, at any
+rate," he added, half slyly, "your cousin Kedar will wear the Moslem
+turban no more."
+
+The tone, rather than the words, told all. Manasseh took a quick, sharp
+look at the face smiling quietly in the moonlight, then he seized
+Kedar's hand warmly and whispered, "I am glad."
+
+The following day was spent in packing and bidding adieux. Yusuf and
+Amzi passed the last hours among their poor, and, from the housetop,
+Kedar and Manasseh saw them returning in the evening, followed by a
+ragged crowd who clung to their gowns or wiped tearful eyes with
+tattered sleeves.
+
+The sun went down as the caravan left the city, and on an eminence
+above, the little Jewish band stopped to take a last look at their old
+home--Mecca, with its low houses, its crooked streets, its mystic Caaba,
+and its weird mountain scenery.
+
+All gray it lay beneath the shades of falling night; yet, as they
+looked, a wondrous change ensued. Gradually the landscape began to
+brighten; the houses shone forth; the aloe trees became green; the side
+of Abu Kubays sparkled with a seemingly self-emitted light; the rocks of
+the red mountain were dyed with a rosy glow; the Caaba grew more and
+more distinct, until even the folds of its kiswah were visible; and the
+sand of the narrow valley shone, beneath a saffron sky above, with a
+coppery radiance. It was the wondrous "after-glow" of the Orient,--a
+scene unique in its beauty, yet not often beheld in so sheltered a spot
+as Mecca.
+
+The exiles, with tearful eyes, looked upon the fair landscape, which
+thus seemed to bid them an inanimate farewell. Then, as the glow paled
+and the rocks again took their sombre hue, and the city faded in
+redoubled shadow, the little band turned slowly away, and followed in
+the wake of the caravan now winding through the pass at some distance.
+
+The Hebrew band consisted of twenty souls, among whom were Sherah, the
+daughter of Asru, and her mother, and the old white-haired man Benjamin,
+who had preached in the church and had become a father indeed to Asru's
+family.
+
+Needless to speak of the long, tedious journey. Suffice it to say that,
+while the caravan wound through the north of El Hejaz, Kedar and
+Manasseh turned aside to the fresher plateaux of the Nejd, and the
+Bedouin once more found himself amid the scenes of his boyhood.
+
+His spirits rose as the cool breeze from the plains struck him. The
+vision of sweet home--sweet to the roving Bedouin as to the pampered
+child of luxury--rose before him, and he urged his horse on with an
+ever-increasing anxiety.
+
+From neighboring tribes they found out the way to Musa's present
+encampment, then, spurring their horses on over a crisp plain, and
+beguiling the time with many a laugh and jest, they proceeded in the
+direction indicated, until, in a broad valley, the circle of tents lay
+before them.
+
+"Come, Manasseh," said Kedar, "let us give them a surprise. Let us take
+a turn up yonder hill and swoop down upon them like a falcon."
+
+"Agreed!" quoth Manasseh; and, with almost childish pleasure, they
+proceeded to make a short detour, and then galloped rapidly down from
+the hill-crest.
+
+The encampment was strangely quiet.
+
+"What is the matter, Manasseh?" asked Kedar. "There is scarcely anyone
+about."
+
+A few dogs now set up a savage barking, and a man came out with a heavy
+whip and drove them, yelping, away.
+
+"What is wrong, Tema?" asked Kedar, anxiously.
+
+"Alas, my young master," said the man, "your father will soon be no
+more."
+
+The youth sprang to the ground and entered the chief's tent. There lay
+the brave old Sheikh, dying, as he had scorned to die, in his bed, with
+pallid face and closed eyes, his gray hair damp and tangled, and his
+grizzled beard descending upon his brawny chest, from which the folds of
+his garments were drawn back. About him knelt his wife and children.
+Lois raised a tear-stained face to her son, then buried it again in her
+hands. Kedar threw himself beside the couch. The old man's lips moved.
+
+"Aha!" cried he, "it is blood-revenge! Mizni, bold chief, I have you
+now! Yes, fly up to your eyrie among the rocks, if you can. I shall
+reach you there! Blood must be spilled. My honor! My honor!"
+
+He was thinking of a fray of his youth in which he had paid the dues of
+blood for an only brother. Again, he seemed to be dashing on in the
+chase.
+
+"On, on, Zebe!" he cried, in a hoarse whisper, "on, good steed! The
+quarry is ahead there! See the falcon swoop! Good steed, on!"
