SIEGE AJSD BATTLE OF JAFFA. 93 



Richard, he discharged a mighty blow of his mace, 

 which the king instantly parried, and closing in his 

 turn, he also heaved his arm, but he no longer held a 

 blunted sword ; "^ it was his mighty curtail axe, re- 

 ported to have contained twenty pounds of steel, which 

 now descended with the force of a thunder bolt upon 

 the devoted Saracen : the edge fell upon his neck, and, 

 passing obliquely through the body, struck off the 

 head with the right shoulder and arm at one fell sweep, 

 and tumbled the parted limbs on the ground. Terror 

 seized all the beholders, and they fled on all sides from 

 his presence. Richard, contented with this example 

 of his power, turned his horse and rode slowly back, 

 followed at a respectful distance by the Saracens, who 

 thought it a daring act to throw a dart, and mostly 

 contented themselves with showering arrows after him. 

 Also when the king reached his joyful band, " he and 

 his horse were covered,^' in the words of Vinesalf, 

 " with arrows, like a cushion stuck full of needles !" 



From this moment the enemy kept at a distance, 

 and Richard ordering a dinner to be brought, dis- 

 mounted, and took his meal between the fronts of the 

 opposing forces ; then, mounting ao;ain, he grasped a 

 heavy lance and rode singly along the whole line of the 

 enemy, not one of whom ventured to face him. The 

 sun was now setting, when the field was abandoned 

 by the Saracens, after an unexampled day of toil to 

 the king and his gallant comrades, who are reported to 

 have counted, of the enemy, 1,000 horses and 9,000 

 men killed and wounded; a number most certainly 

 beyond all bounds of credibility, when, moreover it is 

 added, that the Christians lost only two of their own.-f- 



* In some narratives, it must be owned, the word glad his is used, 

 but the above detail is so circumstantially given by others that, al- 

 though Boha-eddin does not relate this event, it was at least the 

 accredited account among the English crusaders. 



f The Latin text of the same author says, 700 Turks, which is 

 probably correct ; and the Romance of Richard notices the death of 

 Sir Bertram de Brundis, John de Nesle, William Arsons, and Sir 

 Gerard, within the walls. 



