As the man ceased speaking a gust of wind bore the rain like sleet against the door of the house and the old man looked up with a hunted expression and his lips moved as if in prayer. The younger man looked at him in contempt and without another word threw himself upon a charpoy in the corner of the room and fell asleep, but the old man sank on his knees and remained in that position until dawn.
Ahmed's first thought with the coming of the new day was to tell his mother the good news and bring joy to her sad heart. Then he had determined that he would face his father and leave the rest in God's hands. His mother might lose her son, but she would gain far more in what this Jesus Doctrine would bring. So he greeted her with a happy heart.
He told her all: of his own experience, his growing dissatisfaction with Mohammedanism, of his growing belief in the religion of the new book which he had studied for so many months, of his occasional meetings with the Christian man at the bridge, and, finally, of what he had done at Bangalore. Words could not come fast enough as he went on to explain the new faith to her and told her what it would mean for her, if she should believe. But, although it sounded very beautiful to her, she could not accept any doctrine in such a short time and she was listening to his words as yet with only a glad wonder in her heart, when a messenger suddenly summoned him to his father.
Ahmed had almost forgotten his father in his eagerness to talk to his mother and bring her the good news; so he was remorseful when suddenly he realized that he had not even asked about his father's health since the night before, nor gone to him to report on the business matter which he had arranged in Bangalore. He went quickly after the messenger, for the moment again forgetful of the unwelcome news that he must bring to his father soon. He was surprised when he learned from the servant that Ben Emeal was still in the mosque and awaited him there. But his surprise became amazement when on entering the mosque he perceived a circle of the most influential Mohammedans of Hyderabad seated about his father on the floor. So accustomed was Ahmed to the habits of the faithful that without thought of its being a violation of his new faith, he slipped his feet from his shoes as he entered the mosque.
As Ahmed approached the group he noticed at one side of his father the old Arab whom he had seen in such terror upon the street and at the other side the man whom he had met at the gate of the Mission Press in Bangalore. In a flash, as his eyes met those of the man who had spied upon him and saw the light of success in them, Ahmed understood the reason for this assemblage and for his being summoned thus as it were before a tribunal of the faithful. Instinctively his eyes sought his father and the drawn, haggard look upon that face, usually so strong and firm, rent his heart. Their eyes met and in a second each had read the message that the other loved him, come what might. Then the eyes of both fell and the lad awaited the charge.
"Ben Isah," the voice of the man who had dogged Ahmed's footsteps demanded, "is it seemly that an infidel should stand within the sacred precincts of a house of prayer?"
"Ben Idrahi," replied the most dignified and grave gentleman of the company as if he were a judge in a court and repeating the formulas of that august body;—and, indeed, he was a judge in a court that controlled life and death; "Ben Idrahi, whom accuseth thou of being an infidel? Are not all of us before you true followers of the Prophet and upholders of the only true Faith? Whom accuseth thou with such a terrible accusation?"
"Ben Isah," the man rose and said slowly, "I have proof; I have proof, I say, that the youth, Ahmed, son of Ben Emeal, is no longer a follower of the Prophet; that in the city of Bangalore yesterday in the early morning he was baptized into the hell-filling creed, the name of which I will not defile my lips with. And now, Brothers of the Faith, he stands before you an avowed infidel."