whose gates they had battered in when they saw the approach of an
overwhelming host of the enemy. King Richard himself headed a strong
force and advanced to their assistance. Their approach was not seen
until within a short distance of the enemy, upon whom the Crusaders fell
with the force of a thunderbolt, and cleft their way through their
lines. After a short pause in the little town they prepared to again cut
their way through, joined by the party who had there been besieged. The
task was now, however, far more difficult; for the footmen would be
unable to keep up with the rapid charge of the knights, and it was
necessary not only to clear the way, but to keep it open for their exit.
King Richard himself and the greater portion of his knights were to lead
the charge; another party were to follow behind the footmen, who were
ordered to advance at the greatest speed of which they were capable,
while their rearguard by charges upon the enemy kept them at bay. To
this latter party Cuthbert was attached.
The Saracens followed their usual tactics, and this time with great
success. Dividing as the king with his knights charged them, they
suffered these to pass through with but slight resistance, and then
closed in upon their track, while another and still more numerous body
fell upon the footmen and their guard. Again and again did the knights
charge through the ranks of the Moslems, while the billmen stoutly kept
together and resisted the onslaughts of the enemy's cavalry. In spite of
their bravery, however, the storm of arrows shot by the desert horsemen
thinned their ranks with terrible rapidity. Charging up to the very
point of the spears, these wild horsemen fired their arrows into the
faces of their foe, and although numbers of them fell beneath the more
formidable missiles sent by the English archers, their numbers were so
overwhelming that the little band melted away. The small party of
knights, too, were rapidly thinned, although performing prodigious deeds
of valor. The Saracens when dismounted or wounded still fought on foot,
their object being always to stab or hough the horses, and so dismount
the riders. King Richard and his force, though making the most desperate
efforts to return to the assistance of the rearguard, were baffled by
the sturdy resistance of the Saracens, and the position of those in the
rear was fast becoming hopeless.
One by one the gallant little band of knights fell, and a sea of turbans
|