prayer. This seemed to indicate that Abu Beker was to be his successor
in office; and the long-tried friend accordingly became the first caliph
of the Saracen empire.

After this the prophet was conveyed again to the house of Ayesha. The
fever increased, and the pain in his head became so great that he more
than once pressed his hands upon it exclaiming, "The poison of Khaibar!
The poison of Khaibar!"

Once, perceiving the mother of Bashar, the soldier who had died of the
poison in the fatal city, he said:

"O mother of Bashar, the cords of my heart are now breaking of the food
which I ate with your son at Khaibar!"

At another time, springing up in delirium, he called for pen and ink
that he might write a new revelation; but owing to his weak state, his
request was refused. In talking to those about him he said that Azrael,
the Angel of Death, had not dared to take his soul until he had asked
his permission.

A few nights before his death, he awoke from a troubled sleep, and,
starting wildly from his couch, sprang up with unnatural strength from
his bed.

"Come, Belus!" he cried to an attendant. "Come with me to the
burial-place of El Bakia! The dead call to me from their graves, and I
must go thither to pray for them."

Alone they passed into the night; through the long, silent streets they
walked like phantoms; up the white road of Nedj they glided, until the
few low tombs of the cemetery to the southeast of the city were in
sight.

At the border of the bleak, lonely field, where the wind moaned among
the tombs like the sighing of a weeping Rachel, Mohammed paused.

"Peace be with you, O people of El Bakia!" he cried. "Peace be with you,
martyrs of El Bakia! One and all, peace be with you! We verily, if Allah
please, are about to join you! O Allah, pardon us and them! And the
mercy of God and his blessings be upon us all!"

Thus he prayed, stretching his hands towards the spot where his friends
lay in their long sleep. His companion stood in awe behind him,
shivering in superstitious terror, as the white tombs gleamed like
moving apparitions through the gloom, and the night-owls hooted with a
mournful cadence o'er the dreary waste.

When he had concluded, the prophet turned towards home. But the
excitement of mind which had endowed him with almost supernatural
strength now deserted him. His steps grew feeble and he was fain to lean
upon Belus on his painful way back.

He grew rapidly worse. His wife