A violent storm dispersed his fleet, but he arrived safely at Rhodes
with the principal part of the armament. Here he learned that three of
his ships had been stranded on the rocky coasts of Cyprus, and that the
ruler of the island, Isaac Comnenus, had permitted his people to
pillage the unfortunate crews, and had refused shelter to his betrothed
bride, the Princess Berengaria, and his sister, who, in one of the
vessels, had been driven by stress of weather into the port of Limisso.
The fiery monarch swore to be revenged, and, collecting all his
vessels, sailed back to Limisso. Isaac Comnenus refused to apologize or
explain, and Richard, in no mood to be trifled with, landed on the
island, routed with great loss the forces sent to oppose him, and laid
the whole country under contribution.

On his arrival at Acre, he found the whole of the chivalry of Europe
there before him. Guy of Lusignan, the King of Jerusalem, had long
before collected the bold Knights of the Temple, the Hospital, and St.
John, and had laid siege to Acre, which was resolutely defended by the
Sultan Saladin, with an army magnificent both for its numbers and its
discipline. For nearly two years the crusaders had pushed the siege,
and made efforts almost superhuman to dislodge the enemy. Various
battles had taken place in the open fields with no decisive advantage
to either party, and Guy of Lusignan had begun to despair of taking
that strong position without aid from Europe. His joy was extreme on
the arrival of Philip with all his chivalry, and he only awaited the
coming of Coeur de Lion to make one last decisive attack upon the town.
When the fleet of England was first seen approaching the shores of
Syria, a universal shout arose from the Christian camp; and when
Richard landed with his train, one louder still pierced to the very
mountains of the south, where Saladin lay with all his army.

It may be remarked as characteristic of this Crusade, that the
Christians and the Moslems no longer looked upon each other as
barbarians, to whom mercy was a crime. Each host entertained the
highest admiration for the bravery and magnanimity of the other, and in
their occasional truces met upon the most friendly terms. The Moslem
warriors were full of courtesy to the Christian knights, and had no
other regret than to think that such fine fellows were not Mahomedans.
The Christians, with a feeling precisely similar, extolled to the skies
the nobleness of the S