ar and all that he had visualized. As his eyes peered out from
the jealously-covered windows and rested on the long line of mountains,
high in their snowy whiteness, he repeated the old man's words:

"Why do the heathen so furiously rage together and the people imagine
vain things in their hearts? I tell you, my son, it is because they
have not the love of God in their hearts."

Yes, why, oh why, did they do it? The world he looked out upon was
surely meant for grander and better things? It had nothing to do with
bloodshed. And yet, even as he said it, words and voice answered back:

"Pray for fortitude, my son, that moral condition which enables us to
meet danger and endure pain with calmness. I tell you to pray for
fortitude, for without it you cannot face the future."

As his thoughts were lost in this prayer, he got back his assurance
that this war of wars had to be fought in the cause of freedom. He
knew that it had to be won by the Allies, to ensure the triumph of
right over might. This was the war which was to terminate all wars;
the victory of the Allies was to bring about the disarmament of all
powerful nations. It was the forerunner of a higher civilization.

He put his head between his hands and rested it on his knees. He knew
that his words were true. And yet, had not his old friend in el-Azhar
been as sincerely convinced that this war which he had visualized was
to be fought for the triumph of Islam? Was he not certain that Allah
had ordained it to prove to all countries upon the earth that the
Christian nations had shown that their religion was hideous in Allah's
sight, that it was a failure, that it had not redeemed mankind?

And Germany! What of Germany? Michael saw, with his vivid imagination
and unprejudiced mind, German mothers and fathers praying for their
sons who were fighting for the cause of the beloved Fatherland, the
cause which they believed was the cause of righteousness. Did they
also not pray earnestly and sincerely? Did they, too, not believe that
God would be on the side of righteousness?

Why were these agonized parents and brave soldiers to be made to suffer
if it was all to be in vain, if their cause was not the just cause?
Had they not obeyed the cult of their land and the teachings of their
spiritual pastors and masters? He remembered the African's words: "The
time draws near when each man will return to the land that gave him
birth."

In this war which was r