The History of Arabia, Crichton Vol2 - The Search For Mecca

HISTORY OF THE WAHABEES. 275while their nimble enemies pressing from behind,and outrunning them along the hills, poured incessantvolleys upon their disordered ranks. About1200 were killed ; and the whole body might havebeen annihilated had the Wahabees instantly pushedover the mountains, instead of contenting themselveswith seizing the baggage and artillery.Under such disastrous circumstances Toussoundid not forfeit his reputation for bravery. With tearsgushing from his eyes, he was heard to exclaim tohis flying squadrons, " Will none of you stand byme ?" and after vainly endeavouring to rally histroops, he hastened to the rear with only two horsemenof his own suite, and plunged into the midst ofthe enemy, to make them desist from the pursuit.Having set fire to his camp at Bedr, and left his militarychest, which he had not the means to remove,he embarked at the nearest port, where some of hisships lay at anchor, and proceeded to Yembo, wherein a few days he was joined by the wreck of hisarmy. These losses completely disheartened thetroops ;the Bedouins deserted, Saleh Aga and OmarAga declared they would no longer fight in Hejaz,and were sent back to Cairo. The Wahabeesscoured the country to the shores of the Red Sea,being joined by the Sheriff Ghaleb in person.When the intelligence of this failure was knownto Ali Pasha, he lost no time in preparing for a newexpedition. Fresh reinforcements of men and ammunitiondaily arrived ; while large sums of moneywere sent for distribution among the Bedouin sheiksby which means a considerable number of them weredetached from the interest of Saoud. In October,1812, Toussoun thought himself sufficiently strong tomake a second attempt upon Medina. The gold ofEgypt had opened the dangerous pass of Jedeidaand the Turkish army arrived without oppositionunder the walls of the city of the Prophet. Thetown and castle were occupied by a Wahabee gar-