s house was burnt, its
cloth covering (or kiswah) catching fire from a torch. It was rebuilt by
the Koreish (Qurais) a few years ago. It was then that the door was
placed high above the ground, as you see it, and then that the movable
stair was constructed. Then, too, the six columns which support the roof
were added, and Mohammed, El Amin, was chosen to determine the position
of the Black Stone in the wall. So, friend, I have now given you in
part, the history of the Caaba."

Bestowing a last look upon the temple, the friends walked for some
distance northward across the slopes of Mount Hira, until a low, dark
opening appeared in the face of a rock.

Drawing back a thorny bush from its door, they entered the cave. A low
moaning noise sounded within. For a moment, the transition from the
white glare without to the twilight of the cave blinded them, then they
saw that the moans proceeded from Mohammed, who was lying on his back on
the stone floor. His head-dress was awry, his face was purple, and froth
issued from his mouth.

Amzi seized an earthen vessel of water, and bathed his brow.

"Poor fellow!" he said, "how often he may have suffered here alone! It
has been his custom for years to spend the holy month of Ramadhan here
in prayer and meditation. He has often taken these fits before; but, if
what is said be true, he knows not that he is suffering, for angels
appear to him during the paroxysms."

"It seems to me much more like a fit of epilepsy," said Yusuf, rather
sarcastically. "See, he begins to come to himself again."

Mohammed had stopped moaning, and his face began to regain its natural
color.

Presently he opened his eyes in a dazed way, and sat up. He was a man of
middle height, with a ruddy, rather florid complexion, a high forehead,
and very even, white teeth. There was something commanding and
dignified in his appearance. He wore a bushy beard, and was habited in a
striped cotton gown of cloth of Yemen; and, from his person emanated the
sweet odor of choicest perfumes of the Nejd and Arabia-Felix.

"Ah, it is Amzi!" he said. "Pardon me, friend, but the angel has just
left me, and I failed to recognize you at once, my mind was so occupied
with the wonder of his communications; for, friend, the time is nigh,
even at hand, when the prophet of Allah, the One, the only Person of the
Godhead, is to be proclaimed!"

His voice was low and musical, and he spoke as one under the influence
of an inspiratio