around him, to remark, “Truly this kingdom of thy nephew’s is a mighty kingdom.” “Nay, Abu Sufyan!” chided Al-Abbas, “he is more than a king--he is a mighty Prophet!” “Yes, thou sayest truly; now let me go,” replied Abu as he edged away. Arriving home, he promptly repeated the Prophet’s message; and never before, in all her long and distinguished history, had Mecca witnessed such a scurrying of feet and banging--or draping--of doors as followed. When the Moslem and allied hosts came victoriously parading through the deserted streets, only one conflict occurred. The impetuous Khalid, whose force was greeted by a flight of arrows from a small band of bitter-enders, was so delighted at his unexpected good fortune that he followed up the assault until twenty-eight of the foolhardy fugitives had been slain. The Prophet, standing on an eminence, was surveying with sparkling eyes the fair scene stretched out before him when he chanced to see this sporadic fray. “What! did I not strictly command that there should be no fighting?” he shouted in his anger; but when Khalid’s just grievance was made clear, he calmed down and commented, “That which the Lord decreeth is the best.” Then, descending into the city on Al-Kaswa’s back, he once more touched the Black Stone politely with his staff and urged the patient camel seven times around the Kaba. Pointing at the idols which surrounded its walls, he ordered that they should at once be overthrown--indeed, tradition affirms that, as he aimed his staff at each image, it immediately tumbled down on its face--and shouted out one passage that he happened to remember from the Koran: “Truth hath come, and falsehood gone; for falsehood verily vanisheth away.” He next entered the holy edifice, devoutly prostrated himself, and then stood watching with delighted eyes the labors of Omar, who, by means of a cloth wetted in Zemzem, rubbed out the pictures of such idols as had been painted on the walls. Then Mohammed gave back the key of the temple to its hereditary guardian, and, turning to Al-Abbas, thus addressed him: “And thou Al-Abbas, I confirm thee in the giving drink from out of the well Zemzem to the pilgrims; it is no mean office this that I give now unto thee”; and nevermore did the already opulent double-dealer entertain the least doubt as to the justice of his nephew’s cause. Bilal, commanded by the Prophet, immediately ascended the Kaba and sounded the call to prayer; the subservient multitude knelt and worshiped, though a few among them could not refrain from expressing, in very subdued tones, their disgust at being obliged to obey a negro slave. The Prophet next issued this proclamation: “Whoever believeth in God, and in the day of Judgment, let him not leave in his house any image whatever that he doth not break in pieces.” Now, since the Arabians in general cherished the belief that a capable god should be able to defend himself, the easy demolition of the deities in