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at once marrying the Princess Berengaria.

Popular as he was, there was yet some quiet grumbling among his troops;

as they said, with justice, they had been waiting nearly six months in

the island of Sicily, and the king might well have married there, instead

of a fresh delay being caused when so near their place of destination.

However, the king as usual had his own way, and the marriage was

solemnized amidst great rejoicing and solemnity.

It was a brilliant scene indeed in the cathedral of Limasol. There were

assembled all the principal barons of England, together with a great

number of the nobles of Cyprus.

Certainly no better matched pair ever stood at the altar together, for

as King Richard was one of the strongest and bravest men of his own or

any other time, so Berengaria is admitted to have been one of the

loveliest maidens.

The air was rent with the acclamations of the assembled English host

and of the numerous inhabitants of Limasol as they emerged from the

cathedral. For a fortnight the town was given up to festivity;

tournaments, joustings, banquets succeeded each other day after day,

and the islanders, who were fond of pleasure, and indeed very wealthy,

vied with the English in the entertainments which they gave in honour

of the occasion.

The festivities over, the king gave the welcome order to proceed on their

voyage. They had now been joined by all the vessels left behind at

Rhodes, and it was found that only a few were missing, and that the great

storm, terrible as it had been, had inflicted less damage upon the fleet

than was at first feared.

Two days' sail brought them within sight of the white walls of Acre, and

it was on the 8th of June, 1191, that the fleet sailed into the port of

that town. Tremendous acclamations greeted the arrival of the English

army by the host assembled on the shores.

Acre had been besieged for two years, but in vain; and even the arrival

of the French army under Phillip Augustus had failed to turn the scale.

The inhabitants defended themselves with desperate bravery; every assault

upon the walls had been repulsed with immense slaughter; and at no great

distance off the Sultan Saladin, with a large army, was watching the

progress of the siege.

The fame of King Richard and the English was so great, however, that the

besiegers had little doubt that his arrival would change the position of

things; and even the French, in spite of the bad feeling which had

existed in Sicily, joined with the knights and army of the King of

Jerusalem in acclaiming the arrival of the English.

Phillip Augustus, the French King, was of a somewhat weak and wavering

disposition. It would have been thought that after his dispute with King

Richard he would have gladly done all in his power to carry Acre before

the arrival of his great rival. To the great disappointment of the

French, however, he declared that he would take no step in the general

assault until the arrival of Richard; and although the French had given

some assistance to the besiegers, the army had really remained passive

for many weeks.

Now, however, that the English had arrived, little time was lost; for the

moment the dissensions and jealousies between the monarchs were patched

up, the two hosts naturally imitated the example of their sovereigns, and

French and English worked side by side in throwing up trenches against

the walls, in building movable towers for the attack, and in preparing

for the great onslaught.

The French were the first to finish their preparations, and they

delivered a tremendous assault upon the walls. The besieged, however, did

not lose heart, and with the greatest bravery repulsed every attempt. The

scaling ladders were hurled backwards, the towers were destroyed by Greek

fire; boiling oil was hurled down upon the men who advanced under the

shelter of machines to undermine the walls; and after desperate fighting

the French fell back, baffled and beaten.

There was some quiet exultation in the English lines at the defeat of the

French, for they believed that a better fortune would crown their own

efforts. Such, however, to their surprise and mortification, was not the

case. When their preparations were completed, they attacked with splendid

bravery. They were fighting under the eyes of their king, and in sight of

the French army, who had a few days before been baffled; and if bravery

and devotion could have carried the walls of Acre, assuredly King

Richard's army would have accomplished the task.

It was, however, too great for them, and with vast loss the army fell

back to its camp, King Richard raging like a wounded lion. Many of his

barons had been killed in the assault, and the pikemen and men-at-arms

had suffered heavily. The Earl of Evesham had been wounded; Cuthbert had

taken no part in the assault, for the earl, knowing his bravery, had

forbidden his doing so, as he foresaw the struggle would be of the most

desperate character; and as it was not usual for pages to accompany

their lords on the battle-field, Cuthbert could not complain of his being

forbidden to take part in the fight.

The earl, however, permitted him to accompany Cnut and the bowmen, who

did great service by the accuracy of their aim, preventing by their storm

of arrows the men on the battlements from taking steady aim and working

their machines, and so saved the Earl of Evesham's troop and those

fighting near him from suffering nearly as heavy loss as some of those

engaged in other quarters.

But while successful in beating off all assaults, the defenders of Acre

were now nearly at the end of their resources. The Emperor Saladin,

although he had collected an army of 200,000 men, yet feared to advance

and give battle to the crusaders in their own lines--for they had thrown

up round their camp strong entrenchments, to prevent the progress of the

siege being disturbed by forces from without.

The people of Acre seeing the time pass and no sign of a rescuing force,

their provisions being utterly exhausted, and pestilence and fever making

frightful ravages in the city, at last determined to surrender.

For over two years they had made a resistance of the most valiant

description, and now, despairing of success or rescue, and seeing the

hosts of their besiegers increasing day by day, they hoisted a flag upon

the walls, and sent a deputation to the kings, asking for terms if they

submitted. They would have done well had they submitted upon the arrival

of the French and English reinforcements. For the monarchs, annoyed by

the defeat of their forces and by the heavy losses they had sustained,

and knowing that the besieged were now at their last crust, were not

disposed to be merciful.

However, the horrors which then attended the capture of cities in a

war in which so little quarter was given on either side, were avoided.

