, and with the
flickering and exhausted remnants of the Greek fire.

The fleet then got under way again, and pursued its course to Acre.

CHAPTER XII.

THE ARRIVAL AT ACRE.

1190

The besieging army at Acre.--Motives of the Saracens.--Motives of
the Christians.--Envyings and jealousy among the besiegers.--King
of Jerusalem.--A common danger makes a common cause.--The
terrible loss of life in the siege of Acre.--The unwieldy armor
of the knights.--King Richard received by the besieging
army.--Berengaria a bride.--Philip's conciliation.

While Richard was thus, with his fleet, drawing near to Acre, the
armies of the Crusaders that were besieging the town had been for some
time gradually getting into a very critical situation. This army was
made up of a great many different bodies of troops, that had come in
the course of years from all parts of Europe to recover the Holy Land
from the possession of the unbelievers. There were Germans, and
French, and Normans, and Italians, and people from the different
kingdoms of Spain, with knights, and barons, and earls, and bishops,
and archbishops, and princes, and other dignitaries of all kinds
without number. With such a heterogeneous mass there could be no
common bond, nor any general and central authority. They spoke a great
variety of languages, and were accustomed to very different modes of
warfare; and the several orders of knights, and the different bodies
of troops, were continually getting involved in dissensions arising
from the jealousies and rivalries which they bore to each other. The
enemy, on the other hand, were united under the command of one great
and powerful Saracen leader named Saladin.

There was another great difference between the Crusaders and the
Saracens which was greatly to the advantage of the latter. The
Saracens were fighting simply to deliver their country from these
bands of invaders. Thus their object was _one_. If any part of the
army achieved a success, the other divisions rejoiced at it, for it
tended to advance them all toward the common end that all had in view.
On the other hand, the chief end and aim of the Crusaders was to get
glory to themselves in the estimation of friends and neighbors at
home, and of Europe in general. It is true that they desired to obtain
this glory by victories over the unbelievers and the conquest of the
Holy Land, but these last objects were the means and not the end. The
_end_, in their view, was