. In a siege of four or five
months, the hardest of the Syrian war, great numbers of the Saracens
were killed and wounded: their removal to the distance of a mile could
not seduce the vigilance of Youkinna; nor could the Christians be
terrified by the execution of three hundred captives, whom they beheaded
before the castle wall. The silence, and at length the complaints,
of Abu Obeidah informed the caliph that their hope and patience were
consumed at the foot of this impregnable fortress. "I am variously
affected," replied Omar, "by the difference of your success; but I
charge you by no means to raise the siege of the castle. Your retreat
would diminish the reputation of our arms, and encourage the infidels
to fall upon you on all sides. Remain before Aleppo till God shall
determine the event, and forage with your horse round the adjacent
country." The exhortation of the commander of the faithful was fortified
by a supply of volunteers from all the tribes of Arabia, who arrived in
the camp on horses or camels. Among these was Dames, of a servile birth,
but of gigantic size and intrepid resolution. The forty-seventh day of
his service he proposed, with only thirty men, to make an attempt on the
castle. The experience and testimony of Caled recommended his offer; and
Abu Obeidah admonished his brethren not to despise the baser origin
of Dames, since he himself, could he relinquish the public care, would
cheerfully serve under the banner of the slave. His design was covered
by the appearance of a retreat; and the camp of the Saracens was pitched
about a league from Aleppo. The thirty adventurers lay in ambush at the
foot of the hill; and Dames at length succeeded in his inquiries, though
he was provoked by the ignorance of his Greek captives. "God curse these
dogs," said the illiterate Arab; "what a strange barbarous language they
speak!" At the darkest hour of the night, he scaled the most accessible
height, which he had diligently surveyed, a place where the stones
were less entire, or the slope less perpendicular, or the guard less
vigilant. Seven of the stoutest Saracens mounted on each other's
shoulders, and the weight of the column was sustained on the broad and
sinewy back of the gigantic slave. The foremost in this painful ascent
could grasp and climb the lowest part of the battlements; they silently
stabbed and cast down the sentinels; and the thirty brethren, repeating
a pious ejaculation, "O apostle of God, help