The Rashīdī History 56.2

56.2

and it is not fitting for a Musulman to do homage to an infidel, or to countenance his actions, therefore I did not salute him." It was the Khan's faithful observance of his religion that saved him from the abyss. On another occasion, he fought a battle with this same Isan Taishi at a spot called Kabaka, on the confines of Moghulistan. Here, too, he suffered defeat. His horse being shot under him by an arrow, the Khan was obliged to continue on foot. He was on the point of being captured, when Amir Sayyid Ali, dismounting from his horse, gave it to the Khán, while he threw himself on his face on the ground. The infidels, thinking him dead, shot an arrow at his head. When they came near enough, the Amir contrived to lay hold of one of them (who happened to be a man of some distinction), and lifting him up by his coat, turned him from side to side as a shield against the arrows, running all the while by the side of the Khan's bridle, so that it was impossible to shoot an arrow at the Amir. In this way he continued fighting and carrying the man by his clothes for a whole farsákh, till they came to the River Ailah. He then threw the Kalmák into the water, and seizing the bridle of the Khan's horse, entered the stream, which came up to his chest. Several men were drowned. The Khán's horse began to swim, while the Amir held up its head, and thus safely conducted the Khan, mounted and armed, across the river. Many men were drowned on that day.