Page:William Muir, Thomas Hunter Weir - The Caliphate; Its Rise, Decline, and Fall (1915).djvu/138

 635] enterprise. There were two huge elephants, the leaders of the herd. Dismounting, Al-Ḳaʿḳāʿ boldly advanced, and into the eye of one, the "great white elephant" it was called, he thrust his lance. Smarting at the pain, it shook fearfully its head, threw the Mahout to the ground, and swaying its trunk to and fro, hurled Al-Ḳaʿḳāʿ to a distance. The other fared still worse, for they pierced both its eyes, and slashed its trunk. Uttering a shrill scream of agony, the blinded, maddened creature darted forward on the Arab ranks. Shouts and lances drove it back upon the Persians. Thus kept rushing wildly to and fro between the armies, and followed at last by the other elephants, it charged right into the Persian line; and so the whole herd of huge animals,—their trunks aloft, trumpeting as they rushed, and trampling all before them,—plunged into the river and disappeared on the farther shore. For the moment the din of war was hushed as both lines gazed at the portentous sight. But soon the battle was resumed, and they fought on till darkness again closed on the combatants with the issue still in doubt.

The third night brought rest to neither side. It was a struggle for life. At first there was a pause, as the light faded away; and Saʿd, fearing lest the vast host should overlap his rear, sent parties to watch the fords. There had as yet been hardly time for even momentary repose when, early in the night, it occurred to some of the Arab leaders to rally their tribes with the view of harassing the enemy. The movement, made at the first without Saʿd's cognisance, drew on a general engagement in the dark. The screams of the combatants and din of arms made The Night of Clangour, as it is called, without parallel in the annals of Islām. It could only be compared to "the clang of the blacksmith's forge." Saʿd betook himself to prayer, for no sure tidings reached him all night through. Morning broke