removed beyond possibility of assailment.

Ruthlessness and trust in the sword were his only chances of success. If
he relaxed his vigilance or allowed any humane feelings to prevent the
execution of severe measures upon any of his enemies, his very existence
would be menaced. From now he may be said to pass under the tyranny of
war, and its remorseless urging was never slackened until he had his own
native city within his power. The god of battles exacted his pitiless
toll from his devotee, compelling him to work out his destiny by the
sword's rough means. The thinker has become irrevocably the man of
action; prayer has been supplemented by the command, "Fight, and yet
again fight, that God may conquer and retain." Reverses show the temper
of heroes, and Mahomet is never more fully revealed than in the first
gloomy days after Ohod, when he steadfastly set himself to retrieve what
was lost, refusing to acknowledge that his position was impaired,
impervious to the whispers that spoke of failure, supreme in his mighty
asset of an impregnable faith.




CHAPTER XIV


THE TYRANNY OF WAR

"And we have sent down Iron. Dire evil resideth in it, as well as
advantage to mankind."--_The Kuran._

After the battle of Ohod, two months passed quietly for Mahomet. He was