volume one

466 HISTORY OF THE Cia'SADES.
an invincible ardoui'. The Templars and Hospitallers carried
death wherever they directed their course ; S>Tians and
Franks, foot-soldiers and horsemen, contended for the prize
of valour, and rushed together to meet peril and find ^'ictorT
or death. The ^Mussulman armv could not resist their
•
impetuosity', and at the first charge retired in disorder. The
plains and hills were covered with Saracen warriors, who fled,
throwins: awav their arms. Victory remained with the
Chi'istians : but soon the thii^st of bootv led them to abandon
their ranks, and the face of the battle was changed. The
Mussulmans had time to rally, and returned to surprise the
conquerors, who were pillaging the tent and camp of the
sultan. All at once the Christians were surrounded on
every side ; and havino; laid down their arms in their
eagerness for booty, could not defend themselves, but
were seized by a terror like that \s"ith which they had
inspired their enemies. The Mussulmans, irritated by their
defeat, immolated to their vengeance every Christian that
fell in their way. Such of the Crusaders a§ were most
gi'eedy of plimder, lost their lives, together with the spoils
vrith which thev were loaded, and were slauo;htered without
defence in the very tents they had invaded. " The enemies
of God," says Bohaheddin, " dared to enter into the camp of
the lions of Islamism ; but they experienced the terrible
effects of divine ^^Tath. They fell beneath the sword of the
Mussulmans as leaves fall in autumn, under the gusts of the
tempest. The earth was covered with their bodies, heaped
one upon another, like lopped branches which fill the valleys
and hills in a forest that has been cut down." Another
Arabian historian speaks thus of tliis bloody battle :— '"
The
Christians ftll under the swords of the conquerors, as the
wicked will fall into the abode of fire at the last day. Nine
ranks of dead covered the ground between the hill and the
sea, and each rank was of a thousand warriors."
AVhilst the Chrisrians were being conquered and dispersed,
the garrison of Ptolema'is made a sortie ; and, penetrating
into their camp, carried oft' a great number of women and
children that were left xs-ithout defence. The Crusaders,
whom night saved from destrucrion, returned to their camp,
deploring their double defeat. The sight of their plundered
tents and the losses they had experienced, qidte de-