.
The second battle was fought on Mount Ohud, six miles to the north of
Medina; [132] the Koreish advanced in the form of a crescent; and the
right wing of cavalry was led by Caled, the fiercest and most successful
of the Arabian warriors. The troops of Mahomet were skilfully posted on
the declivity of the hill; and their rear was guarded by a detachment of
fifty archers. The weight of their charge impelled and broke the centre
of the idolaters: but in the pursuit they lost the advantage of their
ground: the archers deserted their station: the Mussulmans were tempted
by the spoil, disobeyed their general, and disordered their ranks. The
intrepid Caled, wheeling his cavalry on their flank and rear, exclaimed,
with a loud voice, that Mahomet was slain. He was indeed wounded in the
face with a javelin: two of his teeth were shattered with a stone; yet,
in the midst of tumult and dismay, he reproached the infidels with the
murder of a prophet; and blessed the friendly hand that stanched his
blood, and conveyed him to a place of safety Seventy martyrs died for
the sins of the people; they fell, said the apostle, in pairs, each
brother embracing his lifeless companion; [133] their bodies were
mangled by the inhuman females of Mecca; and the wife of Abu Sophian
tasted the entrails of Hamza, the uncle of Mahomet. They might applaud
their superstition, and satiate their fury; but the Mussulmans soon
rallied in the field, and the Koreish wanted strength or courage to
undertake the siege of Medina. It was attacked the ensuing year by an
army of ten thousand enemies; and this third expedition is variously
named from the nations, which marched under the banner of Abu Sophian,
from the ditch which was drawn before the city, and a camp of three
thousand Mussulmans. The prudence of Mahomet declined a general
engagement: the valor of Ali was signalized in single combat; and
the war was protracted twenty days, till the final separation of the
confederates. A tempest of wind, rain, and hail, overturned their tents:
their private quarrels were fomented by an insidious adversary; and
the Koreish, deserted by their allies, no longer hoped to subvert the
throne, or to check the conquests, of their invincible exile. [134]

[Footnote 128: Al Jannabi (apud Gagnier, tom. ii. p. 9) allows him
seventy or eighty horse; and on two other occasions, prior to the
battle of Ohud, he enlists a body of thirty (p. 10) and of 500 (p. 66)
troopers. Yet the Mu