| The country round the town of Riad itself was full of raiding parties of uncontrolled bedouin | |
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| Away to the north the Shammar tribes had united under one Mohamed ibn Rashid, a capable, ambitious man, who had made his capital in the town of Hail and who coveted Riad and the other rich villages of Nejd• He had no patience and no ability to handle the tribesmen | He was a freebooter and a destroyer |