One evening it was reported to the Governor that a large number of Bábís had gathered in the house of Ḥájí Mírzá Siyyid `Alí. Ḥusayn [_Kh_]án ordered `Abdu'l-Ḥamíd [_Kh_]án, the Dárú[_gh_]ih (chief constable) of [_Sh_]íráz, to rush the house of the uncle of the Báb, surprise its occupants and arrest everyone he found there. According to Nicolas, Ḥájí Mírzá Áqásí had instructed the Governor to put the Báb to death in secret. It was apparently Ḥusayn [_Kh_]án's intention to carry out the orders of the Grand Vizier that night. However, that very night a severe cholera epidemic swept the city,[CN] and Ḥusayn [_Kh_]án fled precipitately. The chief constable and his men entered Ḥájí Mírzá Siyyid `Alí's house by way of the roof-top, but found no one with the Báb, except His uncle and one disciple, Siyyid Káẓim-i-Zanjání. With the Governor gone, the chief constable decided to take the Báb to his own house. Reaching his home, `Abdu'l-Ḥamíd [_Kh_]án found, to his horror and distress, that within the few hours of his absence his sons had been struck by cholera. He pleaded with the Báb for their recovery. It was now the hour of dawn and the Báb was preparing to say His morning prayer. He gave `Abdu'l-Hamíd [_Kh_]án some of the water with which He was making His ablutions and told him to take it to his sons to drink; they would recover, the Báb assured the chief constable. They recovered indeed, and `Abdu'l-Hamíd [_Kh_]án was so overwhelmed with joy and gratitude that he sought out the Governor and begged Ḥusayn [_Kh_]án to permit him to release the Báb. `Abdu'l-Bahá states in _A Traveller's Narrative_ that Ḥusayn [_Kh_]án consented on condition that the Báb agreed to depart from [_Sh_]íráz.[20] [Footnote CN: On October 15th 1846, Major Hennell reported from Bú[_sh_]ihr to Sheil in Ṭihrán that cholera reached [_Sh_]íráz about September 22nd, and that 'immediately the fact was ascertained' Ḥusayn [_Kh_]án left [_Sh_]íráz and went well away. At the time of his writing, Hennell states, the Governor had come back, to Bá[_gh_]-i-Ta[_kh_]t, a garden and palace on the northern heights overlooking [_Sh_]íráz. On November 16th, Hennell reported that 'the cholera has ceased its ravages at Shiraz', that it had spread as far away as Fasá and Jahrum, that there had been no fatal cases in Bú[_sh_]ihr, and that Baṣrah and Ba[_gh_]dád in Turkish domains had suffered most, deaths numbering up to 200 a day in Baṣrah. (F.O. 268/113.)] NOTE