Amzi seized an earthen vessel of water, and bathed his brow.

“Poor fellow!” he said, “how often he may have suffered here alone!  It has been his custom for years to spend the holy month of Ramadhan here in prayer and meditation.  He has often taken these fits before; but, if what is said be true, he knows not that he is suffering, for angels appear to him during the paroxysms.”

“It seems to me much more like a fit of epilepsy,” said Yusuf, rather sarcastically.  “See, he begins to come to himself again.”

Mohammed had stopped moaning, and his face began to regain its natural color.

Presently he opened his eyes in a dazed way, and sat up.  He was a man of middle height, with a ruddy, rather florid complexion, a high forehead, and very even, white teeth.  There was something commanding and dignified in his appearance.  He wore a bushy beard, and was habited in a striped cotton gown of cloth of Yemen; and, from his person emanated the sweet odor of choicest perfumes of the Nejd and Arabia-Felix.

“Ah, it is Amzi!” he said.  “Pardon me, friend, but the angel has just left me, and I failed to recognize you at once, my mind was so occupied with the wonder of his communications; for, friend, the time is nigh, even at hand, when the prophet of Allah, the One, the only Person of the Godhead, is to be proclaimed!”

His voice was low and musical, and he spoke as one under the influence of an inspiration.

“Has the angel appeared to you in visible form?”

“Sometimes he appears in human form, but in a blinding light; at other times I hear a sound as of a silver bell tinkling afar.  Then I hear no words, but the truth sinks upon my soul, and burns itself into my brain, and I feel that the angel speaks.”

“Of what, then, has he spoken?” asked Amzi.

“The time in which the full revelation shall be thrown open to man is not yet.  But it will come ere long.  None, heretofore, save my own kin and friends, have been given aught of the great message; yet to you, Amzi, may I say that Abraham, Moses, Christ, have all been servants of the true God, yet for Mohammed has been reserved the honor of casting out the idolatry with which the worship of our people reeks.  For him is destined the glory of purging our Caaba of its images, and of reinstating the true religion of our fathers in this fair land.  Then shall men know that Allah is the one God, and Mohammed is his prophet!”

“Think you to place yourself on an equality with the Son of God?” cried Yusuf, sternly.

Mohammed turned quickly upon him, and his face worked in a frenzy of excitement.

“I tell you there is but one God,—­one invisible, eternal God, Allah above all in earth and heaven,—­and Mohammed is the prophet of God!” he cried.

Yusuf perceived that he had to deal with a fanatic, a religious enthusiast, who would not be reasoned with.

“Yes,” he continued, “may it be Mohammed’s privilege to lead men back to truth, and to turn them from heathendom; to teach them to be wise as serpents, harmless as doves, and to show them how to walk with clean hands and hearts through the earth, living uprightly in the sight of all men!”