CHAPTER LI: Conquests By The Arabs .-- Part IV.
Another expedition of the conquerors of Damascus will equally display their avidity and their contempt for the riches of the present world.
They were informed that the produce and manufactures of the country were annually collected in the fair of Abyla, about thirty miles from the city; that the cell of a devout hermit was visited at the same time by a multitude of pilgrims; and that the festival of trade and superstition would be ennobled by the nuptials of the daughter of the governor of Tripoli.

Abdallah, the son of Jaafar, a glorious and holy martyr, undertook, with a banner of five hundred horse, the pious and profitable commission of despoiling the infidels.

As he approached the fair of Abyla, he was astonished by the report of this mighty concourse of Jews and Christians, Greeks, and Armenians, of natives of Syria and of strangers of Egypt, to the number of ten thousand, besides a guard of five thousand horse that attended the person of the bride.

The Saracens paused: "For my own part," said Abdallah, "I _dare not_ go back: our foes are many, our danger is great, but our reward is splendid and secure, either in this life or in the life to come.

Let every man, according to his inclination, advance or retire." Not a Mussulman deserted his standard.