name was Dames, of a gigantic size, and an admirable soldier. When he had been in the camp forty-seven days, and all the force and cunning of the Saracens availed nothing towards taking the castle, he desired Abu Obeidah to let him have the command of thirty men, and he would try his best against it. Kaled had heard much of the man, and told Abu Obeidah a long story of a wonderful performance of this Dames in Arabia; and that he looked upon him as a very proper person for such an undertaking. Abu Obeidah

selected thirty men to go with him, and bade them not to despise their commander because of the meanness of his condition, he being a slave, and swore, that but for the care of the whole army, which lay upon him, he would be the first man that should go under him upon such an enterprise. To which they answered with entire submission and profound respect. Dames, who lay hid at no great distance, went out several times, and brought in with him five or six Greeks, but never a man of them understood one word of Arabic, which made him angry, and say, "God curse these dogs! What a strange barbarous language they use."

At last he went out again, and seeing a man descend from the wall, he took him prisoner, and by the help of a Christian Arab, whom he captured shortly afterwards, examined him. He learned from him that immediately upon the departure of the Saracens, Youkinna began to ill-use the townsmen who had made the convention with the Arabs, and to exact large sums of money of them; that he being one of them, had endeavoured to make his escape from the oppression and tyranny of Youkinna, by leaping down from the wall. Upon this the Saracens let him go, as being under their protection by virtue of the articles made between Abu Obeidah and the Aleppians, but beheaded all the rest.

In the evening, after having sent two of his men to Abu Obeidah. requesting him to order a body of horse to move forward to his support about sunrise, Dames has recourse to the following stratagem. Taking out of a knapsack a goat's skin, he covered with it his back and shoulders, and holding a dry crust in his hand, he crept on all fours as near to the castle as he could. When he heard a noise, or suspected any one to be near, to prevent his being discovered, he began to make a noise with his crust, as a dog does when gnawing

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a bone; the rest of his company came after him, sometimes sculking and creeping along, at other times walking. When they came near to the castle, it appeared almost inaccessible. However Dames was resolved to make an attempt upon it. Having found a place where the walls seemed easier to scale than elsewhere, he sat down upon the ground, and ordered another to sit upon his shoulders; and so on till seven of them had mounted up, each sitting upon the other's shoulders, and all leaning against the wall, so as to throw as much of their weight as possible upon it. Then he that was uppermost of all stood upright upon the shoulders of the second, next the second raised himself, and so on, all in order, till at last Dames himself stood up, bearing the weight of all the rest upon his shoulders, who however did all they could to relieve him by bearing against the wall. By this means the uppermost man could just make a shift to reach the top of the wall, while in an under-tone they all cried, "O apostle of God, help us and deliver us!" When this man had got up on the wall, he found a watchman drunk and asleep. Seizing him hand and foot, he threw him down among the Saracens, who immediately cut him to pieces. Two other sentinels, whom he found in the same condition, he stabbed with his dagger, and threw down from the wall. He then let down his turban, and drew up the second, they two the third, till at last Dames was drawn up, who enjoined them to wait there in silence while he went and looked about him. In this expedition he gained a sight of Youkinna, richly dressed, sitting upon a tapestry of scarlet silk flowered with gold, and a large company with him, eating and drinking, and very merry. On his return he told his men that, because of the great inequality of their numbers, he did not think it advisable to fall upon them then, but had rather wait till break of day, at which time they might look for help from the main body. In the meantime he went alone, and privately stabbing the sentinels, and setting open the gates, came back to his men, and bade them hasten to take possession of the gates. This was not done so quietly but they were at last taken notice of, and the castle alarmed. There was no hope of escape for them, but every one expected to perish. Dames behaved himself bravely, but, overpowered by superior numbers, he and his men were no longer able to

hold up, when, as the morning began to dawn, Kaled came to their relief. As soon as the besieged perceived the Saracens rushing in upon them, they threw down their arms, and cried "Quarter!" Abu Obeidah was not far behind with the rest of the army. Having taken the castle, he proposed Mohammedanism to the Christians. The first that embraced it was Youkinna, and his example was followed by some of the chief men with him, who immediately had their wives and children, and all their wealth restored to them. Abu Obeidah set the old and impotent people at liberty, and having set apart the fifth of the spoil (which was of great value), divided the rest among the Mussulmans. Dames was talked of and admired by all, and Abu Obeidah, in order to pay him marked respect, commanded the army to continue in their present quarters till he and his men should be perfectly cured of their wounds.

