of the time all record the massacre without a word or a hint of reprobation; one at least who was himself in the host openly rejoices over it as a just vengeance for the Crusaders slain during the siege by the crossbows of the garrison.[741] With the leaders every other consideration would probably be outweighed by a military one. Until these prisoners were disposed of in some safe way, the Crusade must be at a standstill. They could not be left in Acre or anywhere else without a guard far more numerous than it was possible to spare from the main enterprise. Saladin’s conduct had extinguished the hope of disposing of them by exchange. The only sure way was to follow an example set by him, though on a much smaller scale, four years before, when he put to death all the Templars and Hospitaliers who had been captured in the battle of Hattin.[742] So the deed was done; and that same night a herald proclaimed throughout the host that on the morrow all must be ready to set out for Ascalon.[743] CHAPTER IV FROM ACRE TO JOPPA 1191 Lignum Crucis, Signum Ducis, Sequitur exercitus, Quod non cessit, sed praecessit In vi Sancti Spiritus. _Berter of Orleans._ Two main roads led southward from Acre. One crossed the river Kishon at a point which on the map is about half way between Nazareth and the sea, passed over the middle of Mount Carmel, and then along the eastern side of the plain which lies between the coast and the mountain-range of Samaria and Judea. Cross-paths through the defiles of this range led from the road to the Holy Places of southern Palestine—Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Hebron—and connected it with the great lines of communication running through these places southward to Egypt and Mecca and northward up the Jordan valley to Damascus; paths across the plain connected it with the other great main road, which followed the coast-line all the way to the mouth of the Nile. The inland route was the more direct way to Jerusalem; but for the Crusaders the coast route was the safer, indeed the only safe one. The re-conquest of the land must begin with the re-conquest of the seaboard towns. Acre might serve as principal base for the whole expedition; but this was not enough; before the Crusaders could venture into the interior of the land they must make sure of being able to communicate with Cyprus and with Europe through other ports besides Acre, and with Acre itself by sea as well as by land. They must also endeavour to block at least one of the enemy’s lines of communication with Egypt; and of these the most frequented and important was the coast route, to which the entrance from Egypt, both by land and sea, was commanded by the great fortress of Ascalon. Thus the plan of campaign implied in the order issued on the night of August 20 was to regain, first and foremost, the whole seaboard of the Holy Land.