hief persons of that city, instantly obeyed the summons. Mahomet
was posted between the caravan and the coming succor, being able to
oppose to this formidable force no more than 313 soldiers, mounted for
the most part on camels; some few (according to some authors, not more
than two) being mounted on horses.

Undismayed by this disparity of force, Mahomet determined to try the
event of a battle, and risk his fortune and perhaps his life upon the
contest. The troops were persuaded to engage the superior forces of the
enemy, and for the present to abandon the tempting prize of Abu Sofian's
rich caravan. Mahomet animated them by his prayers, and in the name of
the Most High promised them certain victory. However assured he might
have been of divine assistance, he was careful to let slip no human
means of securing success. An entrenchment was made to cover the flanks
of his troop, and a rivulet flowed past the spot he had chosen for his
encampment, and furnished his army with a constant supply of water. When
the enemy appeared, descending from the hills, Mahomet ordered his
soldiers to the attack; but before the armies could engage, three
combatants, Ali, Al Hareth, and Hamza, on the side of the Moslems, and
three of the Koreish, joined in single conflict. The Moslem warriors
were victorious, and thus gave to both armies a presage of the coming
engagement. The prophet, with Abu Bekr, at the commencement of the
battle, mounted a pulpit, fervently demanding of God the assistance of
Gabriel and three thousand angels; but when his army appeared to waver,
he started from his place of prayer, mounted a horse, and flinging a
handful of dust into the air, exclaiming, "May their faces be
confounded!" rushed upon the enemy. Fanaticism rendered his followers
invincible; the numerous forces of the Koreish were unable to break the
ranks or resist the furious attacks of his confiding soldiers. They
fled, leaving seventy of their principal officers dead upon the field,
and seventy prisoners in the hands of the enemy. Of the Moslems, only
fourteen were slain. The names of the slaughtered warriors have been
handed down to posterity, and enrolled among the list of pious martyrs
whom the faithful Mussulman is taught to worship.

Space will not permit us to enumerate the various battles fought by
Mahomet; according, however, to the computation of some authors, no less
than twenty-seven expeditions were undertaken, in which he personally
comma