Sitt_, I will attend." With the same breath Abdul screamed
for two of the men to come and help the saint. They came with flying
leaps towards him.

"Mike, oh Mike!" Millicent cried. "Please, please come back! You are
so rash. Abdul, don't let the Effendi touch that man. He's filthy. I
saw him this morning--he's a dreadful creature."

Abdul looked at the Effendi Amory's mistress, the Christian harlot.
Such a woman dared to speak in this manner of one who was favoured of
God, a blessed saint, of one to whom the devout women of his country
would willingly give themselves as an act of grace! This child of God,
beloved of Islam, was filthy in her vile eyes!

It was in this manner that Millicent unconsciously earned the vengeance
of Abdul. Nothing of his hatred or scorn was noticeable. Millicent
was under the impression that all Easterns are sensualists and slaves
to beauty; she was ignorant of their profound contempt for all women;
that their vilest thoughts are for Christians. With an outward
approval of her anxiety that Michael should run no risks by touching
the sick man, Abdul left her and hurried after the Effendi.

But Michael had already reached him; the fleshless figure lay bathed in
the dying light of the afterglow. Hanging round his neck, a neck which
looked like the neck of the dried mummy in Freddy's wonderful tomb,
there were many strings of cheap beads, and suspended from a bright
green cord--the Prophet's green--was one white cowrie shell. Half
covered by his garment of many colours, and jealously enclosed in a
small black cloth bag, was the most precious article of his scanty
possessions. Michael knew that this pouch contained nothing less
valuable than a few grains of sand from the Prophet's tomb at Mecca.

At Michael's approach the fanatic raised himself and recited in
half-delirious tones the _Fat'hah_, or the opening chapter of the Koran:

"In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Gracious. Praise be unto God,
the Lord of the worlds, the Merciful, the Gracious, the Ruler of the
day of judgment. Thee do we worship, and of Thee do we beg assistance.
Direct us in the right way, in the way of those to whom Thou hast been
gracious, upon whom there is no wrath, and who have not erred."

When the _sura_ was finished the man fell back; his strength failed
him. Michael knelt down beside him in the desert. He raised his head;
his wild eyes and emaciated face touched his heart. He knew somethin