Abu-Bekr, though a brave man, quaked with fear.
"Our pursuers," said he, "are many, and we are but two."
"Nay," replied Mahomet, "there is a third; God is with us!"
And here the Moslem writers relate a miracle, dear to the minds of all
true believers. By the time, say they, that the Koreishites reached the
mouth of the cavern, an acacia-tree had sprung up before it, in the
spreading branches of which a pigeon had made its nest and laid its
eggs, and over the whole a spider had woven its web. When the
Koreishites beheld these signs of undisturbed quiet, they concluded that
no one could recently have entered the cavern; so they turned away, and
pursued their search in another direction.
Whether protected by miracle or not, the fugitives remained for three
days undiscovered in the cave, and Asama, the daughter of Abu-Bekr,
brought them food in the dusk of the evenings.
On the fourth day, when they presumed the ardor of pursuit had abated,
the fugitives ventured forth, and set out for Medina, on camels which a
servant of Abu-Bekr had brought in the night for them.
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