p and ordered him
to desist.

The melee subsided, and, just as the sun rose over Abu Kubays, the
conqueror entered the city. He was habited in scarlet, and mounted upon
a large Syrian camel; and, as he rode, followed by the whole host of his
army, he repeated aloud passages from the Koran.

Straight on towards the Caaba he went, looking neither to right nor to
left. Its gates were thrown open before him, and the vast procession,
with the prophet at its head, performed Tawaf about the temple. Then,
ere the mighty trampling ceased, Mohammed entered the Caaba--that Caaba
in which he had been spat upon and covered with mud thrown by derisive
hands. Little wonder that he felt his triumph complete!

Three hundred and sixty idols still stared from the walls of the temple,
and, ere night fell, not an image remained to pollute an edifice in
which, if in ever so blind a manner, the name of the living God had been
once mentioned.

Mohammed then took his stand upon the little hill Al Safa, and gave the
command that every man, woman, and child in Mecca, save those detained
by illness, should pass before him.

Kedar found his weakness a sufficient reason for remaining at home, but
Yusuf, Amzi, and Manasseh were forced to join the long procession.

One by one, the inhabitants knelt before the victor, renouncing idolatry
and declaring their fealty to him as their governor and spiritual head.
But a few among the Christian Jews refused to acknowledge him as the
prophet of God.

"As conqueror we accept you," they said; "as subjects we will obey you
in all that does not interfere with our worship of the true God, and his
Son, the Christ. But as Mohammed prophet of God, we will not acknowledge
you."

The prophet, however, was in a lenient frame of mind. At no time a cruel
tyrant when victory was once assured, he was still less inclined to be
so upon a day when everything augured so favorably for the future.
Moreover, when it seemed to him practicable, Mohammed delighted in
showing mercy. This trait is but one of the incomprehensible features of
his strange, contradictory character.

"So be it," he returned, graciously. "I give you your lives and
property. They are a gift from the prophet ye despise. Yet, lest ye be
stirrers up of sedition, I enjoin you to leave the city with what
expedition ye will. Go where ye please, provided it be out of my
dominions; take what time ye need to settle your affairs, and dispose of
your property