oppressed them as subjects, and despised them as
strangers and aliens. A report of these mighty preparations was conveyed
to the Saracens in their camp of Emesa, and the chiefs, though resolved
to fight, assembled a council: the faith of Abu Obeidah would have
expected on the same spot the glory of martyrdom; the wisdom of Caled
advised an honorable retreat to the skirts of Palestine and Arabia,
where they might await the succors of their friends, and the attack of
the unbelievers. A speedy messenger soon returned from the throne of
Medina, with the blessings of Omar and Ali, the prayers of the widows of
the prophet, and a reenforcement of eight thousand Moslems. In their way
they overturned a detachment of Greeks, and when they joined at Yermuk
the camp of their brethren, they found the pleasing intelligence, that
Caled had already defeated and scattered the Christian Arabs of the
tribe of Gassan. In the neighborhood of Bosra, the springs of Mount
Hermon descend in a torrent to the plain of Decapolis, or ten cities;
and the Hieromax, a name which has been corrupted to Yermuk, is lost,
after a short course, in the Lake of Tiberias. The banks of this obscure
stream were illustrated by a long and bloody encounter. On this
momentous occasion, the public voice, and the modesty of Abu Obeidah,
restored the command to the most deserving of the Moslems. Caled assumed
his station in the front, his colleague was posted in the rear, that the
disorder of the fugitive might be checked by his venerable aspect, and
the sight of the yellow banner which Mahomet had displayed before the
walls of Chaibar. The last line was occupied by the sister of Derar,
with the Arabian women who had enlisted in this holy war, who were
accustomed to wield the bow and the lance, and who in a moment of
captivity had defended, against the uncircumcised ravishers, their
chastity and religion. The exhortation of the generals was brief and
forcible: "Paradise is before you, the devil and hell-fire in your
rear." Yet such was the weight of the Roman cavalry, that the right wing
of the Arabs was broken and separated from the main body. Thrice did
they retreat in disorder, and thrice were they driven back to the charge
by the reproaches and blows of the women. In the intervals of action,
Abu Obeidah visited the tents of his brethren, prolonged their repose
by repeating at once the prayers of two different hours, bound up their
wounds with his own hands, and admi