had no religion before, that I
have now fixed upon the right one!'

'Most fortunate!' said the Guebre. 'What shall we do to amuse ourselves
to-night?'

'Let us go to the coffee-houses and make the Turks drink wine,' said
Calidas the Indian.

'What say you to burning down a mosque?' said Kisloch the Kourd.

'I had great fun with some Dervishes this morning,' said the Guebre. 'I
met one asking alms with a wire run through his cheek,[58] so I caught
another, bored his nose, and tied them both together!'

'Hah! hah! hah!' burst the Negro.

Asia resounded with the insurrection of the Jews, and the massacre of
the Seljuks. Crowds of Hebrews, from the rich cities of Persia and the
populous settlements on the Tigris and the Euphrates, hourly poured into
Hamadan.

The irritated Moslemin persecuted the brethren of the successful rebel,
and this impolicy precipitated their flight. The wealth of Bagdad
flowed into the Hebrew capital. Seated on the divan of Hassan Subah, and
wielding the sceptre of Solomon, the King of Israel received the homage
of his devoted subjects, and despatched his envoys to Syria and to
Egypt. The well-stored magazines and arsenals of Hamadan soon converted
the pilgrims into warriors. The city was unable to accommodate the
increased and increasing population. An extensive camp, under the
command of Abner, was formed without the walls, where the troops were
daily disciplined, and where they were prepared for greater exploits
than a skirmish in a desert.

Within a month after the surrender of Hamadan, the congregation of the
people assembled in the square of the great mosque, now converted into a
synagogue. The multitude was disposed in ordered ranks, and the terrace
of every house was crowded. In the centre of the square was an altar of
cedar and brass, and on each side stood a company of priests guarding
the victims, one young bullock, and two rams without blemish.

Amid the flourish of trumpets, the gates of the synagogue opened, and
displayed to the wondering eyes of the Hebrews a vast and variegated
pavilion planted in the court. The holy remnant, no longer forlorn,
beheld that tabernacle of which they had so long dreamed, once more
shining in the sun, with its purple and scarlet hangings, its curtains
of rare skins, and its furniture of silver and gold.

A procession of priests advanced, bearing, with staves of cedar, run
through rings of gold, a gorgeous ark, the work of the most cunning
ar