. "If ye call aloud,
I will drive ye from this place of peace, this garden of her who was
called Light from the Light. It hath been so until yesterday, when God
stooped and drew the veil from her face, and she dropped the garment
of life and fled from the world.... Go, go hence," he added, his voice
thick with sorrow. "But ere ye go, answer me, as ye have souls that
desire God and the joys of Paradise, will ye follow where I go, when I
come to call ye forth? Will ye obey, if I command?"

"By the will of God, thou hast purchased our hearts we will do thy will
for ever," was the answer of the throng.

"Go then, bring down the infidels that have stood in the minaret above,
where the Muezzin calls to prayer;" sharply called Abdalla, and waved an
arm towards the tower where Dicky and Renshaw were.

An oath broke from the lips of the Southerner; but Dicky smiled. "He's
done it in style," he said. "Come along." He bounded down the steps to
the doorway before the crowd had blocked the way. "They might toss us
out of that minaret," he added, as they both pushed their way into the
open.

"You take too many risks, effendi," he called up to Abdalla in French,
as excited Arabs laid hands upon them, and were shaken off. "Call away
these fools!" he added coolly to the motionless figure watching from the
pulpit stairs.

Cries of "Kill-kill the infidels!" resounded on all sides; but Dicky
called up again to Abdalla. "Stop this nonsense, effendi." Then, without
awaiting an answer, he shouted to the crowd: "I am Donovan Pasha. Touch
me, and you touch Ismail. I haven't come to spy, but to sorrow with you
for Noor-ala-Noor, whose soul is with God, praise be to God, and may God
give her spirit to you! I have come to weep for him in whom greatness
speaks; I have come for love of Abdalla the Egyptian.... Is it a sin
to stand apart in silence and to weep unseen? Was it a sin against
the Moslem faith that in this minaret I prayed God to comfort Abdalla,
grandson of Ebn Mahmoud, Egyptian of the Egyptians? Was it not I who
held Ismail's hand, when he--being in an anger--would have scoured the
bazaars with his horsemen for Abdalla and Noor-ala-Noor? This is known
to Abdalla, whom God preserve and exalt. Is not Abdalla friend to
Donovan Pasha?"

Dicky was known to hundreds present. There was not a merchant from
the bazaars but had had reason to appreciate his presence, either by
friendly gossip over a cup of coffee, or by biting remarks in Ar