A man living in the Sahara desert hears news from his English friend Borak that an old-fashioned caravan from the south of Africa is passing through their outpost on its way to Mecca. Its members don’t have passports, so they are currently being questioned by an official. Borak and the man go down to observe the process just in time to see a young man from Senegal begin his petition for his and his grandfather’s passage. His grandfather is so ancient that it fascinates the man, and he stops to listen. The Senegal man tells the story of two brothers, Djeba and Moa, who were the most powerful warriors in their tribe and inseparable. Once after defeating an enemy attack, their rivals ambushed them and took them captive. They were sold to a white boat captain and taken across the ocean to America, where they were then separated and sold to different masters. Djeba grew weak and malnourished in his position, and the only thing that saved him was the slave driver’s wife’s kindness to him. He swore to kill the driver and find his brother, who he heard had escaped and joined forces with the “Yankis”. Djeba escaped and traveled south to “Tlaanta”, but by then the city was already burning and his brother was gone. He knew Moa had traveled to find him, so he ran back to his plantation and found the woman hiding from the slave driver. She told Djeba to kill him, so he strangled the man to death, only to come upon the real slave driver’s body moments later. In horror, he realized he had killed his brother, but his grief was so great that he forgot. Djeba continued on to the Yankee camp, where he sang their war chants and searched for his brother until he eventually managed to find passage back to Africa. Once he returned to his tribe, he discovered Islam and could finally admit to himself that he had killed Moa. In penance, he became deaf and blind, and now journeys to Mecca in hopes of relieving himself of his final sin. As the Senegal man finishes his story, the ancient man before him starts singing a Union war chant from the American Civil War. In shock, the watching man gives them some money for their journey and walks away thinking of Sherman burning Atlanta.