supply of the same delicacies was therefore furnished, and the whole army sat down with him to the repast. His determination to taste none of the Persian viands but in company with the rank and file of his men redounded greatly to his popularity.[202] [Sidenote: Bahmân sent with great army against Abu Obeid. A.H. XIII. Autumn A.D. 634.] Enraged at the defeat of his generals, Rustem assembled a still larger force under the warrior Bahmân.[203] To mark the gravity of the crisis, the great banner of the empire, made of panthers’ skins, was unfurled,[204] and an array of war elephants accompanied the army. Jalenûs, too, was sent back to fight, under the threat that if again he fled before the enemy, he would be put to death. Before this imposing host, the Arabian army fell back, and, recrossing the Euphrates, took up ground on the right bank. Bahmân, following, encamped at Coss Nâtick, on the opposite shore. The field of battle was not far from Babylon, and, being on the highway between the Capital and Hîra, a bridge of boats spanned the river near the spot.[205] Bahmân, in his pride, gave Abu Obeid the option of crossing the river unopposed, thus leaving him the choice of either bank for the impending action. Abu Obeid desired to take the offer and pass over to the other side. His advisers strongly opposed the movement, and sought to dissuade him from quitting their more advantageous ground. But he made it a point of honour; and exclaiming, ‘Shall we fear death more than they?’ gave the order at once to cross. They found the ground upon the farther side confined; and, though they were under 10,000 men, there was little room to manœuvre, and nothing but the bridge to fall back upon. [Sidenote: Battle of the Bridge. Shabân, A.H. XIII. October, A.D. 634.[206]]The unwieldy elephants, with their jingling bells and trappings, spread confusion among the Arab cavalry. The riders, however, dismounting, went bravely at them on foot, and tried, with some success, to cut the bands of the _howdas_, and drive them from the field. Abu Obeid singled out the fiercest, a white elephant, with great tusks, and rushed at it, sword in hand. While vainly endeavouring to reach some vulnerable part, the huge beast caught him with its trunk, and trampled him to death. Consternation seized the ranks at the horrid spectacle. One after another the captains whom Abu Obeid had named to meet disaster, were slain,[207] and the troops began to waver. Just at this moment, a soldier of the Beni Thackîf,[208] appalled at the fate of Abu Obeid and other leaders of his clan, ran to the bridge, and crying out, _Die, as your chiefs have died, or conquer_, cut the first boat adrift. Exit thus closed, the panic spread. The Moslems were hemmed in, and driven back upon the river. Many leaped in, but few reached the other shore of the deep swift stream.[209] At this eventful moment Mothanna rushed to the front. Backed by a few heroic spirits, among them a Christian chief of