Bussorah itself was not wholly hostile. A considerable portion of the Beni Bekr and Abd al Cays went forth and joined the camp of Aly. The Beni Temîm, another tribe inhabiting the city, perplexed by conflicting obligations, stood aloof, and encamped, under their leader Ahnaf, within a few miles of the city, watched what the result might be. Still the numbers bound to the insurgent cause nearly equalled the Caliph’s army; and on its approach they marched forth with Talha and Zobeir at their head, and Ayesha in a well-fenced litter on her camel. But Aly’s thoughts were for peace, if it were possible. He was a man of compromise; and here he was ready, in the interests of Islam, magnanimously to forget the insult offered to his throne. Apart, indeed, from personal jealousies, there was no disagreement sufficient to bar the hope of reconciliation. The cry of Talha and Zobeir was for vengeance against the murderers of Othmân. As yet, Aly did not deny that justice should be dealt out against them. But he was obliged to temporise. He had in his army great numbers of these very men, and he felt that to inflict punishment on them, as his adversaries required, would be, for the present at least, impossible. Holding these views, he halted while still some little way from Bussorah, and sent forward Cacâa to expostulate with Talha and Zobeir. ‘Ye have slain six hundred men of Bussorah,’ said Cacâa to them, ‘for the blood of Othmân; and lo! to avenge _their_ blood, six thousand more have started up. Where in this internecine work are ye to stop? It is peace and repose that Islam needeth. Give that, and again the majesty of law shall be set up, and the guilty brought to justice.’ As he spoke, the truth flashed on the minds of Zobeir and Talha, and even of Ayesha; and they returned word that if these really were the sentiments of Aly, they were ready to submit. After several days were spent in such negotiations, Aly, rejoicing at the prospect of a bloodless compromise, advanced. [Sidenote: Tactics of the regicide.]