Isma'il Aqa, pluck and
present to those same friends and enemies on the occasion of their visits
to Him.

In the early part of the winter of 1907 another Commission of four
officers, headed by Arif Bey, and invested with plenary powers, was
suddenly dispatched to Akka by order of the Sultan. A few days before its
arrival 'Abdu'l-Baha had a dream, which He recounted to the believers, in
which He saw a ship cast anchor off Akka, from which flew a few birds,
resembling sticks of dynamite, and which, circling about His head, as He
stood in the midst of a multitude of the frightened inhabitants of the
city, returned without exploding to the ship.

No sooner had the members of the Commission landed than they placed under
their direct and exclusive control both the Telegraph and Postal services
in Akka; arbitrarily dismissed officials suspected of being friendly to
'Abdu'l-Baha, including the governor of the city; established direct and
secret contact with the government in Constantinople; took up their
residence in the home of the neighbors and intimate associates of the
Covenant-breakers; set guards over the house of 'Abdu'l-Baha to prevent
any one from seeing Him; and started the strange procedure of calling up
as witnesses the very people, among whom were Christians and Moslems,
orientals and westerners, who had previously signed the documents
forwarded to Constantinople, and which they had brought with them for the
purpose of their investigations.

The activities of the Covenant-breakers, and particularly of Mirza
Muhammad-'Ali, now jubilant and full of hope, rose in this hour of extreme
crisis, to the highest pitch. Visits, interviews and entertainments
multiplied, in an atmosphere of fervid expectation, now that the victory
was seen to be at hand. Not a few among the lower elements of the
population were led to believe that their acquisition of the property
which would be left behind by the deported exiles was imminent. Insults
and calumnies markedly increased. Even some of the poor, so long and so
bountifully succored by 'Abdu'l-Baha, forsook Him for fear of reprisals.

'Abdu'l-Baha, while the members of the Commission were carrying on their
so-called investigations, and throughout their stay of about one month in
Akka, consistently refused to meet or have any dealings with any of them,
in spite of the veiled threats and warnings conveyed by them to Him
through a messenger, an attitude which greatly surprised them a