+
+His voice was growing fainter, yet he continued to wave his arms
+feebly, and to move his lips in inaudible muttering. Once more the words
+became distinct:
+
+"Here, Kedar, little man! Let father put you on his horse. There, boy,
+there! You will make a son for a Bedouin to be proud of!"
+
+A tear rolled down Kedar's cheek as the dying man thus pictured a happy
+scene of his childhood. "Poor old father!" he murmured. "Manasseh, it is
+hard to see him die thus godlessly. Had I but come sooner!"
+
+The old Sheikh's breath came shorter. His hand moved more feebly; he
+turned his head uneasily and opened his eyes.
+
+He fixed them upon his son with a look of consciousness. His face
+brightened.
+
+"Dear father," whispered the youth, and kissed his cheek.
+
+A smile spread over the old man's face. His lips formed the words "My
+son!" His eyes closed, and the old Bedouin was dead.
+
+The women broke into a low wail, and Kedar, with a tenderness not of the
+old time, strove to comfort his mother. The rites of anointing the body
+for burial were performed, and all through the evening the different
+members of the tribe gathered mournfully in to take a last look at the
+brave old leader.
+
+When night fell Kedar went out; the atmosphere of the tent seemed to
+choke him. Manasseh stood silently by his side. The wail of the women
+sounded in a low burial-song from within, and groups of men, talking in
+whispers, gathered before the door.
+
+Kedar stood with folded arms and head thrown back, looking upon the
+heavens. A star fell. Every Bedouin bowed his head, for the Arabs
+believe that when a star falls a soul ascends to paradise.
+
+"Manasseh," said Kedar in a low tone, "I cannot let them bury him. They
+would do it with half-heathen rites."
+
+"Can none among all these conduct Christian service?"
+
+"Not one. My mother is the only one who knows aught of Christianity."
+
+"Then," said Manasseh, "if you will let me, I shall offer prayers above
+his grave."
+
+"No, Manasseh," said Kedar decidedly, "these people would resent it in
+a stranger. I shall do it; they will grant me the privilege as the right
+of a son."
+
+"And rightly," exclaimed Manasseh, surprised and pleased at the
+staunchness with which his cousin took his new stand.
+
+On the following day the funeral wound slowly up the defile to the place
+of the lonely grave. And there Kedar prayed simply and earnestly, a
+prayer in which the spiritual enlightenment of the sorrowful people
+about him was the chief theme. They did not understand all its meaning,
+but they were impressed by the solemnity and sincerity of the young
+Arab's manner.
+
+Then the little heap of sand was raised, and four stone slabs were
+placed, according to Bedouin custom, upon the grave.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX.
+
+THE DEATH OF MOHAMMED.
+
+    "Nothing can we call our own but death"--_Shakespeare._
+
+
+While Musa thus lay dying in the tents of Nejd, the cold hand of death
+was fast closing upon another in the land of Arabia. Day by day the
+germs of disease pulsed stronger and stronger through the veins of
+Mohammed. Monarch of Arabia, originator of a creed which was eventually
+to push itself throughout Egypt, India, Afghanistan, Persia, and even to
+the wild steppes of Siberia, he must now die. He viewed the end with
+firmness, and it has been a matter of controversy as to whether in these
+later days he still had the hallucination of being a prophet.
+
+Too feeble to walk to the mosque, he lay, tended by his wives, in the
+tent of Ayesha, his favorite. Not many days before his death he asked
+that he might be carried to the mosque. Willing arms bore him thither,
+and placed him in the pulpit, from whence he could look down upon the
+city, and away to the palm-groves of Kuba. Then, turning his face
+towards the holy city, Mecca, he addressed the crowds of waiting people
+below.
+
+"If there be any man," said he, "whom I have unjustly scourged, I submit
+my own back to the lash of retaliation. Have I aspersed the reputation
+of any Mussulman?--let him proclaim my faults in the face of the
+congregation. Has anyone been despoiled of his goods?--the little that I
+possess shall compensate the principal and the interest of the debt."
+
+He then liberated his slaves, gave directions as to the order of his
+funeral, and appointed Abu Beker to supply his place in offering public
+prayer. This seemed to indicate that Abu Beker was to be his successor
+in office; and the long-tried friend accordingly became the first caliph
+of the Saracen empire.