Obeidah's next thoughts, after the capture of the castle of Aleppo, were to march to Antioch, then the seat of the Grecian emperor. But Youkinna, the late governor of the castle of Aleppo, having, with the changing of his religion, become a deadly enemy of the Christians, persuaded him to defer his march to Antioch, till they had first taken the castle of Aazaz. This fortress was held by his own cousin-german, Theodorus, and was a place of importance; and which, if not taken, would enable the enemy to harass the Saracens on that side the country. Having proffered his services, he proposed to take it by the following stratagem. He required that a hundred Saracens should ride with him to Aazaz, dressed in the Grecian habit, and that these should be pursued at a little interval by a thousand other Saracens in their proper habit. He said, "that he did not at all question a kind reception at the hands of his kinsman Theodorus; whom he should assure, that he had only feigned himself a Mohammedan, till he could find an opportunity of escaping; that he was pursued by the Saracens," &c. If they were received, of which there was no doubt, then in the night, they would fall upon the inhabitants; and those others who pretended to pursue them, and who were to be ordered to stay at a village called Morah, not far distant from Aazaz, should come to their assistance. Abu Obeidah asked Kaled what he thought of the stratagem, who approved of it, provided they could be well

wits' end, and had some thoughts of taking ship, and retiring into some distant island. But Constantine's army coming into those parts before he could put his design into execution, he chose rather to enlist under him, in hopes of ingratiating himself with the Mussulmans by some signal act of treachery.

Being at last prevailed upon to go back to the Saracens, he was very courteously received by Amrou; who not only gave him thanks for the great service he had done the faith, but upon his expressing his apprehensions of Kaled, promised to secure him, and wrote a commendatory letter in his behalf to Omar, acquainting him with the signal proof which Tuleiha had given of his sincere and unfeigned repentance. Tuleiha found the caliph at Mecca: delivering the letter, and withal telling him that he repented, Omar asked who he was? and had no sooner heard his name mentioned, but he made off as fast as he could, saying, “Alas for thee! If I forgive thee, how shall I give an account to God of the murder of Ocasah?” Tuleiha answered, Ocasah indeed suffered martyrdom by my hands, which I am very sorry for, and I hope that God will forgive me what I have done." Omar desired to know what proof he could give of his sincerity; but having perused Amrou's letter, he was abundantly satisfied, and kept him with him till he returned to Medina, after which he employed him in his wars against the Persians.

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To return to Constantine's army. The weather was very cold, and the Christians were quite disheartened, having been frequently beaten and discouraged with the daily increasing power of the Saracens; so that a great many grew weary of the service, and withdrew from the army. Constantine, having no hopes of victory, and fearing lest the Saracens should seize Cæsarea, took the opportunity of a tempestuous night to move off; and left his camp to the Saracens. Amrou, acquainting Abu Obeidah with all that had happened, received express orders to march directly to Cæsarea, where he promised to join him speedily, in order to go against Tripoli, Acre, and Tyre. A short time after this, Tripoli was surprised by the treachery of Youkinna, who succeeded in getting possession of it on a sudden, and without any noise. Within a few days of its capture there arrived in the harbour about fifty ships from Cyprus and Crete, with provisions and

arms which were to go to Constantine. The officers, not knowing that Tripoli was fallen into the hands of new masters, made no scruple of landing there, where they were courteously received by Youkinna, who proffered the utmost of his service, and promised to go along with them. But immediately seized both them and their ships, and delivered the town into the hands of Kaled, who was just come.

With these ships the traitor Youkinna sailed to Tyre, where he told the inhabitants, that he had brought arms and provisions for Constantine's army. Upon which he was kindly received, and, landing, he was liberally entertained, with nine hundred of his men. But being betrayed by one of his own soldiers, he and his crew were seized and bound; receiving all the while such treatment from the soldiers, as their villainous practices well deserved. In the meantime Yezid Ebn Abu Sofian, being detached by Abu Obeidah from the camp before Cæsarea, came within sight of Tyre. The governor upon this, caused Youkinna and his men to be conveyed to the castle, and there secured, and prepared for the defence of the town. Perceiving that Yezid had with him but two thousand men in all, he resolved to make a sally. In the meantime, the rest of the inhabitants ran up to the walls, to see the engagement. Whilst they were fighting, Youkinna and his men were set at liberty by one Basil, of whom they give the following account: viz., That this Basil going one day to pay a visit to Bahira the monk, the caravan of the Koreishites came by, with which were Kadija's camels, under the care of Mohammed. As he looked towards the caravan, he beheld Mohammed in the middle of it, and above him there was a cloud to keep him from the sun. Then the caravan having halted, as Mohammed leaned against an old withered tree, it immediately brought forth leaves. Bahira perceiving this, made an entertainment for the caravan, and invited them into the monastery. They all went, leaving Mohammed behind with the camels. Bahira missing him, asked if they were all present. "Yes," they said, "all but a little boy we have left to look after their things, and feed the camels." "What is his name;" says Bahirah. They told him, Mohammed Ebn Abdallah." Bahira asked, if his father and mother were not both dead, and if he was not brought up by his grandfather and his uncle. Being informed that it was

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