The submission of all Avaria, together with several adjacent districts, followed these acts of barbarous severity on the part of Hamsad Bey; but the avenger of blood followed close behind him. Two brothers, Osman and Hadji-Murad, being foster-brothers of Omar Khan, resolved to satisfy the law which requires in Circassia, as formerly in Judea, that whosoever sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed. They were at the time murids of Hamsad Bey, but being urged on by their father, a man venerable in years, and opposed to the reformed party in religion, they were induced to set their allegiance to the law of vengeance before their loyalty to their chief, and accordingly conspired to take him off. Forty of their relations and friends joined the conspiracy, all taking an oath on the Koran to be faithful to each other, and never to rest until they had slain Hamsad Bey. But one among them proved to be a traitor. Going straightway to the murschid he revealed the plot of the two brothers. But the Bey, confiding in the loyalty of disciples who had given him so many proofs of fidelity, would not listen to the tale, and peacefully resumed the sleep from which he had been awakened to hear it. On the morrow he fell dead in the mosque of Chunsach, pierced by the pistol balls of the two murids. One of them, Osman, instantly received the reward of his treachery in the loss of his life at the hands of the attendants of the prophet; but the other, Hadji-Murad, escaping in the confusion of the moment, brought the crowd outside to his assistance by raising the cry of, "Down with the murids." With sabre and pistol they rushed into the house of Allah, and in a moment all its stones were red with the blood of his children. Only thirty out of the one hundred murids of Hamsad Bey escaped from the mosque with their lives. These flying before the excited multitude sought refuge in the neighboring tower; but this being built of wood was set on fire by the order of Hadji-Murad. Then of the thirty, some precipitated themselves headlong from the top of the tower; others fell fighting; Mahomet-Hadshi-Jaf, the same who had betrayed the conspirators, being sorely wounded was taken captive; only one escaped, as if by miracle--it was Schamyl. XXVIII. CIRCASSIAN MODE OF WARFARE.