Page:William Muir, Thomas Hunter Weir - The Caliphate; Its Rise, Decline, and Fall (1915).djvu/80



633] Then placing Al-Muthanna in command of the advanced column, and ʿAdī son of Ḥātim (the famous chieftain of the Beni Ṭaiʾ) over the second, Khalid himself bringing up the rear, advanced on Al-Ḥafīr, the frontier station of the Persian Empire.

Startled by the strange summons, Hormuz having sent word to Chosroes the King, himself set out to meet the invader with an army whose wings were commanded by Princes of the royal blood. He marched in haste, thinking to have an easy victory over untrained desert tribes; and being first to reach the water bed of Al-Ḥafīr, took possession of its springs. Khāṝlid coming up, bade his force alight and at once unload their burdens. "Then," said he, "let us fight for the water forthwith; by my life! the springs shall be for the braver of the two." Thereupon Hormuz challenged Khālid to single combat and, though he treacherously posted an ambuscade, was in the encounter slain. The Muslims then rushed forward and with great slaughter put the enemy to flight, pursuing them to the banks of the Euphrates. The Arabs had now a foretaste of the spoils of Persia. The share of each horseman was a thousand pieces, besides great store of arms. The jewelled tiara of Hormuz, symbol of his rank, was sent to the Caliph with the royal fifth. An elephant taken in the field and led as part of the prize to Medīna, was paraded about the town much to the wonder of the admiring citizens, but eventually sent back as unsuitable to the place. The action was called Dhāt as-Salāsil, "the Mistress of the Chains," from a portion of the Persian soldiers being bound together (as tradition contemptuously says) to prevent their giving way.

The defeated army fled towards the Capital, and Al-Muthanna with his horse hastened after them. Crossing the Euphrates, he came upon a fortress called "The Lady's Castle," held by a Persian princess. Leaving his brother to besiege it, he advanced to a second fort defended by her husband. This he took by storm, and put the garrison to the sword; which, when the lady heard