50 SIEGE AND BATTLE OF JAFFA. 



wise passed out of the breastwork, and the Saracens 

 turned their backs : a crowd of them was hemmed in 

 between the two crurading bodies, at the foot of those 

 same towers where, for several previous days, wanton 

 barbarity had piled up so many bloody corpses of all 

 classes of christians, and insultingly had mixed with 

 them the carcases of all the swine they could discover. 

 Now vengeance had its turn, and every Saracen was 

 slain on the spot : drunken plunderers were in many 

 cases likewise put to death ; but the route was so de- 

 cisive that in an hour king Richard was master of the 

 city. 



On the towers and the walls where Saracen banners 

 had been left floating by the enemy, the king's were 

 set up ; and although there were but three horsemen 

 remaining mounted in the christian force, the blow 

 had been so vigorously struck that Saladin in person 

 found it necessary to fly towards Rama ; and the king 

 ordered his own tents to be pitched on the spot where 

 the sultan's had stood. That same evening he ob- 

 served several mamelukes of the sultan's household, 

 personally known to him, and by them, in his usual 

 manner, he sent his compliments and again offered 

 to treat. 



Saladin, though defeated and sensible that he could 

 not contend in the field against Richard's prowess, 

 still trusted to the profound ability of his strategical 

 measures. Instructed by the same traitorous corres- 

 pondence and by the reports of his detachments, he 

 conceived the masterly design of leaving the English 

 busy and isolated in Jaffa, while he, from his central 

 position, made a rapid march upon Caesarea, where he 

 hoped to find the corps of templars and hospitalers al- 

 ready hemmed in by his troops, an easy prey. But 

 Richard was also a general worthy of the name : as 

 soon as he missed the sultan's masses of troops, his 

 penetration led him to conclude for what purpose they 

 had withdrawn, and with that decision of will, which 

 always leads to great results, he instantly sent off the 

 fleet, with nearly his whole force, to reinforce the 



