the green of the Moslem."
"I!" said the youth in astonishment. "You jest, Yusuf!"
"It was surely you who met me on the field of Bedr."
"Yusuf, are you mad? It was never I."
"Then who can it have been? It was your very face."
"For once, Yusuf, your eyes have played you false. How could you have
believed such a thing of Manasseh?"
"A strange resemblance!" mused Yusuf; then--"Whom see I before me
yonder?"
"Manasseh's eyes do not play him false, and he declares it to be Amzi,"
said the youth.
They hastened up the narrow street, now crowded with soldiers,
prisoners, camels, and horses; and, escaping the missiles thrown by
infuriated Moslem women from the housetops, soon overtook Amzi and Asru.
All proceeded at once to the camp of Abu Sofian.
Some large tents were set apart for the wounded Koreish, and here Yusuf
and Amzi found speedy occupation in binding wounds, and giving drinks of
water to the parched soldiers. Manasseh entered with them.
"What means this?" cried Henda. "Did I not have you conveyed, soaked
with blood, among the wounded of the Koreish?"
"I have not been wounded to-day," returned Manasseh. "Read me this
riddle, Henda. There must be a second self--"
"Here, Manasseh!" interrupted Yusuf from one side. "Had you a twin
brother, this must be he."
Yusuf was bending over a youth whose dark eyes spoke of suffering, and
who lay listlessly permitting the priest to bathe his blood-covered
brow. His eyes were fixed on Manasseh, who was quickly coming forward,
and those near wondered at the striking resemblance, more marked than is
often found between brothers.
"Who are you, friend?" asked Manasseh, curiously.
"Kedar the Bedouin!" returned the youth, proudly. "Though how I came
into a Koreish camp, is more than I can explain."
"For that you may thank your resemblance to me," laughed Manasseh. "You
are weak, Kedar, my proud Bedouin, and we will ask you to talk but
little; yet, I pray you, tell me, who was your father?"
"Musa, the Bedouin Sheikh,"--haughtily.
"And your mother was Lois, daughter of Eleazar?"
"Even so," returned the other, wonderingly.
"My cousin!" exclaimed Manasseh, delightedly seizing his hand.
"And son of my Bedouin friend, Musa!" exclaimed Yusuf.
So the Bedouin youth, the rash, hot-headed Moslem recruit, found himself
among friends in a Koreish camp.
Night had now fallen, and under cover of darkness, Mohammed's army
silently returned to Medina.
The
|