d done, they sent
a deputation to request that he overlook what had taken place and allow
the peace to continue as before, but Mohammed would give them no
promises, and told his followers that the death of those who were slain
by the Meccans would be amply avenged. With great secrecy he prepared
an army and went forth once more against the city with which he had
been engaged in warfare for so many years.

So swift was Mohammed's advance and so secret had his plans been kept
that the Meccans knew nothing of his approach until they saw the
camp-fires of his mighty army shining about their walls. They had no
way of resisting his force for they had been surprised, and even if
they could have prepared against him, their numbers were now far
inferior to his own. And then came the greatest triumph of Mohammed's
entire life, for the Meccans surrendered without conditions and
promised to embrace the Mohammedan faith.

With ropes and axes Mohammed's followers tore the stone idols of Mecca
from their pedestals and hewed them to pieces, while the Meccans
sorrowfully beheld the destruction. And from that day to the present
there has resounded over the city of Mecca five times each day the cry
of "Allah Hu Akbar"--God is great, and the rest of the ritual calling
the people to prayer.

Soon after this one desert tribe after another came under Mohammed's
power, and finally all of Arabia had acknowledged him as God's prophet.
He was planning to extend his religion still farther when a misfortune
fell upon him that probably caused his death. With one of his followers
he had partaken of a dish that had been prepared for him by a Jewish
girl who hated him and all of his sect. The food was poisoned, and
while Mohammed discovered it at once and ate but a single mouthful, the
poison remained in his body.

Feeling that he was about to die he summoned his followers and preached
to them a last sermon in which he exhorted them to obey all the rules
of his religion, to treat their slaves and animals kindly and to beware
of the works of the devils that were leagued against them. Not a great
while after this the Prophet fell ill of a fever, and at last died, to
the great grief of those disciples who had known and loved him.
Although he had always given his wealth to the poor so that he lived as
meanly as the humblest of his followers--for this was one of the first
things that he preached,--he was worshipped as being divine and had
more than the