espair!"

As he prayed all the stars of Arabia grew strangely dim. The wild peaks
of Sinai, standing sharp and black in the lucid, purple air, melted into
shadowy, changing masses. The huge branches of the cypress-tree moved
mysteriously above his head, and he fell upon the earth senseless and in
a trance.

It seemed to Tancred that a mighty form was bending over him with a
countenance like an oriental night, dark yet lustrous, mystical yet
clear. The solemn eyes of the shadowy apparition were full of the
brightness and energy of youth and the calm wisdom of the ages.

"I am the Angel of Arabia," said the spectral figure, waving a sceptre
fashioned like a palm-tree, "the guardian spirit of the land which
governs the world; for its power lies neither in the sword nor in the
shield, for these pass away, but in ideas which are divine. All the
thoughts of every nation come from a higher power than man, but the
thoughts of Arabia come directly from the Most High. You want a new
revelation to Christendom? Listen to the ancient message of Arabia!

"Your people now hanker after other gods than the God of Sinai and
Calvary. But the eternal principles of that Arabian faith, which moulded
them from savages into civilised men when they descended from their
northern forests fifteen hundred years ago, and spread all over the
world, can alone breathe new vigour into them, now that they are
decaying in the dust and fever of their great cities. Tell them that
they must cease from seeking in their vain philosophies for the solution
of their social problems. Their, longing for the brotherhood of mankind
can only be satisfied when they acknowledge the sway of a common father.
Tell them that they are the children of God. Announce the sublime and
solacing doctrine of theocratic equality. Fear not, falter not. Obey the
impulse of thine own spirit, and find a ready instrument in every human
being."

A sound as of thunder roused Tancred from his trance. Above him the
mountains rose sharp and black in the clear purple air, and the Arabian
stars shone with undimmed brightness; but the voice of the angel still
lingered in his ear. He went down the mountain; at its base he found his
followers sleeping amid their camels. He aroused Fakredeen, and told him
that he had received the word which would bind together the warring
nations of Arabia and Palestine, and reshape the earth.

_IV.--The Mystic Queen_

"It has been a great day," said Tan