Instead of softening the fanatics, this moderation only tended to embolden them. When the Umpires’ judgment was announced, they were elated at a result which in their eyes amply justified their secession at Siffîn. They held frequent meetings in secret, and resolved on raising the Divine standard. They looked for heavenly interposition; but even if they perished, it would be in a righteous cause, sure to triumph in the end; they would, at any rate, be protesting against a wicked world, and become inheritors of a blessed futurity. In the month following the Arbitration, they began accordingly, in concert with the brethren who sympathised with them at Bussorah, to leave their homes by stealth. The party from Bussorah, five hundred strong, was pursued by the governor, Ibn Abbâs; but they effected their escape, and joined the bands which in greater force had issued forth from Kûfa. Secular power, and the dignity and pomp of this life, were abhorrent from these Covenanters’ creed; and it was only after many had declined the dangerous pre-eminence, and then simply as a temporary expedient to meet the present necessity, that a chief was prevailed on to accept the supreme command. The design was to occupy the city of Medâin, upon the Tigris, and there, under a Council of Representatives, establish theocratic rule as a model to the ungodly cities around. But the governor had timely warning, and repulsed the attempt. They passed on, and crossed the river farther up in various bodies, and, appointing Nehrwân as their rendezvous, assembled there to the number of 4,000. [Sidenote: Aly orders levy for Syrian campaign.]