ven at night did the attacks of the enemy cease, and a
portion of the harassed force was obliged to keep under arms to repel
assaults.

So passed the time until the army arrived at Azotus, and there, to the
delight of the Crusaders, who only longed to get at their foes, they
beheld the whole force of Saladin, two hundred thousand strong, barring
their way. Had it not been for the stern discipline enforced by King
Richard the knights of England and France would have repeated the
mistake which had caused the extermination of the Christian force at
Tiberias, and would have leveled their lances and charged recklessly
into the mass of their enemies. But the king, riding round the flanks
and front of the force, gave his orders in the sternest way, with the
threat that any man who moved from the ranks should die by his hand.

The army was halted, the leaders gathered round the king, and a hasty
consultation was held. Richard insisted upon the fight being conducted
upon the same principles as the march--that the line of archers should
stand outside the knights, and should gall the advancing force with
arrows till the last moment, and then retire among the cavalry, only to
sally out again as the Bedouins fell back from the steel wall of
horsemen.

Cuthbert had now for the first time donned full armor, and rode behind
the Earl of Evesham as his esquire, for the former esquire had been left
behind, ill with fever at Acre.

CHAPTER XII.

THE ACCOLADE.

It was now a year since they had left England, and Cuthbert had much
grown and widened out in the interval, and had never neglected an
opportunity of practicing with arms; and the earl was well aware that he
should obtain as efficient assistance from him in time of need as he
could desire.

This was the first time that Cuthbert, and indeed the great proportion
of those present in the Christian host, had seen the enemy in force, and
they eagerly watched the vast array. It was picturesque in the extreme,
with a variety and brightness of color rivaling that of the Christian
host. In banners and pennons the latter made a braver show; but the
floating robes of the infidel showed a far brighter mass of color than
the steel armor of the Christians.

Here were people drawn from widely separated parts of Saladin's
dominions. Here were Nubians from the Nile, tall and powerful men, jet
black in skin, with lines of red and white paint on their faces, giving
a ghastly and wild