Now they fell in with a party of Wahhabis led by a kettledrum and a green banner that bore the profession of faith in resplendent white letters. They rode in double file and were the picture of wild mountain men in the imaginations of coastal dwellers; dark- skinned, ferocious stares, hair twisted into thick braids, each armed with a long spear, a matchlock or a dagger. They sat on rough wooden saddles without cushions or stirrups. The women emulated the men, riding their own dromedaries or sitting on little saddle cushions behind their husbands. They spurned the veil and gave no suggestion of being the softer sex.