volume one

niSTORT OF THE CRUSADES. 467
presseo their courage ; and the death of Frederick Barbarossa,
with the disasters of the German army, of ^Yhich they
^\"ere soon informed, appeared to fill up their cup of wretchedness.
The despair of the leaders was so great that they
determined to return to Europe, and, in order to secure their
departure, were seeking to obtain a disgraceful peace of
Saladin, wlien a fleet arrived in the Eoad of Ptolemais, and
landed a great number of Prench, English, and Italians,
commanded by Henry, count of Champagne.
Once more hope was restored to the Crusaders ; the
Christians were again masters of the sea, and might, in
their turn, make Saladin tremble, who had believed he had
nothing more to dread from them. They renewed their
attacks upon tlie city with spirit. The count of Champagne,
who had restored abundance to the camp, caused to
be constructed, at great expense, rams of a prodigious size,
with two enormous towers composed of wood, steel, iron,
and brass. These machines are said to have cost fifteen
hundred pieces of gold. Whilst these formidable auxiliaries
menaced the ramparts, the Christians mounted several times
to the assault, and were, more than once, on the point of
planting the standard of the cross on the walls of the
infidels.
But the besieged contiiuied to repulse them, and the
Mussulmans shut up in the city supported the horrors of a
long siege with heroic firmness. The emirs Karacoush and
Melchoub were unremitting in their endeavours to keep up
the courage of their soldiers. Vigilant, present everywhere,
sometimes employing force, and as often stratagem, they
allowed no opportunity of surprising the Christians to
escape, or to render their attacks abortive. The Mussulmans
burnt all the machines of the besiegers, and made
several sorties, in which they drove the Christians to the
security of their camp.
The garrison received daily reinforcements and provisions
by sea; sometimes barks stole along the shore, and got
into Ptolemais under tlie favour of night ; at others, vessels
from Berytus, manned by apostate Christians, hoisted the
white flag with a red cross, and thus deceived the vigilance
of the besiegers. The Crusaders, to prevent all communication
by sea, resolved to get possession of the Tower of the