Instantly the prayer went up as from one throat, and the shout followed:
“God is greatest. There is no God but God; and Muhammed is the Apostle of God.”
“You are not in total darkness,” said Shems-ud-dìn, with a smile; and he began to tell them of the dealings of God with men from the days of Adam and Nûh and Ibrahìm unto the time of Muhammed, and thence downward even to the present day.
In this occupation, Milhem, coming forth from council with the chief of the colonists, found him at length.
“Hail, O tamer of wild beasts!” he laughed. “It is as if they would swallow thee whole, their mouths are so wide open. It is too hot for thee to sit out longer. Come now into my tent—or return to the house of our friend, the Guardian of the Frontier. By Allah, I must thank thee for his friendship. It is a great debt I owe thee, for he could have done me endless mischief.”
“By my gun, he is a devil, that brother of thine!” said Hassan, as they sauntered back through the town. “With one blink of his eyes he constructed a plan whereby we may obtain a stud of the best horses at the lowest price ever known. But that is a secret.”
Shems-ud-dìn lacked curiosity. He was thinking how to improve the minds of those Muslims, so hungry for instruction.
In the days which followed, he delivered many discourses in the little tumble-down mosque, and up on the open hillside. He came to love the place and its inhabitants, and could not sympathize with Milhem, whose lips dropped curses on the entire country.
Summer broke at length, with thunder, lightning, and a tremendous downpour. Rain fell in sheets for the space of five days. When at last the sky cleared, there was a new cold taste in the air; a torrent thundered in the gorge beneath the town; green plants began to shoot among the rocks. In a little while the hill of ruins became starred all over with blossoms of the crocus and the cyclamen.
Then Hassan was absent all day long, scouring the hills with his men, armed to the teeth. Each evening he spent in cleaning and polishing his beloved weapons.