+
+After this the prophet was conveyed again to the house of Ayesha. The
+fever increased, and the pain in his head became so great that he more
+than once pressed his hands upon it exclaiming, "The poison of Khaibar!
+The poison of Khaibar!"
+
+Once, perceiving the mother of Bashar, the soldier who had died of the
+poison in the fatal city, he said:
+
+"O mother of Bashar, the cords of my heart are now breaking of the food
+which I ate with your son at Khaibar!"
+
+At another time, springing up in delirium, he called for pen and ink
+that he might write a new revelation; but owing to his weak state, his
+request was refused. In talking to those about him he said that Azrael,
+the Angel of Death, had not dared to take his soul until he had asked
+his permission.
+
+A few nights before his death, he awoke from a troubled sleep, and,
+starting wildly from his couch, sprang up with unnatural strength from
+his bed.
+
+"Come, Belus!" he cried to an attendant. "Come with me to the
+burial-place of El Bakia! The dead call to me from their graves, and I
+must go thither to pray for them."
+
+Alone they passed into the night; through the long, silent streets they
+walked like phantoms; up the white road of Nedj they glided, until the
+few low tombs of the cemetery to the southeast of the city were in
+sight.
+
+At the border of the bleak, lonely field, where the wind moaned among
+the tombs like the sighing of a weeping Rachel, Mohammed paused.
+
+"Peace be with you, O people of El Bakia!" he cried. "Peace be with you,
+martyrs of El Bakia! One and all, peace be with you! We verily, if Allah
+please, are about to join you! O Allah, pardon us and them! And the
+mercy of God and his blessings be upon us all!"
+
+Thus he prayed, stretching his hands towards the spot where his friends
+lay in their long sleep. His companion stood in awe behind him,
+shivering in superstitious terror, as the white tombs gleamed like
+moving apparitions through the gloom, and the night-owls hooted with a
+mournful cadence o'er the dreary waste.
+
+When he had concluded, the prophet turned towards home. But the
+excitement of mind which had endowed him with almost supernatural
+strength now deserted him. His steps grew feeble and he was fain to lean
+upon Belus on his painful way back.
+
+He grew rapidly worse. His wife Ayesha, and his daughter Fatima, wife of
+Ali, seldom left his bedside. When the last came, he raised his eyes to
+the ceiling and exclaimed, "O Allah, pardon my sins!" He then, with his
+own feeble hand, sprinkled his face with water, and soon afterwards,
+with his head on Ayesha's bosom, he departed, in the sixty-third year of
+his age, and the eleventh year of the Hejira, A.D. 632.
+
+The frenzied people would not believe that he was dead. "He will arise,
+like Jesus," they said. But no returning breath quivered through the
+cold lips or animated the rigid form of him whom they passionately
+called to life; and not until Abu Beker assured them that he was really
+no more, saying, "Did he not himself assure us that he must experience
+the common fate of all? Did he not say in the Koran, 'Mohammed is no
+more than an apostle; the other apostles have already deceased before
+him; if he die therefore, or be slain, will ye turn back on your
+heels?'"--not until then did they disperse, with deep groans.
+
+Mohammed was buried in the house in which he died, his grave being dug
+in the spot beneath his bed; but some years later a stone tomb was
+erected over the grave, and until the present day the place is held so
+sacred that it is at the risk of his life that anyone but a Mussulman
+dares enter.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXI.
+
+THE NEW HOME.
+
+    "On these small cares of daughter, wife, or friend,
+    The almost sacred joys of Home depend."
+
+                              --_Hannah More._
+
+
+In the quiet valley in Palestine life had been dealing gently with
+Nathan and his family. The long, long absence of Manasseh was the one
+thing lacking for their perfect contentment.
+
+"It is well," Nathan would say, yet his eyes would turn wistfully
+towards the South, as though he half-hoped to see the beloved face of
+his son appearing over the hill. The mother grew weary with waiting, yet
+she did not murmur, but whispered to her lonely heart, "Living or dead,
+it must be well." Only once she said, "Husband, he is surely dead," and
+Nathan replied:
+
+"Let us still hope, wife, that we may yet see the goodness of the Lord
+in permitting us to behold his face."
