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 and deliver us!" were
successively drawn up by the long folds of their turbans. With bold
and ca