ucted me to give you at a convenient place in my remarks."

The professor retired from the rostrum, and the company scattered over
the ship.

CHAPTER XXXI

THE RISE AND PROGRESS OF ISLAMISM

Captain Ringgold permitted the day, which was only the second of the
voyage, to pass away until half past three o'clock in the afternoon
without again calling the conference together. The passengers appeared
to be well occupied; for the boys had brought shuffle-board and the
potato game on the planks, and everybody was enjoying these plays,
either by taking part or looking on. The commander had taught them these
amusements early in their sea experience, and they always became very
hilarious over them.

Besides, he was prudent and judicious in the conduct of the study
department; for the adults were not in training as students, and he was
somewhat afraid of overworking them, and creating a dislike for the
conferences. As he expressed it, he desired to make them hungry for
lectures. The schoolroom, which had been made of the after cabin, and
contained the extensive library of the ship, had been deserted for
several weeks so far as its regular use was concerned.

Miss Blanche, Louis, Morris, and Scott formed a class, or rather several
of them, and pursued their studies systematically under the professor;
but they had been interrupted by the visit to Egypt and the trip to
Cyprus, and their work was not resumed till the ship sailed from Suez.
The recitations and the study were not confined to the classroom, but
some of them were given on deck and in the cabin to individuals as the
convenience of both permitted; and some of the hours of the first two
days had been used in this manner.

"Now you can see Yembo," said the commander at half-past three in the
afternoon, as he pointed out a town on the shore of Arabia. "The name is
spelled in so many different ways it is hard to find it in the books.
Sometimes it is Yembo, Yanba, and Yembu, and again it is Zembo, Zambu,
and Zanba. It is Yembo on my charts, and for that reason I use it. It is
of not much importance except as the port of Medina, the later home of
Mohammed, where the professor will take you at the next conference this
afternoon.

"But it is one hundred and thirty miles from its principal, and there
are no railroads or stages here, and it must be a journey of four or
five days by camel over the desert. A pilgrimage to Medina is
recommended to the faithful; but it