volume one

HISTORY OF THE CRUSADES. 489
meet danger, and he was always the first to fly to the
assistance of his companions, though he himself needed aid
from no man. His horse being slain, this brave emir was
encumbered with the weight of his iron armour, and received
several mortal wounds. Many Mussulman soldiers hastened
to his relief;
heaven !
hut he was already amongst the inliahitants of
The Christians wept for the death of Jacques d'Avesnes,
who had so often shown them the path to victory. In this
glorious day the loss of the Crusaders was much less than
that of the Mussulmans ; their leaders and soldiers displayed
a degree of skill that they had never evinced before. The
Saracen cavalry, superior to that of the Crusaders, had not
room to perform their usual evolutions with advantage in so
confined a field. They attacked the Christians several times
with great impetuosity, but the Crusaders withstood them
with immovable firmness, and constantly rallied around
their great standard, which floated from the summit of a
rolling tower. A remarkable circumstance of this battle is,
that it was principally gained by the infantry, a force which,
although held in contempt in the first crusade, had learnt
to be redoubtable under the walls of Ptolemais.
Bichard, who had conquered the Saracens, was not wise
enough to profit by theii' defeat ; instead of pursuing the
enemy, or marching straight to Jerusalem, he led his army
to Jaffa, the ramparts of which Saladin had demolished,
and which the Mussulmans had abandoned. He occupied
himself with repairing the fortifications, and sent for the
Queen Berengaria, Jane, the widow of the king of Sicily, and
the daughter of Isaac. Surrounded by a brilliant court, he
forgot, in the intoxication of pleasure and festivities, the
conquest of Jerusalem, for which he had come into Asia.
During this fatal repose, he was on the point of losing with
his life and liberty the fruit of all his victories. Being one
day hunting in the forest of Saron, overcome by heat or
fatigue, he alighted from his horse and fell asleep under
a tree. All at once he was aroused by the cries of those
who accompanied him,—a troop of Saracens was close upon
them ! He sprang upon his horse, and prepared to defend
himself ; but was near sinking beneath the force of numbers,
when a knight of his suite, named William Fourcelet, cried