He repaired immediately to the house of Abu-Bekr, and they arranged for instant flight.  It was agreed that they should take refuge in a cave in Mount Thor, about an hour’s distance from Mecca, and wait there until they could proceed safely to Medina; and in the mean time the children of Abu-Bekr should secretly bring them food.  They left Mecca while it was yet dark, making their way on foot by the light of the stars, and the day dawned as they found themselves at the foot of Mount Thor.  Scarce were they within the cave when they heard the sound of pursuit.  Abu-Bekr, though a brave man, quaked with fear.

“Our pursuers,” said he, “are many, and we are but two.”

“Nay,” replied Mahomet, “there is a third; God is with us!”

And here the Moslem writers relate a miracle, dear to the minds of all true believers.  By the time, say they, that the Koreishites reached the mouth of the cavern, an acacia-tree had sprung up before it, in the spreading branches of which a pigeon had made its nest and laid its eggs, and over the whole a spider had woven its web.  When the Koreishites beheld these signs of undisturbed quiet, they concluded that no one could recently have entered the cavern; so they turned away, and pursued their search in another direction.

Whether protected by miracle or not, the fugitives remained for three days undiscovered in the cave, and Asama, the daughter of Abu-Bekr, brought them food in the dusk of the evenings.

On the fourth day, when they presumed the ardor of pursuit had abated, the fugitives ventured forth, and set out for Medina, on camels which a servant of Abu-Bekr had brought in the night for them.  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.  Hence, too, the city was supplied with fruit; the hill and its environs being covered with vineyards and with groves of the date and lotus; with gardens producing citrons, oranges, pomegranates, figs, peaches, and apricots, and being irrigated with limpid streams.