Avoiding the main
road usually taken by the caravans, they bent their course nearer to the
coast of the Red Sea. They had not proceeded far, however, before they
were overtaken by a troop of horse headed by Soraka Ibn Malec. Abu-Bekr
was again dismayed by the number of their pursuers; but Mahomet repeated
the assurance, "Be not troubled; Allah is with us." Soraka was a grim
warrior, with shagged iron-gray locks and naked sinewy arms rough with
hair. As he overtook Mahomet, his horse reared and fell with him. His
superstitious mind was struck with it as an evil sign. Mahomet perceived
the state of his feeling, and by an eloquent appeal wrought upon him to
such a degree that Soraka, filled with awe, entreated his forgiveness,
and turning back with his troop suffered him to proceed on his way
unmolested.
The fugitives continued their journey without further interruption,
until they arrived at Kobe, a hill about two miles from Medina. It was a
favorite resort of the inhabitants of the city, and a place to which
they sent their sick and infirm, for the air was pure and salubrious.
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