along the banks of the river.

'Gentlemen,' said Louis, as he dismissed the council, 'I feel assured
that we shall have no reason to repent adopting the bolder of the
projects discussed this day; for, with an army of sixty thousand men,
and the blessing of God on our endeavours, I see no reason to despair of
accomplishing something great against the enemies of Christ.'

'Sire,' replied John de Valery, 'may God grant that your hopes be
realised.'

And the nobles and princes separated to make the necessary preparations
for marching to Cairo.

Little did they foresee the terrible circumstances under which many of
them were to reach that city.

CHAPTER XVII.

FACE TO FACE.

WHILE the Crusaders were preparing to leave Damietta, march up the Nile,
and attack Cairo, Melikul Salih, after struggling desperately with the
great destroyer, yielded to his fate, and breathed his last at
Mansourah. The death of the sultan was regarded by the emirs as most
untimely; for his son, Touran Chah, was then in Mesopotamia, and they
were apprehensive of the most serious troubles. At this crisis, however,
a woman, whose great ability enabled her to comprehend the emergency and
to deal with it, suggested measures for averting the ruin with which the
empire of Egypt was menaced.

Her name was Chegger Eddour, and she is said to have been an Armenian.
She had originally been brought to Cairo as merchandise, and purchased
by Melikul Salih as a slave. But her wit and beauty won the sultan's
heart, and he became so enamoured that he elevated her to the position
of favourite sultana, and carried her about with him wherever he went.
One son whom she had by the sultan died young. Nevertheless her
influence daily increased; and the Arabian historians, while eloquent
in praise of her courage, agree in saying, that 'no woman surpassed her
in beauty, and no man excelled her in genius.'

No sooner did Melikul Salih depart this life, than Chegger Eddour
assembled the principal emirs at Mansourah, and made them acknowledge
Touran Chah as sultan. Moreover, she impressed upon them the necessity
of concealing the death of her husband till the arrival of his
successor. The policy she recommended was adopted. Orders were still
issued in Melikul Salih's name; the Mamelukes still guarded the gates of
the palace as if he had been living; and prayers for his recovery were
still offered up in the mosques, where the Moslems worshipped. All these
precau