from the discharge of what they deemed their
duty.

The stabs which the two Hassassins gave to Conrad were so effectual
that he fell dead upon the spot. The people that were near rushed to
his assistance, and while some gathered round the bleeding body, and
endeavored to stanch the wounds, others seized the murderers and bore
them off to the castle. They would have pulled them to pieces by the
way if they had not desired to reserve them for the torture.

The torture is, of course, in every respect, a wretched way of
eliciting evidence. So far as it is efficacious at all in eliciting
declarations, it tends to lead the sufferer, in thinking what he shall
say, to consider, not what is the truth, but what is most likely to
satisfy his tormentors and make them release him. Accordingly, men
under torture say any thing which they suppose their questioners wish
to hear. At one moment it is one thing, and the next it is another,
and the men who conduct the examination can usually report from it any
result they please.

A story gained great credit in the army, and especially among the
French portion of it, immediately after the examination of these men,
that they said that they had been hired by Richard himself to kill
Conrad, and this story produced every where the greatest excitement
and indignation. On the other hand, the friends of Richard declared
that the Hassassins had stated that they were sent by their chieftain,
the Old Man of the Mountain, and that the cause was a quarrel that had
long been standing between Conrad and him. It is true that there had
been such a quarrel, and, consequently, that the Old Man would be,
doubtless, very willing that Conrad should be killed. Indeed, it is
probable that, if Richard was really the original instigator of the
murder, he would have made the arrangement for it with the Old Man,
and not directly with the subordinates. It was, in fact, a part of the
regular and settled business of this tribe to commit murders for pay.
The chieftain might have the more readily undertaken this case from
having already a quarrel of his own with Conrad on hand. It was never
fully ascertained what the true state of the case was. The Arab
historians maintain that it was Richard's work. The English writers,
on the contrary, throw the blame on the Old Man. The English writers
maintain, moreover, that the deed was one which such a man as Richard
was very little likely to perform. He was, it is true, they s