To put an end to these gloomy forebodings, the Prophet made his troops sally forth and posted them behind the ditch. They were covered in the rear by the Sala hill. At that juncture, some of the soldiers whose courage was on the wane asked the permission of the Prophet to return, saying: 'Of a truth, our houses are left defenceless.' "_But they were not left defenceless: verily their sole wish was to flee away * If the enemy had effected an entry at all points, and they had been asked to promote rebellion among the Believers, they would certainly have done so; but only a short time would they have remained in._" (THE QUR'AN, XXXIII, 13, 14.) Frankly, great anxiety reigned; but the faith of the sincere Mussulmans and the unchanging serenity of the Apostle got the best of it. On the other hand, the Confederates, despite all their advantage, were still smitten with terror at the thought of the mysterious forces that they always found facing them each time they fought against Allah's warriors; and dared not risk an attack before making sure that it would not turn out to be another miserable, humiliating failure. So they were contented with drawing near to the walls. For twenty days and twenty nights, hostilities were limited to encircling the city and a few flights of arrows, without any result. Ashamed, at last, of their inaction, several horsemen of the Quraizah and Kinanas, got ready for the fray. In close rank, they broke away from the enemy front. Their breasts pressed to the necks of their steeds, they dashed forward in a frenzied charge, swallowed up in the orange-tinted whirlwind of dust.... Then suddenly, the living hurricane stopped dead, and when the clouds of sand enfolding the idolatrous riders lifted, they were seen petrified with affright in front of the deep ditch in which they had nearly been engulphed; whilst the horses, with twitching nostrils, their mouths twisted and bleeding by reason of the sudden jerk of the bit, stopping them in their forward bound, remained with stiffened, trembling legs on the edge of the trench....