direct its movements according to what they saw of those of the Turks; and Count Henry of Champagne acted as special “side-guard” on the flank nearest to the hills, where he rode continually alongside of the foot-soldiers.[774] Saladin, meanwhile, had rapidly disposed his forces so as to occupy the hills parallel with the Crusaders’ line of march from the River of the Cleft Rock to Arsuf. By the coast-road the distance between these two places is little more than four miles. Setting out probably at dawn, the Christian vanguard reached the outskirts of Arsuf before nine o’clock, and some of the footmen began to pitch the tents among the fields and gardens.[775] Then the Saracen archers swarmed down upon the flank of the advancing host, pouring on it an overwhelming shower of arrows.[776] It was, however, in the rear that Saladin hoped to deliver his most effectual blow. Here his line curved round from the hills towards the mouth of the river, so that, as a Frank writer says, the Christian rearguard, “packed together so closely that you could not have thrown an apple at it without hitting either a man or a horse,” filled the whole space between the sea-shore and the enemies.[777] Thus surrounded, the crossbowmen and archers in the rearguard struggled on for hours, constantly compelled to turn round and sometimes to march backwards, returning as best they could the continuous fire of missiles in their rear. At length it ceased, only to be succeeded by an attack at close quarters from another body of Turks with maces and swords, who fell upon the foot-soldiers of the Hospital in overwhelming force. Once already the Knights had sent a message to Richard, begging for leave to disperse their assailants by a charge, but it had been refused. Now the Grand Master himself spurred forward and urged the same request. “Be patient, good Master; one cannot be everywhere,” was the reply. Richard was determined not to risk a charge till he saw the fitting moment for a general one all along the line. It had been pre-arranged that when the charge was to take place, two trumpets should be sounded in the van, two in the centre, and two in the rear, so as to be heard above and distinguished from the din of the innumerable Turkish brass drums and other noisy instruments, and to let the three divisions of the host know their relative positions. At last the leaders decided that the moment had come, and the signal was about to be given, when the Marshal of the Hospital and a Norman knight, Baldwin le Caron,[778] burst through the ranks without waiting for it, and shouting “Saint George!” dashed into the midst of the enemy. The other knights at once turned their horses and followed the rash example. For a moment the whole rearguard was in confusion, and a great disaster seemed imminent; but Richard’s promptitude retrieved the day.[779] The trumpets were sounded so instantaneously that the Turks seem never to have discovered what had really precipitated the charge.[780]