from God, a German fleet reached Jaffa. It was well
unloaded before capture by a Saracen fleet, and the detachment sent from
the besiegers to open communication, searched Jaffa, and the provisions
and instruments and material for war were carried to the Crusaders'
camp. Desiring yet more, a native led the Duke of Normandy to a forest
thirty miles from the city, and this timber was dragged to the city.
Regular expeditions to find water were successfully organized, and lines
of women and children quickly passed it to the camp. Bunches of faggots
were rapidly accumulated and machines of war grew each day, and were
planted for the next attack. They made three towers higher than the
walls of the city, with a draw-bridge, over which the besiegers might
reach the top of the walls.

[Sidenote: _Religious Processions_]

[Sidenote: _Peter's Address_]

All being ready, they fortified their courage by religious exercises,
and with the clergy leading, marched around the city. From the valley
which faces Calvary, the Crusaders set out, passing by the reputed tomb
of Mary, the Garden of Gethsemane, and the Mount of Olives. They halted
on the Mount of the Ascension to reconcile all differences and seal
pardon with mutual prayer. The Saracens raised crosses on the walls, and
denied them in every way which could be devised by a foul imagination.
After a long silence, Peter the Hermit once more finds voice: "You hear
them! You hear their threats and blasphemies! Christ dies again on
Calvary for your sins. Swear, swear to defend them. The army of infidels
will soon disappear. The mosques shall be temples of the true God." And
much more did Peter say after his old eloquent fashion, and with results
which were wholly like those which followed his early preaching. The
soldiers fell on each other's necks, praised God, and pledged themselves
to finish the holy work they had begun. They passed the night after
their return to camp in prayer and in the reception of the holy
sacrament.

The Mohammedans spent their time also in exercises of their religion,
and thus both sides were animated by the extreme of devout zeal.

[Sidenote: _Saracen Machines_]

The Christian leaders resolved to make the attack before the courage of
their army could diminish by longer contemplation of the difficulties
and dangers of the assault. The Saracens had built up their machines
opposite those of the Christians, and to the last determined, as their
mechanism se