SIEGE AND BATTLE OF JAFFA. 1 1 



with a cool firmness which astonished the enemy. '* I 

 saw them/' he cries, ^' when one fell, another stepped 

 into his place. Oh, admirable constancy ! What 

 men ; what valour ; what undamitedness of mind 

 these Frangis possess !'' At length nmnbers prevailed, 

 and the diminished garrison retreated into the castle. 



Meantime, while Richard was preparing his de- 

 parture for England, a deputation from the garrison of 

 Jaffa appeared belbre him, and, rending their clothes, 

 the immemorial sign in the east of calamity, they re- 

 lated the sufferings and impending crisis of the city. 

 The King was moved, and said, " I will go for the 

 glory of God, and try what may yet be done to avert 

 the fate of Jaffa ;" and then issued orders for the army 

 to prepare instantly to march. The Duke of Bur- 

 gundy peremptorily refused to move ; but the Templars, 

 Hospitalers, and other warriors, consented to advance 

 to Csesarea, while the King, with the gallant band of 

 his own countrymen, trusting to their favourite ele- 

 ment, embarked immediately on board his fleet. 



The corps marching by land soon found that superior 

 hostile forces hung upon its flank, and disputed its 

 progress : the defiles were pre-occupied, the passes 

 encumbered, and, by the time it had reached Csesarea, 

 the avenues were so completely blocked up that it was 

 deemed prudent to halt in that position. Richard's 

 fleet was assailed by contrary winds and strong gales, 

 which, at one time, drove it to within sight of Cyprus : 

 his enemies already gave out that he and the English 

 had fled. While other navigators still wondered that 

 they could survive a storm, they had learnt to brave 

 the winds and struggle wth the tempest. In spite of 

 the elements, they had reached the offing about Cape 

 Caiphas, when the wind became favourable, and, 

 during the following night, the fleet reached the offing 

 of Jaffa. 



But five anxious days had elapsed^ during which 



the straitened garrison of the castle had beheld the 

 most heart-rending scenes of havoc and cruelty perpe- 

 trated by the lawless banditti in the town; not a 



