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There no Christian maid reposes, but a Moslem stiff and cold,
And a rosary wrought in Mecca fast the rigid fingers hold.*
As he stood amazed, bewildered, words that came not
through the ear
To Abdallah's soul were whispered, "Take the ohaplet, do
not fear !"
Hastily the beads he snatches from the dead man's grasp,
and flies,
On the pinions love had furnished, to the land of cloudless
skies.
Soon he trod the streets of Tunis — but she know her lord
no more —
And to Zeitun's mosque he hastened, Allah's Oneness to
adore.
As he stooped, the dusty sandal at the sacred door to leave,
Suddenly a hand ungentle seized him rudely by the sleeve.
* The Mohammedan uses a rosary in enumerating the repetitions oc-
curring in his prayers. This rosary is composed of ninety-nine beads of
wood, coral, or seeds, and is separated into three equal divisions by other
beads of a peculiar form.