The city was to be surrendered; the much-prized relic contained within

its walls--said to be a piece of the true Cross which had been

captured by the Saracens at the battle of Tiberias, in which they had

almost annihilated the Christian armies a few years before--was to be

surrendered; the Christian prisoners in their hands were to be given

up unharmed; and the inhabitants undertook to pay 200,000 pieces of

gold to the kings within forty days, under the condition that the

fighting men now taken prisoners were to be put to death should this

ransom not be paid.

The conquest of Acre was hailed throughout Christendom as a triumph of

the highest importance. It opened again the gates of the Holy Land; and

so tremendous was the strength of the fortress, that it was deemed that

if this stronghold were unable to resist effectually the arms of the

crusaders, and that if Saladin with so great an army did not dare to

advance to its rescue, then the rest of the Holy Land would speedily fall

under the hands of the invading army.

With the fall of Acre, however, the dissensions between the two kings,

which had for a while been allowed to rest while the common work was to

be done, broke out again with renewed intensity. The jealousy of Phillip

Augustus was raised to the highest point by the general enthusiasm of the

combined armies for the valiant King of England, and by the authority

which that monarch exercised in the councils. He therefore suddenly

announced his intention of returning to France.

This decision at first occasioned the greatest consternation in the ranks

of the crusaders; but this feeling was lessened when the king announced

that he should leave a large portion of the French army behind, under the

command of the Duke of Burgundy. The wiser councillors were satisfied

with the change. Although there was a reduction of the total fighting

force, yet the fact that it was now centred under one head, and that King

Richard would now be in supreme command, was deemed to more than

counterbalance the loss of a portion of the French army.

Before starting on the march for Jerusalem, King Richard sullied his

reputation by causing all the defenders of Acre to be put to death, their

ransom not having arrived at the stipulated time.

Then the allied army set out upon their journey. The fleet cruised along

near them, and from it they obtained all that was requisite for their

wants, and yet, notwithstanding these advantages, the toil and fatigue

were terrible. Roads scarcely existed, and the army marched across the

rough and broken country. There was no straggling, but each kept his

place; and if unable to do so, fell and died. The blazing sun poured down

upon them with an appalling force; the dust which rose when they left the

rocks and came upon flat sandy ground, almost smothered them. Water was

only obtainable at the halts, and then was frequently altogether

insufficient for the wants of the army; while in front, on flank, and in

rear hovered clouds of the cavalry of Saladin.

At times King Richard would allow parties of his knights to detach

themselves from the force to drive off these enemies. But it was the

chase of a lion after a hare. The knights in their heavy armour and

powerful steeds were left behind as if standing still, by the fleet

Bedouins on their desert coursers; and the pursuers, exhausted and worn

out, were always glad to regain the ranks of the army.

These clouds of cavalry belonging to the enemy did not content

themselves with merely menacing and cutting off stragglers. At times,

when they thought they saw an opening, they would dash in and attack the

column desperately, sometimes gaining temporary advantages, killing and

wounding many, then fleeing away again into the desert.

Finding that it was impossible to catch these wary horsemen, King Richard

ordered his bowmen to march outside his cavalry, so that when the enemy's

horse approached within bowshot they should open upon them with arrows;

then, should the horsemen persist in charging, the archers were at once

to take refuge behind the lines of the knights.

Day after day passed in harassing conflicts. The distance passed over

each day was very small, and the sufferings of the men from thirst, heat,

and fatigue enormous. Cuthbert could well understand now what he had

heard of great armies melting away, for already men began to succumb in

large numbers to the terrible heat, and the path traversed by the army

was scattered with corpses of those who had fallen victims to sunstroke.

Not even at night did the attacks of the enemy cease, and a portion of

the harassed force was obliged to keep under arms to repel assaults.

So passed the time until the army arrived at Azotus, and there, to the

delight of the crusaders, who only longed to get at their foes, they

beheld the whole force of Saladin, 200,000 strong, barring their way. Had

it not been for the stern discipline enforced by King Richard, the

knights of England and France would have repeated the mistake which had

caused the extermination of the Christian force at Tiberias, and would

have levelled their lances and charged recklessly into the mass of their

enemies. But the king, riding round the flanks and front of the force,

gave his orders in the sternest way, with the threat that any man who

moved from the ranks should die by his hand.

The army was halted, the leaders gathered round the king, and a hasty

consultation was held. Richard insisted upon the fight being conducted

upon the same principles as the march--that the line of archers

should stand outside the knights, and should gall the advancing force

with arrows till the last moment, and then retire among the cavalry,

only to sally out again as the Bedouins fell back from the steel wall

of horsemen.

Cuthbert had now for the first time donned full armour, and rode behind

the Earl of Evesham as his esquire, for the former esquire had been left

behind, ill with fever, at Acre.

CHAPTER XII.

THE ACCOLADE.

It was now a year since they had left England, and Cuthbert had much

grown and widened out in the interval, and had never neglected an

opportunity of practising with arms; and the earl was well aware that he

should obtain as efficient assistance from him in time of need as he

could desire.

This was the first time that Cuthbert, and indeed the great proportion of

those present in the Christian host, had seen the enemy in force, and

they eagerly watched the vast array. It was picturesque in the extreme,

with a variety and brightness of colour rivalling that of the Christian

host. In banners and pennons the latter made a braver show; but the

floating robes of the infidel showed a far brighter mass of colour than

the steel armour of the Christians.

Here were people drawn from widely separated parts of Saladin's

dominions. Here were Nubians from the Nile, tall and powerful men, jet

black in skin, with lines of red and white paint on their faces, giving a

ghastly and wild appearance to them. On their shoulders were skins of

lions and other wild animals. They carried short bows, and heavy clubs

studded with iron. By them were the Bedouin cavalry, light, sinewy men,

brown as berries, with white turbans and garments. Near these were the

cavalry from Syria and the plains of Assyria--wild horsemen with