, who remarked, thoughtfully:

"Yet, there is much good, too, in that which Mohammed would advocate."

"There is," assented Yusuf. "Yet, though I know not why, I cannot trust
this man. 'Tis an instinct, if you will. What, think you, does he mean
to win by this procedure,--power, or esteem, or fame?"

Amzi shook his head quickly in denial. "Mohammed is one of the most
upright of men, one of the last to seek personal favor or distinction by
dishonest means, one of the last to be a maker of lies. Verily, Yusuf, I
know not what to think of his revelations. If he does not in truth see
these visions, he at least imagines he does. He is honest in what he
says."

"'If he does not in truth'!" repeated Yusuf. "Surely you, Amzi, have no
confidence in his visions?"

Amzi smiled. "And yet Yusuf, no longer ago than last night, was ready to
believe the testimony of a pauper Jew in regard to similar assertions,"
he said. "But keep your mind easy, friend; I have not accepted
Mohammed's claims. I am open to conviction yet, and I am not hasty to
believe. In fact, I must confess, Yusuf, an entire lack of that fervor,
of that capacity for religious feeling, which is so marked a trait in my
Persian priest."

"Yet you, too, professed to be a seeker for truth," said Yusuf,
reproachfully.

"My desire for truth is simply to know it for the mere sake of knowing
it," said Amzi.

Yusuf sighed. He did not realize that he had to deal with a peculiar
nature, one of the hardest to impress in spiritual things--the
indifferent, calculating mind, which is more than half satisfied with
moral virtue, not realizing the infinitely higher, nobler, happier life
that comes from the inspiration of a constant companionship with God.

"Alas, I am but a poor teacher, Amzi," he said. "You know, perhaps, more
of the doctrines of these Christians than I; yet I am convinced that to
me has come a blessing which you lack, and I would fain you had it too.
And I know so little that it seems I cannot help you. You will, at
least, come and talk with Nathan?"

"As you will," said Amzi, in a half-bantering tone. "Prove to me that
these Hebrews are infallible, and I shall half accept their Jewish
philosophy."

"You cannot expect to find them or any one on this earth infallible,"
returned Yusuf, quietly. "I can only promise that you will find in them
quiet, sincere, upright Christians."

They had reached a sudden turn on the path, and before them, on the top
of a