"We are nearly all Jews, here," said Manasseh, proudly. "Have you happy forebodings for the issue of the next combat?" Asru shook his head, gloomily. "There will be a brave resistance on the part of our garrisons," he said, "although many of the men are well-nigh as ignorant and superstitious as the heathen Arabs; but Mohammed's forces have swelled wondrously since the 'enchanted' storm. Well, we can but do our best. Now, I see that the council has assembled. They call us. Come." The two left the arbor and joined the others in the middle of the garden. And there, while the stars shone peacefully above in the evening sky, and the palm-trees waved, and a little bird twittered contentedly over its nest in an olive bush, these men talked of measures of fortification, of tactics of war, and schemes of blood-shed; a conversation forced upon them, not as a matter of choice but of necessity--the necessity of a desperate few, earthed by a relentless conqueror and a ruthless despot, whose intolerance to all who denied his claims has never been surpassed in earth's history. CHAPTER XXIII. MOHAMMED'S PILGRIMAGE. "Five great enemies to peace inhabit with us, viz.: Avarice, Ambition, Envy, Anger, and Pride."--_Petrarch._ In the meantime Yusuf and Amzi had taken up the old routine of life in Mecca--the faithful doing of the daily round, the little deeds of charity, the duties of business, the attendance at meetings in the little church. Everything seemed to sink back into the old way, yet there was not a man in the city but held himself in readiness to take up arms were an attack made upon them to wrest from them their freedom. And word came that Mohammed was coming,--coming, not in war, but in peace, on his first pilgrimage to the Caaba. Mecca was instantly thrown into the wildest confusion. Some deemed the prophet's message honorable, but the majority were dubious, and thought that if Mohammed once gained an entrance, notwithstanding the fact that it was the sacred month Doul Kaada, his coming would be but to deluge the streets with blood. A hasty consultation was held, and a troop of horse under one Khaled Ibn Waled, was sent out to check the prophet's advance. Mohammed, however, by means of his spies, early got word of this sally, and, turning aside from the way, he proceeded by ravines and by-paths through the mountains; and, ere the Meccans were aware of his proximity, his whole force was encamped near the city. A deputation came from his army to the dignitaries of Mecca bearing messages of peace; but their reception was haughty. "Go to him who sent you," was the reply to their overtures, "and say that Meccan doors are shut to one against whom every family in Mecca owes the revenge of blood." For days the deputation was sent, with the same result, until at last ambassadors of the prophet entered with the offer of a truce for ten years.