e Greek tongue, "The bird is taken," admonished his
mistress to hasten her return. In the presence of Caled, and of death,
the unfortunate Jonas professed his belief in one God and his apostle
Mahomet; and continued, till the season of his martyrdom, to discharge
the duties of a brave and sincere Mussulman. When the city was taken, he
flew to the monastery, where Eudocia had taken refuge; but the lover was
forgotten; the apostate was scorned; she preferred her religion to her
country; and the justice of Caled, though deaf to mercy, refused to
detain by force a male or female inhabitant of Damascus. Four days was
the general confined to the city by the obligation of the treaty, and
the urgent cares of his new conquest. His appetite for blood and rapine
would have been extinguished by the hopeless computation of time and
distance; but he listened to the importunities of Jonas, who assured
him that the weary fugitives might yet be overtaken. At the head of four
thousand horse, in the disguise of Christian Arabs, Caled undertook the
pursuit. They halted only for the moments of prayer; and their guide had
a perfect knowledge of the country. For a long way the footsteps of the
Damascenes were plain and conspicuous: they vanished on a sudden; but
the Saracens were comforted by the assurance that the caravan had turned
aside into the mountains, and must speedily fall into their hands.
In traversing the ridges of the Libanus, they endured intolerable
hardships, and the sinking spirits of the veteran fanatics were
supported and cheered by the unconquerable ardor of a lover. From a
peasant of the country, they were informed that the emperor had sent
orders to the colony of exiles to pursue without delay the road of
the sea-coast, and of Constantinople, apprehensive, perhaps, that the
soldiers and people of Antioch might be discouraged by the sight and
the story of their sufferings. The Saracens were conducted through the
territories of Gabala and Laodicea, at a cautious distance from the
walls of the cities; the rain was incessant, the night was dark, a
single mountain separated them from the Roman army; and Caled, ever
anxious for the safety of his brethren, whispered an ominous dream
in the ear of his companion. With the dawn of day, the prospect again
cleared, and they saw before them, in a pleasant valley, the tents of
Damascus. After a short interval of repose and prayer, Caled divided his
cavalry into four squadrons, committin