A frenzied search immediately ensued. He was found, unhurt and
unruffled, in the very room He had occupied the night before, engaged in
completing His interrupted conversation with His amanuensis. "I have
finished My conversation with Siyyid Husayn" were the words with which the
Prisoner, so providentially preserved, greeted the appearance of the
farra_sh_-ba_sh_i, "Now you may proceed to fulfill your intention."
Recalling the bold assertion his Prisoner had previously made, and shaken
by so stunning a revelation, the farra_sh_-ba_sh_i quitted instantly the
scene, and resigned his post.

Sam _Kh_an, likewise, remembering, with feelings of awe and wonder, the
reassuring words addressed to him by the Bab, ordered his men to leave the
barracks immediately, and swore, as he left the courtyard, never again,
even at the cost of his life, to repeat that act. Aqa Jan-i-_Kh_amsih,
colonel of the body-guard, volunteered to replace him. On the same wall
and in the same manner the Bab and His companion were again suspended,
while the new regiment formed in line and opened fire upon them. This
time, however, their breasts were riddled with bullets, and their bodies
completely dissected, with the exception of their faces which were but
little marred. "O wayward generation!" were the last words of the Bab to
the gazing multitude, as the regiment prepared to fire its volley, "Had
you believed in Me every one of you would have followed the example of
this youth, who stood in rank above most of you, and would have willingly
sacrificed himself in My path. The day will come when you will have
recognized Me; that day I shall have ceased to be with you."

Nor was this all. The very moment the shots were fired a gale of
exceptional violence arose and swept over the city. From noon till night a
whirlwind of dust obscured the light of the sun, and blinded the eyes of
the people. In _Sh_iraz an "earthquake," foreshadowed in no less weighty a
Book than the Revelation of St. John, occurred in 1268 A.H. which threw
the whole city into turmoil and wrought havoc amongst its people, a havoc
that was greatly aggravated by the outbreak of cholera, by famine and
other afflictions. In that same year no less than two hundred and fifty of
the firing squad, that had replaced Sam _Kh_an's regiment, met their
death, together with their officers, in a terrible earthquake, while the
remaining five hundred suffered, three years later, as a punishment for
their mu