constant charges against vulnerable points, they succeeded in exhausting and demoralizing the Franks so that the foot-soldiers broke their ranks. Some threw down their arms and surrendered; others fled, and were pursued and cut to pieces; while the great body retreated in confusion to the summit of Mount Hattin, from which the king attempted to rally them to support the knights in protecting the Holy Cross, but without avail. An attempt was then made to encamp around the Cross; but the Saracens now pressed upon them, and discharged a shower of arrows, by one of which the bearer of the Cross was slain. In this extremity the king gave orders to renew the fight; but it was too late, as they were now so exhausted and disheartened that they were but little better than a confused mob; and, in this extremity, Raymond and his followers, when ordered to advance, put their horses to full speed over the dead bodies of their fallen comrades, and rushed through the ranks of the enemy, which opened to let them pass, and thus escaped, by a shameful flight, in the direction of Tyre. The king then withdrew to the height of Tell Hattin, with a few knights and other brave followers, where, for a time, they maintained their position against the fearful odds against them, but were at length obliged to yield, when some were driven headlong over the steep precipice on the northern side of the hill, and others were taken prisoners. Among the latter were the King, Raynald of Chatillon, Honroy of Toron, the Bishop of Lydda, and the Grand Master of the Templars. The latter, although his advice to advance might have been injudi cious, yet by his conduct throughout this bloody conflict, he added new lustre to the reputation of the Knights Templars for chivalric courage and fortitude. Immediately after the battle, the captive princes were led before Saladin, who received them in the antechamber of his pavilion, and with the respect due to their positions--except Raynald, on whom his eye fell fiercely, for he remembered him as the bitter enemy of his people, and as the immediate cause of this conflict, in which so many of his best warriors had lost their lives. At the order of Saladin, cool sherbet was presented to the king; but when the latter passed it to Raynald, Saladin said to him, "Thou givest him drink, not I," in accordance with an Arab custom, that whoever gives drink or food to another, is bound to protect him at all hazards. After the other prisoners had received refreshments, Saladin addressed Raynald, upbraiding him for his cruelty and insolence against the Mohammedans and their religion, and for breaking the truce; and ended by inviting him to embrace Mohammedanism. Raynald replied that he had lived, and would die, only in the Christian faith; upon which, Saladin rose from his seat, drew his scimitar, and at a blow cleft through Raynald's shoulder; when the attendants rushed upon and despatched him. Saladin then assured the king and princes that their lives were safe, that the massacre of Raynald was only the punishment due his atrocities; but, smarting under the remembrance of the many chastisements his people had received at the hands of the Knights Templars, and also that on that day scores |