Then he was stricken with leprosy, and was carried to the place from whence no leper returns.

At first my heart rejoiced; then, at last, I forgave him, Saadat--was he not my father's son, and was the woman not gone to the bosom of Allah, where is peace?
So I forgave and sorrowed for him--who shall say what miseries are those which, minute to minute, day after day, and year upon year, repeat themselves, till it is an endless flaying of the body and burning of the soul! Every year I send a message to him, and every year now this Christian monk--there is no Sheikh-el-Islam yonder--brings back the written message which he finds in the sand." "And thee has had a message to-night ?" "The last that may come--God be praised, he goeth to his long home.

It was written in his last hour.

There was no hope; he is gone.

And so, one more reason showeth why I should go where thou goest, Saadat." Casting his eyes toward the figure by the acacia-tree, his face clouded and he pondered anxiously, looking at David the while.