+
+So they hoped on, and worked on, amid their orange trees, their corn and
+vegetables, and their sheep browsing peacefully on the hills. And Mary
+tended the jasmine flowers and rose-bushes at the door, carrying water
+to them night and morning, that they might look at their prettiest when
+Manasseh came. Only one letter had reached them--a cheery, hopeful
+letter,--but it had been a long time on the way, and the events of which
+it told had taken place many weeks before it reached the Jordan valley.
+It had told them of Yusuf and Amzi, of the little church, of the
+sender's strange meeting with Kedar, and the news he had gathered of
+Lois. Then it had told of the war, and had closed with an affectionate
+farewell, in which the writer expressed his wish, rather than his
+expectation, of being able to make his way to the new home soon.
+
+How long it seemed to Mary since that last word had come! And he was not
+home yet! She kept the precious manuscript in her bosom, and twenty
+times a day she looked down the long valley for the well-known form. One
+morning she sat by the river, idly plashing her bare feet in its golden
+ripples, and looking at the shadows on the little stones near the shore.
+About her gamboled a pet lamb, and above, a soft blue sky was flecked
+with fleecy white clouds. She twirled a sprig of blossoms in her hand,
+but her thoughts were far away in dear, hot, dusty, dreary Mecca.
+
+"It is not so pleasant as this, though," she thought, "if Manasseh were
+only here."
+
+Just then the tinkle of a camel-bell was heard,--a strange sound in that
+secluded spot. Mary looked up, and saw what seemed to be a great many
+people coming over the hill, camels bearing shugdufs, too, and
+pack-mules, heavily laden.
+
+Trembling, she rushed into the house.
+
+"Oh, mother, what means this? See the people! Manasseh would not bring
+all of those with him?"
+
+The mother shaded her eyes with her hand, and looked forth, anxiously.
+
+Nearer and nearer came the train. Who were they? Not Manasseh; Manasseh
+would not come so slowly. Can it be? Not Yusuf! Not Amzi! Yes, yes! O
+joy! It is they!--and many other familiar faces smile also from the
+train!
+
+"Is Manasseh well?"
+
+"Yes, Manasseh is well, and happy."
+
+So questions were asked and answered in joyful confusion; and Nathan
+came in from the hills to bid the travelers welcome. Then the dusty,
+travel-stained tents were pitched once more, this time on a grassy slope
+by the rippling Jordan. A simple repast was spread, and the company
+dined in royal state.
+
+With what surprise did Nathan and his household greet the wife of Asru
+and her sweet-faced daughter as sisters in Christ, and with what
+sympathy did they hear of Asru's sad death!
+
+Then plans for the immediate settlement of the little party were made.
+Pasture-land in abundance was to be had; hence the majority of the
+new-comers would be speedily and comfortably provided with new homes.
+Amzi would take up his abode in some comfortable town-house not far
+distant, and Yusuf would remain with him for the present.
+
+Mary and Sherah were friends at once, and ere evening fell, they sat, as
+girls will, in a cozy nook by the river-side forming plans for walks and
+talks during the long, bright, summer days.
+
+Every cloud had drifted, for the time being, from the happy company;
+and, ere they retired to rest, all united with fervor in the words of
+the grand song:
+
+"Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: who
+forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; who
+redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with loving
+kindness and tender mercies; who satisfieth thy mouth with good things;
+so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle's. The Lord executeth
+righteousness and judgment for all that are oppressed.... Bless the
+Lord, all his works, in all places of his dominion! Bless the Lord, O my
+soul!"
+
+And later in that same evening, another group came to Nathan's house.
+The door was closed, for the evening was chill without. A knock was
+heard. Mary opened the door, and there was Manasseh himself, radiantly
+happy; and close behind him was another Manasseh with Bedouin eyes.
+
+Mother, sister, and father pressed round the youth until he could
+scarcely move.
+
+"There, there!" he said, shaking them off playfully, "my cousin Kedar
+will be jealous. Mother, this is Lois' son, and there is someone in the
+darkness here still."
+
+The youth went out. Who was this that he assisted from the shugduf?--the
+living image of Lois in her girlhood days! Not Lois, but her daughter, a
+Bedouin maid, fresh as the breeze from her native hills. And can this be
+Lois--this sad-faced yet stately woman? It is, indeed, and the
+long-separated sisters are once more united. Kedar's brothers are there
+too, and one more family is added to the little community.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXII.
+
+A WEDDING IN PALESTINE.
+
+    "God, the best maker of all marriages."--_Shakespeare._
+
+
+For a moment let us look more closely at the little district where the
+Jewish band found a home after all their wanderings.
