The unhappy Caliph was now being hurried on, by the rapid course of events, helplessly to his sad end. Abd al Rahmân, who, no doubt, felt a large measure of responsibility from the share he took in the nomination of Othmân, was about this time removed by death. But even he was dissatisfied; and one of the first open denunciations of Othmân’s unscrupulous disregard of law--small it might be, but significant--is attributed to him. A fine camel, having come in with the tithes of a Bedouin tribe, was presented by the Caliph, as a rarity, to one of his kinsfolk. Abd al Rahmân, scandalised at the misappropriation of religious property devoted to the poor, laid hands upon the animal, slaughtered it, and divided the flesh among the people. The personal reverence attaching heretofore to the ‘Successor of the Prophet of the Lord,’ gave place to slight and disregard. Even in the streets, Othmân was greeted with cries, demanding that he should depose Ibn Aámir and the godless Abu Sarh, and put away from him Merwân, his chief adviser and confidant. Nor had he any countenance or support whatever from the people excepting his immediate kinsmen, and reliance upon them only aggravated the clamour of the discontented.[472] [Sidenote: Othmân sends forth messengers to inquire into the feeling in the provinces.] The conspirators canvassed in the dark. They had been hitherto burrowing carefully under ground. But now their machinations every here and there were coming to the light, and rumours of treason began to float abroad. The better affected classes in the great cities felt uneasy; alarm crept over all hearts. Letters were continually received at Medîna, asking what these ominous sounds of warning meant, and what catastrophe was at hand. The chief men of Medîna kept coming to the Caliph’s court for tidings; but, notwithstanding the sullen mutterings of nearing tempest, the surface yet was still. At last, by their advice, Othmân despatched four trusty persons one to each of the great centres, Damascus, Kûfa, Bussorah, and Fostât, with a commission to watch and report whether any suspicious symptoms were transpiring anywhere.[473] Three returned saying that they discovered nothing unusual in the aspect of affairs. The fourth, Ammâr, was looked for in vain; he had, in fact, been tampered with and gained over by the Egyptian faction. Thereupon Othmân despatched a royal edict to all the provinces as follows:--At the coming pilgrimage the various governors would, according to custom, present themselves at court; whoever, then, had cause of complaint against them, or any other ground of dissatisfaction, should come forward on that occasion and substantiate the same, when wrong would be redressed; or else it behoved them to withdraw the baseless calumnies which were troubling men’s minds. Proclamation was made accordingly. The plaintive appeal was understood; and the people in many places when they heard it wept, and invoked mercy on their Caliph.