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
jour