Rising to his full stature, he glanced here and there over the throng,
as if commanding attention, and proclaimed:

"A mercy of the Most Merciful! It is the Emir El Hajj."

There was a general silence. Every man had seen the martial figure of
the young chief in his arms and armor, and on horseback; many of them
had spoken to him.

"The Emir El Hajj--dying," passed rapidly from mouth to mouth.

"O Allah!" burst forth in general refrain; after which the ejaculations
were all excerpted from prayers.

"'O Allah! This is the place of him who flies to thee from fire!--Shadow
him, O Allah, in thy shadow!--Give him drink from the cup of thy
Prophet!'"

A Bedouin, tall, almost black, and with a tremendous mouth open until
the red lining was exposed between the white teeth down to the larynx,
shouted shrilly the inscription on the marble over the breast of the
Prophet--"In the name of Allah! Allah have mercy upon him!"--and every
man repeated the words, but not one so much as reached a hand in help.

The Prince waited--still the _Amins_, and prayerful ejaculations. Then
his wonder ceased. Not a pilgrim but envied the Emir--that he should die
so young was a pity--that he should die at the base of the sanctuary, in
the crowning act of the Hajj, was a grace of God. Each felt Paradise
stooping low to receive a martyr, and that its beatitude was near. They
trembled with ecstasy at hearing the gates opening on their crystal