the
Moslem troops after one-fifth had been appropriated by the prophet; but
otherwise the truce was unbroken, until at the end of the year, the
Koreish, uniting with neighboring tribes, many of whom were Jews, formed
the plan of a grand attack which was to free El Hejaz forever from the
power of the Islam despot.

From the Caaba the call was given to all who could be appealed to
through religion, through the interests of commerce, or through desire
for blood-revenge in consequence of the battles of Bedr and Ohod. To the
more earnest Jews the undertaking took the form of a vast religious war,
undertaken against the hosts of Satan for the deliverance of a land in
bondage; to the Meccan merchants it assumed the guise of a commercial
transaction which would again restore the trade so long ruined by
Mohammed's hostile measures; to the Koreish and the desert tribes it
seemed the grand opportunity of clearing the honor stained by the
unrevenged death of their friends.

Accordingly a host of volunteers to the number of one hundred thousand
offered themselves, and the vast array set out. Among the volunteers
were Yusuf, Amzi, Asru, and the valiant Manasseh, all of whom deemed the
necessity of the hour a sufficient reason for entering upon a course
foreign to the laws of peace which they would fain have seen
established.

A mighty host it seemed in a land whose battles had chiefly been
confined to skirmishes between different tribes. As it wound its way
down the narrow valley, the women of Mecca stood upon the housetops,
listening to the trampling, and beseeching their household gods to bless
the enterprise.

Long ere they reached Medina the prophet had received word of their
advance, and had had a ditch or entrenchment dug about the city as a
sort of fortification.

Abu Sofian ordered his tents to be pitched below on the plain, and, this
done, he at once laid siege to the city.

But his bad generalship ruined the undertaking. For a month he kept his
men wholly inactive, and during that time Mohammed busied himself in
sending emissaries in the midst of Abu Sofian's men for the purpose of
sowing disaffection among them; and so completely was this done that the
besieging force became hollow and rotten to its core. Tribe after tribe
left. The few faithful besought their leader to permit them to attack
the city, and when at last the order was given, but a feeble remnant of
the original host remained. Notwithstanding this, th