Their leaders, Telha and Zobeir, Sec.

were slain in the first battle that stained with civil blood the arms of the Moslems.

|| After passing through the ranks to animate the troops, Ayesha had chosen her post amidst the dangers of the field.

In the heat of the action, seventy men, who held the bridle of her camel, were successively killed or wounded; and the cage or litter, in which she sat, was stuck with javelins and darts like the quills of a porcupine.

The venerable captive sustained with firmness the reproaches of the conqueror, and was speedily dismissed to her proper station at the tomb of Mahomet, with the respect and tenderness that was still due to the widow of the apostle.