324 COXQIJESTS OF TKE SARACENS. 



try the effect of a conference, was communicated to 

 Obeidah, and Khaled was instructed to repair to the 

 Christian camp. Addressing himself to the rapacity 

 of the Moslems, Manuel engaged to secure the pay- 

 ment of a sum of money, provided they would with- 

 draw from the country : to Omar, as their sovereign, 

 10,000 dinars* (4625/.) ; to Obeidah, one-half that 

 sum ; to a hundred of his principal officers, 1000 

 dinars each; to every horseman, 100; and to every 

 foot-soldier, 50. Khaled, on. his part, offered to 

 their choice tiie usual conditions of conversion, 

 tribute or the sword ; recommending, as the best 

 means of averting further calamity, that "they 

 should admit the lamp of eternal truth into their 

 habitations ;" but the offer was rejected with scorn. 

 Both sides were prepared for action. Manuel dis- 

 posed of his multitudinous legions into several divi- 

 sions, each consisting of 20,000 men. Mounted on a 

 black charger, and clad in gorgeous armour, he con- 

 ducted theinovements of the centre in person. The 

 van of the ?iIoslems was led on by Khaled, restored 

 once more to the supreme conunand ; while his col- 

 league, with the yellow flag under which Mohammed 

 had fought at Khaibar, was posted in the rear, that 

 the flight of the believers might be checked by the 

 presence of this consecrated ensign. Khaulah and 

 her band of Amazons were stationed in the same 

 line, and for the same reason. The exhortation of 

 Khaled was of tremendous brevity : " Paradise is 

 before you ; the devil and hell-fire behind !" Their 

 march to the field was in profound and awful si- 

 lence ; but the ranks of the Christians presented a 

 different scene. The mingled noise occasioned by 



* The gold dinar has been differently estimated, from 5s. to 

 13s. 6rf. — we have taken a medium, or 9s. 3d. The drachm of 

 gold is reckoned equivalent to about 5Jrf. In speaking of the 

 plunder of the Saracens, we may remark, once for all, that 

 according; tc Major Price, the value of money then may be taken 

 as ten times gfe^'than at th« pre'sent day. 



