The loss of Egypt was the harder for Aly to bear, as undoubtedly it might have been averted but for his removal of Cays; and even now it might have been retrieved if the men of Kûfa had not been heartless in his cause. Over and again he implored them to hasten to the defence of Egypt. With difficulty two thousand men were got together; but after so long a delay that they had hardly marched before news of the defeat made it necessary to recall them. Aly thereupon ascended the pulpit, and upbraided the people for their spiritless and disloyal attitude. For fifty days, he had been urging them to go forth, to avenge their fallen brethren, and to help those who were still struggling for him in the field. Like a restive wayward camel, that refused its burden, they had held back. ‘And now,’ he said, in grief and bitterness of spirit, ‘the son of Abu Bekr is fallen a martyr, and Egypt hath departed from us.’ CHAPTER XLIV. THE REMAINDER OF ALY’S REIGN. A.H. XXXVIII.–XL. A.D. 658–660. [Sidenote: Remainder of Aly’s reign.] No gleam of fortune lighted up the remaining days of Aly’s reign. What with the rising of fanatics at home, and the threats of the rival Caliphate abroad, his life was one continual struggle. And, moreover, the daily exhibition of indifference and disloyalty in Kûfa, the city of his choice, was a burden and mortification hard to bear. [Sidenote: Insurrection at Bussorah suppressed. A.H. XXXVIII. A.D. 658.]