d was coming,--coming, not in war, but in
peace, on his first pilgrimage to the Caaba. Mecca was instantly thrown
into the wildest confusion. Some deemed the prophet's message honorable,
but the majority were dubious, and thought that if Mohammed once gained
an entrance, notwithstanding the fact that it was the sacred month Doul
Kaada, his coming would be but to deluge the streets with blood.

A hasty consultation was held, and a troop of horse under one Khaled Ibn
Waled, was sent out to check the prophet's advance. Mohammed, however,
by means of his spies, early got word of this sally, and, turning aside
from the way, he proceeded by ravines and by-paths through the
mountains; and, ere the Meccans were aware of his proximity, his whole
force was encamped near the city.

A deputation came from his army to the dignitaries of Mecca bearing
messages of peace; but their reception was haughty.

"Go to him who sent you," was the reply to their overtures, "and say
that Meccan doors are shut to one against whom every family in Mecca
owes the revenge of blood."

For days the deputation was sent, with the same result, until at last
ambassadors of the prophet entered with the offer of a truce for ten
years.

The promise of a long respite from blood, and the hope of securing time
to recuperate their forces, caught the ear of the Meccans. A deputation
was appointed to treat with the prophet, and Amzi, though a Christian,
by reason of his wisdom and learning was chosen as one of the
representatives.

Yusuf accompanied him to an eminence above the defile in which the
Moslem tents were pitched. A strange sight it was. Far as eye could
reach, tents, white and black, dotted the narrow valley; horses were
picketed, and camels browsed; and in the foreground one thousand four
hundred men were grouped, waiting to hear the issue of the
conference,--one thousand four hundred men, bare-footed, and with
shaven heads, and each wearing the white skirt and white scarf over the
shoulder, assumed by pilgrims. Strangely different were they from the
ordinary troops of the prophet, strangely unrecognizable in their garb
of humility and peace; yet a second glance revealed the fact that each
carried a sheathed sword.

Yusuf remained above, but Amzi descended with the embassy sent with the
message that the treaty, if suitable, would be at once ratified.
Mohammed, who, in place of his green garb, now with obsequious humility
wore the pilgrims' cost