he town, to give up to the Christians the wood of the Holy Cross,
to set at liberty all their Christian captives, and to pay two hundred
thousand pieces of gold. All this was to be done within forty days; but,
not being done, King Richard ordered some three thousand Saracen
prisoners to be brought out in the front of his camp, and there, in full
view of their own countrymen, to be butchered.
The French King had no part in this crime; for he was by that time
travelling homeward with the greater part of his men; being offended by
the overbearing conduct of the English King; being anxious to look after
his own dominions; and being ill, besides, from the unwholesome air of
that hot and sandy country. King Richard carried on the war without him;
and remained in the East, meeting with a variety of adventures, nearly a
year and a half. Every night when his army was on the march, and came to
a halt, the heralds cried out three times, to remind all the soldiers of
the cause in which they were engaged, 'Save the Holy Sepulchre!' and then
all the soldiers knelt and said 'Amen!' Marching or encamping, the army
had continually to strive with the hot air of the glaring desert, or with
the Saracen soldiers animated and directed by the brave Saladin, or with
both together. Sickness and death, battle and wounds, were always among
them; but through every difficulty King Richard fought like a giant, and
worked like a common labourer. Long and long after he was quiet in his
grave, his terrible battle-axe, with twenty English pounds of English
steel in its mighty head, was a legend among the Saracens; and when all
the Saracen and Christian hosts had been dust for many a year, if a
Saracen horse started at any object by the wayside, his rider would
exclaim, 'What dost thou fear, Fool? Dost thou think King Richard is
behind it?'
No one admired this King's renown for bravery more than Saladin himself,
who was a generous and gallant enemy. When Richard lay ill of a fever,
Saladin sent him fresh fruits from Damascus, and snow from the mountain-
tops. Courtly messages and compliments were frequently exchanged between
them--and then King Richard would mount his horse and kill as many
Saracens as he could; and Saladin would mount his, and kill as many
Christians as he could. In this way King Richard fought to his heart's
content at Arsoof and at Jaffa; and finding himself with nothing exciting
to do at Ascalon, except to rebuild, for hi
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