quraish, on the other hand, were quite baffled and exasperated when the news of the escape of the two companions was confirmed. they brought ‘ali to al-ka‘bah, beat him brutally and confined him there for an hour attempting desperately to make him divulge the secret of the disappearance of the two ‘fugitives’, but to no avail. they then went to see asma’, abu bakr’s daughter, but here also their attempts went in vain. while at her door abu jahl slapped the girl so severely that her earring broke up.[rahmat-al-lil'alameen 1/96; ibn hisham 1/487]

the notables of makkah convened an emergency session to determine the future course of action and explore all areas that could help arrest the two men. they decided to block all avenues leading out of makkah and imposed heavy armed surveillance over all potential exits. a price of 100 camels was set upon the head of each one.[bukhari 1/554] horsemen, infantry and tracers of tracks scoured the country. once they even reached the mouth of the cave where the prophet [pbuh] and abu bakr were hiding. when he saw the enemy at a very close distance, abu bakr whispered to the prophet [pbuh]: "what, if they were to look through the crevice and detect us?" the prophet [pbuh] in his god-inspired calm replied:

"silence abu bakr! what do you think of those two with whom the third is allâh."[bukhari 1/516; mukhtasar seerat ar-rasool p.168]

it was really a divine miracle, the chasers were only a few steps from the cave.

for three days muhammad [pbuh] and abu bakr lived in the cave and quraish continued their frantic efforts to get hold of them