Page:William Muir, Thomas Hunter Weir - The Caliphate; Its Rise, Decline, and Fall (1915).djvu/89

 60 day by day more critical. The advent of Khālid changed the scene at once. His very name was a tower of strength. Okeidir had already felt his prowess, having several years before been taken by him prisoner to Medīna. Much afraid, he hastened to surrender, but on the way was taken prisoner and beheaded. Then ʿIyāḍ on the Syrian side, and Khālid on the Persian, attacked the hostile tribes and utterly routed them. Jabala effected his flight to Boṣra. But the helpless crowd that remained were hemmed in between the two forces and none escaped. The gate of the fort was battered down, and the crowded inmates put promiscuously to the sword, The women were sold to the highest bidder; and the most beautiful of them, the daughter of the unfortunate Jūdi, was bought by Khālid for himself. Celebrating thus fresh nuptials on the field of battle, he enjoyed a short repose at Dūma, while the main body of the troops, marching back to Al-Ḥīra, were there received with timbrels and cymbals and outward demonstrations of rejoicing.

But all was not going on smoothly in that vicinity. The absence of Khālid had encouraged the Persians and their Arab allies, especially the Beni Taghlib, still smarting under the execution of their leader, to resume offensive operations. Al-Ḳaʿḳāʿ, though on the alert, was able to do no more than guard the frontier and protect Al-Anbār from threatened inroad. At this news, Khālid hastened back; and placing ʿIyāḍ in the government of Al-Ḥīra, despatched Al-Ḳaʿḳāʿ across the Euphrates, while he himself appointed a rendezvous at ʿAin at-Tamr to attack the Taghlib tribe; for he had vowed that thus he would crush the viper in its nest. On the eastern bank, the Persians were routed and their leaders killed; while on the western, by a series of brilliant and well-planned night attacks, the Bedawīn were repeatedly surprised as they slept secure in their desert homes, cut to pieces, and their families carried off. Thus Khālid fulfilled his vow. Multitudes of women, many of noble birth, were distributed among the army. A portion also, with rich booty, were sent to Medīna, and there disposed of by sale.