from his eyes, and his colour was grey, for he had neither eaten nor drank nor laughed since they had met him. So they cried with one accord, "O thou best of living men! Would to God we had never known thee, and never been sent for thee! Woe be to us! How hardly have we been dealt with! What will excuse us before our Maker at the great Day of Resurrection, and who shall answer for us to Him!"
Then he who had offered to be his surety said to Saʾîd, "I ask thee by Allâh, O Saʾîd! whether thou wilt not provide for us by thy prayers and thy good words? For in truth we have never met the like of thee?"
So Saʾîd prayed for them; after which they left him alone. Then he bathed his head, and washed his shirt and his robe. And the people remained concealed the whole night. And when the light of dawn appeared, Saʾîd-ibn-Jubair came to them, and knocked at the door. And they cried one to another, "Our friend, by the Lord of the Kaʾabah!" And they went down to him, and wept with him a long while, and then took him before el-Hajjâj.
And el-Mutalámmis entered the presence of el-