+
+They settled at a point where the Jordan River, that strange river
+flowing for its entire length through a depression one thousand feet
+below the level of the sea, is cut up by many a cataract; and the
+rushing noise of the water, carried from its mysterious source at the
+foot of Mount Hermon, fills the valley with a music not lost upon ears
+long accustomed to the dry wastes of Arabian deserts. To the north lie
+plains where cold blasts blow, and mountains whose crests gleam with
+never-failing snow; yet in the fair vales of Jordan the tempered breeze
+fans the air with the mildness of a never-ceasing-summer, and the soft
+alluvial soil is luxuriant with the rich growth of the tropics. To the
+west the rugged and picturesque mountains of Judea rise, and to the
+east, at a distance of some ten miles, lie the blue-tinted mountains of
+Moab, rich in associations of sacred history.
+
+In this favored spot, shaded by waving groves and hidden by vines, was
+the house of Asru's wife; and at a little distance from it was a well,
+an old-fashioned well such as is seen only in the East, walled about
+with ancient and worn flag-stones, between which, at one side, the water
+trickled and ran over mossy stones to the river below.
+
+A large tamarisk tree waved above it, and in its shade, with one knee
+resting on the flag-stone, her hands clasped behind her head, and her
+large eyes fixed upon the mountains of Moab beyond, stood Sherah, ere
+the sun rose, on one beautiful autumn morning.
+
+An earthen water-pitcher, such as is carried by the girls of the Orient,
+was beside her, yet she moved not to execute her errand.
+
+The sun arose behind the mountain; the amber sky became golden; the rosy
+pink clouds changed to radiant silver; the birds sang; the dew
+glittered; and the sun shone through the leaves of the trees with a
+flush of green-gold.
+
+The beauty of the scene touched the girl. In a low, clear voice,
+spontaneous as the song of a bird, she sang: "For the Lord shall comfort
+Zion; he will comfort her waste places: and he will make her wilderness
+like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord; joy and gladness
+shall be found therein, thanksgiving and the voice of melody."
+
+The song brought comfort to her; for was she not soon to leave this
+fairy spot, this Aidenn, to return to the land of the Mussulman; not the
+land of--
+
+    "Deep myrrh thickets blowing round
+    The stately cedar, tamarisks.
+    Thick rosaries of scented thorn,
+    Tall Orient shrubs, and obelisks
+    Graven with emblems of the time,"
+
+but to the bleak, treeless plains of Nejd, breezy with the warm breath
+of desert-swept winds, bounded by rolling mountains, and dotted by the
+black tents of those roving hordes of whom it has been said that "their
+hand is against every man, and every man's hand is against them,"--the
+fierce, cruel yet generous, impulsive, courteous tribes of the desert.
+
+For Manasseh and Kedar were both going back to the desert tribes,
+braving the dangers of persecution, that they might exert an influence
+in christianizing the Bedouin tribes over whom the Moslems as yet had
+little power. Sherah was going back as Manasseh's wife, and this was her
+wedding-day. She was willing to go, yet she could not help feeling a
+little lonely on this last morning in her mother's home.
+
+Presently the call "Sherah! Sherah!" came through the olive groves, and
+the old nurse hobbled out. The woman was a thorough type of an aged
+Arab, lean, wrinkled, hook-nosed, with skin like shrunken leather, and a
+voice like a raven. Yet Sherah knew her goodness of heart, and loved her
+dearly. She was taking the old woman back with her, for, oddly enough,
+Zama had never felt at home in the new land, and often craved that her
+bones might be buried in the old soil.
+
+"Why disturb me, Zama?" said the young woman kindly. "See you not that I
+am bidding farewell to this dear valley?"
+
+"Aye, aye, child," muttered the old nurse, "but we must put the
+wedding-gown upon you, and twine jasmine in your hair." She stroked the
+glossy masses fondly. "Ah, to-morrow it must be braided in the plaits of
+the matron, and the coins will be placed about my precious one's neck;
+yet it seems only yesterday that she was a toddling baby at my feet."
+
+The two women, the one tall and lithe as a willow, the other bent and
+shrunken, took their way to the house. Mary was already there, and
+assisted in adorning the bride.
