So soon as the conspirators had shown their true colours, Othmân despatched an urgent summons to Syria and Bussorah for help. Muâvia, who had long foreseen the dire necessity, was ready with a strong force which, as well as a similar column sent by Ibn Aámir from Bussorah, hurried to their master’s rescue. But the march was long, and the difficulty was for Othmân to hold out until these columns reached. The insurgents had entire possession of the Mosque and of the approaches to the palace; and, in the height of insolence, their leader now took the Caliph’s place at public prayers.[483] There were no troops at Medîna, and Othmân was dependent on the little force that barely sufficed to guard the palace entrance. It was composed of train-band slaves, some eighteen near kinsmen, and other citizens including (as we have said) the sons of Aly, Zobeir, and Talha. Apprehending, from the ferocity with which the attack began now to be pressed, that the end might not be far, Othmân sent to tell Aly, Zobeir, and Talha that he wished to see them once more. They came and waited without the palace, but within reach of hearing. The Caliph, from the flat roof of his house, bade them to sit down; and so for the moment they all sat down, both foes and friends, together. ‘My fellow citizens!’ cried Othmân with a loud voice, ‘I have prayed to the Lord for you, that when I am taken, he may set the Caliphate aright.’ After this, he made mention of his previous life, and how the Lord had made choice of him to be the Successor of his Prophet, and Commander of the Faithful. ‘And now,’ said he, ‘ye have risen up to slay the Lord’s elect. Have a care, ye men! (and here he addressed the besiegers); the taking of life is lawful but for three things, Apostasy, Murder, and Adultery. Taking my life without such cause, ye but suspend the sword over your own necks. Sedition and bloodshed shall not depart for ever from your midst.’ They gave him audience thus far, and then cried out that there was yet a fourth just cause of death, namely the quenching of truth by iniquity, and of right by violence; and that for his ungodliness and tyranny he must abdicate or be slain. For a moment Othmân was silent. Then calmly rising, he bade the citizens go back to their homes; and himself, with but faint hopes of relief, turned to re-enter his dreary abode.[484] [Sidenote: The blockade pressed. Sufferings from thirst.]