demanded that he should
restore, Tancred commenced giving some explanations in regard to it,
but Richard was too impatient to listen to them. "We will not wait,"
said he to his sister, "to hear any talking on the subject; we will go
and take possession of the territory ourselves."

So he embarked a part of his army on board some ships and transported
them across the Straits, and, landing on the Italian shore, he seized
a castle and a portion of territory surrounding it. He put a strong
garrison in the castle, and gave the command of it to Joanna, while he
went back to Messina to strengthen the position of the remainder of
his army there. He thought that the monastery which flanked his
encampment on the side farthest from the town would make a good
fortress if he had possession of it, and that, if well fortified, it
would strengthen very much the defenses of his encampment in case
Tancred should attempt to molest him. So he at once took possession of
it. He turned the monks out of doors, removed all the sacred
implements and emblems, and turned the buildings into a fortress. He
put in a garrison of soldiers to guard it, and filled the rooms which
the monks had been accustomed to use for their studies and their
prayers with stores of arms and ammunition brought in from the ships,
and with other apparatus of war. His object was to be ready to meet
Tancred, at a moment's warning, if he should attempt to attack him.

Soon after this a very serious difficulty broke out between the
soldiers of the army and the people of Messina. There is almost always
difficulty between the soldiers of an army and the people of any town
near which the army is encamped. The soldiers, brutal in their
passions, and standing in awe of none but their own officers, are
often exceedingly violent and unjust in their demeanor toward unarmed
and helpless citizens, and the citizens, though they usually endure
very long and very patiently, sometimes become aroused to resentment
and retaliation at last. In this case, parties of Richard's soldiers
went into Messina, and behaved so outrageously toward the inhabitants,
and especially toward the young women, that the indignation of the
husbands and fathers was excited to the highest degree. The soldiers
were attacked in the streets. Several of them were killed. The rest
fled, and were pursued by the crowd of citizens to the gates. Those
that escaped went to the camp, breathless with excitement and burning
w