+
+The guests arrived, and the simple ceremony was soon over; then the
+company sat down to the wedding feast. Lois and her sister talked in low
+tones to the mother of Sherah, who grieved a little at the separation
+from her daughter. Happy jests and laughter passed about among the
+young people. Amzi went, with beaming face, from group to group; and
+Yusuf looked quietly on.
+
+In the midst of the entertainment some one came to the door.
+
+"It is a peddler!" cried one. "Let us see what he has--perhaps another
+gift for our fair bride."
+
+The young people gathered about the glittering trinkets. Manasseh came
+near, and, with a merry twinkle in his eyes, placed his hand on the
+man's shoulder. The peddler looked up, and his face blanched with fear.
+
+It was the little Jew, who, having escaped like an eel from Manasseh's
+care after the Battle of Ohod, and having become thoroughly frightened
+at the idea of remaining longer in a war-ridden district, had
+disappeared like magic from the plains of Arabia, and had become once
+more the insignificant Jewish peddler in the more secure provinces to
+the north.
+
+"Do not be frightened," laughed Manasseh. "We no longer take prisoners
+of war; yet, for the sake of old acquaintance, I claim you to partake of
+our feast."
+
+The little man was half-dragged to the table and given a place by
+Nathan, who spoke kindly to him. Yet he did not feel at ease. The stolen
+cup seemed to point an accusing finger at him; and he ate little, and
+talked less.
+
+Presently he caught a glimpse of Yusuf. The sight of the man whom he had
+so nearly delivered to death was too much for him. His little eyes
+darted about as if suspicious of some design upon his freedom. He could
+not understand the magnanimity of these people, and, deeming discretion
+the better part of valor, he sprang from the table, shouldered his pack,
+and was off, to be seen no more.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIII.
+
+THE FAREWELL.
+
+    "Sondry folk, by aventure y-falle in felaweschipe."--_Chaucer._
+
+
+And now, our tale draws to a close, and time permits but a parting
+glance at those who have been so long a goodly company of friends.
+
+Amzi has, in his descent to old age, developed a wonderful activity of
+mind and body. He has become one of the most influential members of the
+little town in which he has taken up his abode. Realizing as never
+before the duty which man owes to man, and fully awakened at last to the
+fact that our talents are given us to be exercised fully, he no longer
+dreams away time in the Arab Kaif; but, from morning to night, his plump
+figure and good-natured old face are seen, up and down, in the mart, in
+the council-chamber, in the church, wherever he can lend a helping hand.
+He has even assumed the role of schoolmaster, and upon the earthen floor
+of an unused hall he gathers day by day a troop of little ones, over
+whom he bends patiently as they cling to his gown for sympathy in their
+small trials, or as they trace upon their wax tablets, with little,
+uncertain hands and in almost illegible characters, the words of a copy,
+or text.
+
+"Aye," he says, "who knows what these little ones may some day become?
+They are as impressionable as the wax upon which they write. Heaven
+grant that the impression made upon them may be mighty for good!"
+
+Kedar has married a Bedouin maid, and is happy in his free life in the
+old land. Naught but the desert could satisfy him; he would stagnate in
+the calm life which those in the Jordan valley are finding so pleasant.
+
+As yet he and Manasseh have not been molested in their work by the
+Moslems; and in their remote mountain recesses they are persistently
+fighting against heathendom, and are leading many to live better and
+nobler lives.
+
+And Yusuf? He is in his home-land again. Once more he stands upon the
+highest point of the Guebre temple. The priests have not refused him
+admittance, for no one has recognized in this harmless old man the once
+Guebre Yusuf.
+
+Ah, it is heathen Persia still! The fires flicker upon the altar, and
+the idolatrous chants arise on the air. Yusuf covers his face with his
+mantle and weeps. He has but a few years of strength before him, but he
+will spend them in trying to bring the Gospel of love to these poor,
+blind people.
+
+He grieves for his benighted country; but when the moon slowly rises,
+shedding her soft rays over the old scene, the mountains, the valleys
+below, all calm, peaceful, radiant, he is comforted. He thinks of Him
+who "created the lesser orb to rule the night," and a great joy fills
+his heart that he has been led to a recognition of Him, and that he has
+been enabled to lead others to Him.
+
+His face glows with serene happiness and hope. He raises his eyes to the
+calm, deep heavens, and says:
+
+"O Father, I thank thee that 'mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of
+hosts,' and his dear Son! I thank thee that thou hast led me to see
+Truth! O God, thou hast taught me from my youth, and hitherto have I
+declared thy wondrous works! Now also when I am old and gray-headed, O
+God, forsake me not until I have showed thy strength unto this
+generation, and thy power to every one that is to come! And now, Father,
+'what wait I for? My hope is in thee,' the great God, the ever-loving
+Father, now and for evermore. Amen and amen."
