r in his love, no passion but
jealousy, no diversion but sporting on the roofs, no end but death and
the Kabar.

Seeing the uselessness of the siege, Ben Aboo transferred Naomi to the
prison, and set Habeebah to guard her. The black woman was in terror at
the turn that events had taken. There was nothing to do now but to
go on, so she importuned Naomi with prayers. How could she be so
hard-hearted? Could she keep her father famishing in prison when one
word out of her lips would liberate him? Naomi had no answer but her
tears. She remembered the hareem, and cried.

Then Ben Aboo thought of a daring plan. He called the Grand Rabbi, and
commanded him to go to Naomi and convert her to Islam. The Rabbi
obeyed with trembling. After all, it was the same God that both peoples
worshipped, only the Moors called Him Allah and the Jews Jehovah. Naomi
knew little of either. It was not of God that she was thinking: it was
only of her father. She was too innocent to see the trick, but the Rabbi
failed. He kissed her, and went away wiping his eyes.

Rumour of Naomi's plight had passed through the town, and one night a
number of Moors came secretly to a lane at the back of the Kasbah, where
a narrow window opened into her cell. They told her in whispers that
what she held as tragical was a very simple matter. "Turn Muslima," they
pleaded, "and save yourself. You are too young to die. Resign yourself,
for God's sake." But no answer came back to them where they were
gathered in the darkness, save low sobs from inside the wall.

At last Ben Aboo made two announcements. The first, a public one, was
that Abd er-Rahman would reach Tetuan within two days, on the opening
of the feast of the Moolood, and the other, a private one, that if
Naomi had not said the Kelmah by first prayers the following morning she
should die and her father be cut off as the penalty of her apostasy.

That night the place under the narrow window in the dark lane was
occupied by a group of Jews. "Sister," they whispered, "sister of our
people, listen. The Basha is a hard man. This day he has robbed us of
all we had that he may pay for the Sultan's visit. Listen! We have heard
something. We want Israel ben Oliel back among us. He was our father,
he was our brother. Save his life for the sake of our children, for the
Basha has taken their bread. Save him, sister, we beg, we entreat, we
pray."

Naomi broke down at last. Next morning at dawn, kneeling among men in
t