mplacable 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, a