"Is this true?" he asked the messenger; "has Mahomet verily slain these
men? By the Lord, if he has done this, then is the innermost part of the
earth better than the surface thereof!"

He journeyed in haste to Mecca, and when he heard the dreadful news
confirmed he did his utmost to stir up the Kureisch against the murderer.
As soon as he returned he published verses lamenting the disgraceful
victory purchased at such a price; moreover, he also addressed insulting
love poems to the Muslim women, always with the intent of causing as much
disaffection as possible. At last Mahomet waxed impatient and cried:

"Who will give me peace from this Ka'b al' Ashraf?"

Mahomet Mosleima replied, "I, even I will slay him."

The method of his accomplishment of this deed is instructive of the
estimation in which individual life was then held. Mosleima secured the
assistance of Ka'b's treacherous brother--how, we are not told, but most
probably by bribes. Together the two went to the poet's house by
moonlight, and begged his company on a discussion of much importance. His
young wife would have prevented Ka'b, sensing treachery from the manner
and time of the request, but he disregarded her prayers. In the gleam of
moonbeams the three walked past the outskirts of the city in deepest
converse, the subject of which was rebellion against the Prophet.

They came at length to the ravine Adjuz, a lonely place overhung with
ghastly silence and pallid under the white light. Here they stopped, and
soon his brother began to stroke the hair of Ka'b until he had lulled him
into drowsiness. Then suddenly seizing the forelock he shouted: