a Muslim force under Zeid, sent by the prescience and predatory
instincts of Mahomet. The guard was not strong, possibly because the
Meccans thought there was little fear of attack by this route, and so
Zeid was easily able to overcome his foe and secure the spoil, which
amounted to many bales of goods, camels, trappings, and armour. The
conquerer returned elated to Medina, where he cast the spoil at the feet
of the Prophet. The usual division was made, and the whole city rejoiced
over the wealth it had secured and the increasing discomfiture of its
enemies.

Meanwhile matters were becoming urgent between the Muslim and the Jews.
Neither the murder of their singers, nor the expulsion of the Kainukaa
could silence the voice of Jewish discontent, which found its most
effective mouthpiece in the poet Ka'b al' Ashraf, son of a Jewess of the
tribe of the Beni Nadhir. This man had been righteously indignant at the
slaughter of the Kureischite champions at Bedr. The story seemed to him
so monstrous that he could not believe it.

"Is this true?" he asked the messenger; "has Mahomet verily slain these
men? By the Lord, if he has done this, then is the innermost part of the
earth better than the surface thereof!"

He journeyed in haste to Mecca, and when he heard the dreadful news
confirmed he did his utmost to stir up the Kureisch against the murderer.
As soon as he returned he published verses lamenting the disgraceful
victory purchased at such a price; moreover, he also addressed insulting
love poems to the Muslim women, always with the intent of causing as much
disaffection as possible. At last Mahomet waxed impatient and cried:

"Who will give me peace from this Ka'b al' Ashraf?"

Mahomet Mosleima replied, "I, even I will slay him."

The method of his accomplishment of this deed is instructive of the
estimation in which individual life was then held. Mosleima secured the
assistance of Ka'b's treacherous brother--how, we are not told, but most
probably by bribes. Together the two went to the poet's house by
moonlight, and begged his company on a discussion of much importance. His
young wife would have prevented Ka'b, sensing treachery from the manner
and time of the request, but he disregarded her prayers. In the gleam of
moonbeams the three walked past the outskirts of the city in deepest
converse, the subject of which was rebellion against the Prophet.

They came at length to the ravine Adjuz, a lonely place overhung