The Syrian desert lay between Khâlid and his new sphere of action. He could not take the northern route, because of hostile tribes and Roman garrisons; therefore, turning south by Ain Tamar, he crossed the second time the Nefûd--that strange and tumbled red sea of sand--to the north of the mountains of the Beni Tay, and halted at Dûma.[162] Thence he took the direct road to Syria, along the Wady Sirhân; and surprising Corâcar, a settlement of the Beni Kelb lying half way, he plundered it. Keeping the same route, he would in a few days have reached Bostra. But he feared the Roman garrisons, lest they should check him on that road, and hinder his junction with the Moslem army. He formed, therefore, the bold design of striking right across the Syrian desert to the north, emerging at Tadmor, and so turning the Roman flank. A council of war was held, and a Bedouin, well versed in the desert, set before them. ‘There is but one track,’ said the guide, ‘a track so bare, and for five days so waterless, that even single horsemen shun it, lest they perish by the way.’ ‘By the same way shall we go,’ was Khâlid’s prompt resolve; and when expostulated with on the wild and perilous attempt, he answered that, with Divine aid and firm resolve, nothing was wild and nothing perilous. The words fired his followers with the same adventurous zeal, and the project was by acclamation carried. ‘Do this then,’ said the guide, ‘if ye be bent upon the enterprise. Gather as many camels as ye can; make them thirsty by withholding water for a while; then let them drink plentifully, and again a second time; afterwards, bind their ears and slit their lips so that they ruminate not. So haply may your water last.’ At each stage across the wilderness, ten such camels were slain for every troop of a hundred lances. The water drawn from them was mixed with milk for the horses. The men were given but a single draught each day. On the fifth day a shudder crept over the host. The supply was at an end. They had reached the neighbourhood, marked by two hills on the right hand and on the left, where water should have been, but the signs were wanting, and the guide was at fault. After casting anxiously about in all directions, he cried in despair--‘Search for the bramble bush; the bramble should be here; if ye find it not, we are lost.’ So they searched all around. At last they came upon a half-concealed root, and raising the Takbîr, shouted ‘Great is the Lord!’ Rushing to the spot, they dug down into the ground, and found a plentiful supply of water.[163] [Sidenote: and effects a junction with the Syrian army. Rabi II. or Jumâd I. June or July.]