seless to remain, managed to mount and ride off after the
retreating troops.

Scarcely injured, yet covered with blood, he dismounted at Amzi's door
in Medina.

"Yusuf! My brother!" cried the Meccan in astonishment, "what means
this?"

In a few words Yusuf told the tale of the battle, and Amzi placed him
comfortably upon a soft couch, insisting upon ministering to him as
though he had been severely wounded.

"So, Yusuf the gentle too has become a seeker of man's blood!" he said.
"Verily, what an effect hath this degenerate age!"

"Believe me, friend," returned the other, earnestly, "you too would have
gone had you been in Mecca and had heard of our poor friends, all
unarmed, and apparently in the power of the enemy. When the advance to
Bedr was ordered, I was one under authority, and had no choice but to
submit, though I had little enough love for the stench of blood."

"Yet," returned Amzi, "Yusuf's life is too precious to be risked in such
madness. It is not necessary for him to court death; for the time may
soon come when he shall be forced to fight in self-defence. Till then,
let foolish youths dash to the lance's point if they will."

Yusuf bowed his head, and in a low tone replied: "'O God, the Lord, the
strength of my salvation, thou hast covered my head in the day of
battle. He hath delivered my soul in peace from the battle that was
against me. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of
death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me. He that dwelleth in
the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the
Almighty. I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my
God; in him will I trust.' Amzi, whether in life or in death, it shall
be as he wills."

Amzi looked at him curiously. "Yusuf," he said, "is there no extremity
of your life in which your religion fails to give you comfort? It seems
to furnish you with words befitting every occasion."

"Comfort in every hour of need," returned Yusuf, "deliverance in every
hour of temptation, is our God able to bestow if we seek him in spirit
and in truth. Things temporal, as well as things spiritual, call for his
almighty love and attention; and our love for him brightens every
pathway in life. It is the knowledge of this which has upheld his
children in all the ages;--not one of them who has not gloried in
feeling that 'God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in
time of trouble. Therefore will we not fear