Now on the day of his death Rabyah was escorting a caravan of women through the country of the Beni-Sulaim, and he was the only horseman with them. For though there had been blood between the Beni-Firaz and the Beni-Sulaim, the price of blood had been paid, and it was thought peace had been brought about. And the mother and sister of Rabyah were with the caravan. And all that land was yellow and dry as long-dead bone; and it was strewn with great stones that seemed to have been rained down from heaven with fire, so seared and so blackened they were. And the pass leading to their own country--the Pass of Ghazal--was still far off when Rabyah, looking back, saw a distant rising of dust, like the smoke of a fire newly kindled. Now Rabyah rode upon his favorite gray mare, Ghezala, whom no desert steed might ever overtake, but he rode slowly for the sake of the women, who were mounted upon camels. So he drew rein, and gazed at the dust cloud, and perceived a gleam break through it, and another, and another, and many glimmerings--a lightning of lances. And looking a little while longer, he could discern a company of men in helms of iron and shirts of mail, riding upon lean black horses; and as they sped swiftly he knew the helm of the horsemen that led them--Nubaishah, of whom it was said that Death, the Mother of Vultures, ever rode with him. Then Rabyah spurred in haste after the women, and urged on faster the toiling camels, and said unto his mother: 'There is treachery, O mother! Lo! Nubaishah, the son of Habib, pursueth us with the wild men of Sulaim.' And even as he spoke, the far-off drum-roll of galloping hoofs brake heavily upon their ears through the hot and thirsty air. And turning his mare round, Rabyah added: 'Haste ye toward the Pass, while I strive to hold them back; and I shall meet ye all at the Pass, to hold it so that ye can reach our tents and arouse the horsemen.' And he rode to meet the wild men of Sulaim, while the women urged their beasts faster over the dusty path. Then Rabyah's sister, Oumm 'Amr, cried out in fear, and those with her lamented, as they saw Rabyah ride back all alone. But his mother, Oumm Saiyar, chided them, saying:-- While there remaineth so much as one drop of blood in his veins, no son of mine will ever fail to do the deeds of a man and the duty of a man. Have no fear, ye foolish ones! when did Rabyah ever fail to protect a woman? How many such robbers as those hath he not harassed ere this, even as lizards in their desert holes are harassed with a stick? How many an enemy's corpse hath he not left to be devoured by the lions of the woods, by the ancient eagles of the hills? In how many encounters hath he not been hard pressed before--ay, even tightly pressed as the sandal strap between the toes of the wearer? Know ye not that my son is unto men as a beacon-light--ay, as the signal-fires that be lighted upon mountain-tops?'