+
+And there will we leave him.
+
+                      "May he live
+    Longer than I have time to tell his years!
+    Ever beloved and loving, may his rule be!
+    And when old Time shall lead him to his end,
+    Goodness and he fill up one monument!"
+
+                              --_Shakespeare._
+
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] The month of Ramadhan was held as holy prior to Mohammed's time;
+    its sanctity was but confirmed by him.
+
+[2] Medina at this time bore the name of Yathrib, but in this volume
+    we shall give it the later and better-known name of "Medina,"
+    derived from the earlier "Mahdinah."
+
+[3] The Moslems _now_ assert that the sacred fire went out of itself
+    at the birth of Mohammed.
+
+[4] A fourth, the "Darb-el-Sharki," or Eastern Road, has since been
+    built by order of the wife of the famous Haroun al Raschid.
+
+[5] Joseph Pitts, A.D. 1680, says: "Mecca is surrounded for several
+    miles with many thousands of little hills which are very near to
+    one another. They are all stony-rock, and blackish, and pretty
+    near of a bigness, appearing at a distance like cocks of hay,
+    but all pointing towards Mecca."
+
+[6] Burton says the black stone is volcanic, but is thought by some
+    to be a meteorite or aerolite. Burckhardt thought it composed of
+    lava. Of its appearance Ali Bey says: "It is a block of volcanic
+    basalt, whose circumference is sprinkled with little crystals,
+    with rhombs of tile-red feldspath on a dark background like
+    velvet or charcoal."
+
+[7] By the latest statistics the number of Mohammedans now scattered
+    throughout Asia, Africa, and the south-eastern part of Europe
+    amounts to some 176,834,372.
+
+[8] Moslems assert that upon this night Mohammed was carried through
+    the seven heavens of which El Islam tells.
+
+[9] The initial "A" is placed at the top of all Arabian writings. It
+    is the initial of "Allah" and the first letter of the alphabet,
+    and is symbolic of the origin of creation.
+
+[10] Burton gives seven hundred.
+
+
+
+     *     *     *     *     *     *
+
+
+
+TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES:
+
+Obvious printing errors were repaired; these changes are listed below.
+
+Title Page     Original text: Elgin, Ill,
+               Correction: Elgin, Ill.,
+
+               Original text: David C Cook
+               Correction: David C. Cook
+
+Chapter V      Original text: may know thee as we should.'"
+               Correction: may know thee as we should."
+
+Chapter VI     Original text: This hullucination
+               Correction: This hallucination
+
+               Original text: McLellan, Psychology
+               Correction: McLellan, Psychology.
+
+               Original text: See page 23
+               Correction: See page 23.
+
+               Original text: called 'El Amin"
+               Correction: called 'El Amin'
+
+Chapter VII    Original text: be poured on my defenseless and
+               Correction: be poured on my defenceless and
+
+Chapter IX     Original text: Death is the end of life
+               Correction: "Death is the end of life
+
+               Original text: "Ikh! "Ikh!"
+               Correction: "Ikh! Ikh!"
+
+Chapter XIV    Original text: He forebore to thrust
+               Correction: He forbore to thrust
+
+Chapter XVI    Original text: For this I am thankful.
+               Correction: For this I am thankful,
+
+Chapter XVII   Original text: giving him a shake. "what
+               Correction: giving him a shake, "what
+
+               Original text: the fair little Imra
+               Correction: the fair little Imri
+
+Chapter XIX    Original text: "Here, Manasseh!" interupted Yusuf
+               Correction: "Here, Manasseh!" interrupted Yusuf
+
+Chapter XXIII  Original text: peace with those of Mecca."
+               Correction: peace with those of Mecca.'"
+
+Chapter XXVII  Original text: thus comes in Bedouin garb?'"
+               Correction: thus comes in Bedouin garb?"
+
+Footnote 2     Original text: derived from the earlier "Mahdinah"
+               Correction: derived from the earlier "Mahdinah."
+
+Footnote 6     Original text: like velvet or charcoal.
+               Correction: like velvet or charcoal."
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DAYS OF MOHAMMED***
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