r power to effect his deliverance; we must
leave the issue to God."

Amzi bowed his head on his hands and groaned. Yusuf raised his eyes
towards heaven; the tears rolled down his cheeks, and his lips moved.
Even he could not understand the mysteries of this strange time. Yet he
was constantly comforted in knowing that "all things work together for
good to them that love God."

Saddest of all was the vision of the handsome, dark face that, contorted
in the fury of combat, had glared upon him from the Moslem ranks in the
Battle of Bedr, while Manasseh's hand showered blows upon the head of
his best friend--for the sake of the prophet of Islam.

"Manasseh! Manasseh!" he exclaimed in bitter sadness. "Why hast thou
forsaken thy father's God? O heavenly Father, do thou guide him and lead
him again into thy paths!"

CHAPTER XVI.

AMZI FINALLY REJECTS MOHAMMED.

"'Do the duty which lies nearest thee' which thou knowest to be
a duty! Thy second duty will already have become
clearer."--_Carlyle, "Sartor Resartus."_

Upon the following morning Yusuf hastened to obtain an interview with
Mohammed. The prophet lived in an ostentatiously humble abode--a low,
broad building, roofed with date-sticks, and thatched with the broad
leaves of the palm tree.

Mohammed absolutely refused to see him. Ayesha, the youngest and fairest
of the prophet's wives, sent to inform him that Mohammed had nothing to
say to the Christian Yusuf. So with heavy heart he turned away and
sought the house of Zeid, deeming that he, as the prophet's adopted son
and most devoted follower, might have some influence in obtaining
Dumah's release.

Zeid sat in a low, airy apartment, through whose many open windows a
cool breeze entered. By him sat his newly-wedded wife, unveiled, for at
that time the rules in regard to veiling were not so strictly insisted
upon as at a later day, when the prophet's decree against the unveiling
of women was more rigorously enforced.

Even Yusuf noted her marvelous beauty. There was a peculiarity of
action, a something familiar about her, too, which gave him a hazy
recollection of having seen her before; but not for several moments did
the association come up in his memory, and he saw again the little
Jewish home of Nathan in Mecca, the dim light, and the beautiful child
whose temples Nathan's wife was so tenderly bathing. Yes, after the
lapse of years, in a flash he knew her for Zeinab!

She listened wit