[Footnote FA: The fame of this feat spread far and wide. Later, when the Grand Vizier reprimanded Prince Mihdí-Qulí Mírzá, commander of an army sent against the defenders of [_Sh_]ay[_kh_] Ṭabarsí, because he had fled before them, the Prince sent him pieces of the musket-barrel smashed by the sword of Mullá Ḥusayn, with this message: 'Such is the contemptible strength of an adversary who, with a single stroke of his sword, has shattered into six pieces the tree, the musket, and its holder.'[8]] [Footnote FB: Mírzá Muḥammad-Taqíy-i-Juvayní.] The Grand Vizier was particularly irked and infuriated that the Bábís could defeat and put to flight his force, although, for the most part, they were untrained in the arts of war. True, one could find in their ranks men such as Riḍá [_Kh_]án-i-Turkamán,[FC] an accomplished young courtier, whose father was the Master of the Horse in the royal establishment. But these were exceptions. The vast majority were artisans, small traders, merchants, students of theology, divines. [Footnote FC: A martyr of [_Sh_]ay[_kh_] Ṭabarsí.] [_Kh_]usraw's treachery and death, and raids by hostile villagers on the exposed flanks of the Bábí camp, forced Mullá Ḥusayn to seek a place where the Bábís could be safely lodged. Arriving on October 12th 1848 at the shrine of [_Sh_]ay[_kh_] Aḥmad ibn-i-Abí-Ṭálib-i-Ṭabarsí, about fourteen miles south-east of Bárfurú[_sh_], he gave orders for the construction of a fortress round the shrine, under the supervision of the builder of the Bábíyyih in Ma[_sh_]had (see p. 56). They were harassed at every stage by neighbouring villagers and had often to defend themselves. No sooner was their work finished than they received a visit from Bahá'u'lláh, who advised Mullá Ḥusayn to seek the release of Quddús, that he might be with them. This mission was soon accomplished and, towards the end of that year, Quddús joined them in the newly-built fortress, to be acknowledged by Mullá Ḥusayn as above him in rank. On January 30th 1849, Lt.-Col. Farrant, then chargé d'affaires in Ṭihrán, reported to Lord Palmerston that some five hundred persons, 'disciples of a Fanatic, who calls himself the door, or gate of the true Mahomedan Religion', had assembled in Mázindarán, that fighting had broken out, and that `Abbás-Qulí [_Kh_]án-i-Láríjání had been ordered to proceed to that province and arrest the leaders.[9]