is hand. Calm and dignified he will
descend the stairs, cross the church, and mount up to the high altar to
continue the mass from the point where he was interrupted by the Turks.

Let us return to the savage soldiery. All the doors stand open, and the
midday sun shines in through the arched windows. The pillage and tumult
have reached their height when a fiery horse carries a rider up to the
main entrance. He is attended by Mohammedan princes, generals, and
pashas.[1] His name is Mohammed II., the Conqueror, the Sultan of the
Turks. He is young and proud and has a will of iron, but he is solemn
and melancholy. He dismounts and passes on foot over this floor, over
the marble slabs trodden a thousand years ago by the Emperor Justinian.

The first thing he sees is a janissary maliciously aiming his axe at the
marble pavement. The Sultan goes up to him and asks, "Why?" "In the
cause of the faith," answers the soldier. Then the Sultan draws his
sabre, and, cutting the man down, exclaims, "Dogs, have you not loot
enough? The buildings of the city are my property." And, kicking the
dying man aside, he ascends a Christian pulpit, and in a thundering
voice dedicates the Church of the Holy Wisdom to Islam.

Four and a half centuries have passed down the stream of time since the
day when the cross was removed and the crescent raised its horn above
the Church of the Holy Wisdom. The Turks have erected four minarets
round the dome, and every evening from the platforms of these minarets
sounds the voice of the muezzin, summoning the faithful to prayer. He
wears a white turban and a long mantle down to his feet. To all four
quarters of the city the call rings out with long, silvery _a_-sounds
and full, liquid _l_'s: "God is great (four times repeated). I bear
witness that there is no god but God (twice repeated). I bear witness
that Mohammed is the Apostle of God (twice repeated). Come to prayers!
Come to prayers! Come to salvation! Come to salvation! God is great.
There is no god but God."

Now the sun sinks below the horizon, and a cannon shot thunders forth.
We are in the month of fasting, during which the Mohammedans do not eat,
drink, or smoke each day so long as the sun is up. Thus the Prophet
commands in the Koran, their holy book. The firing of the gun proclaims
the end of the fast for to-day, and when the faithful have refreshed
themselves with the smoking rissoles and rice puddings, or fruit,
coffee, and water-pipes whic