To all this Richard listened without speaking a word, and when the priest’s discourse was ended he made no comment or reply. But he pondered over it; “and his thoughts were enlightened.” Next day (June 4) the host was led westward, and by the hour of nones found itself once more in the fields around Ascalon.[920] Everybody took this to mean that the king intended to set out for Europe at once. Instead, he told his nephew and the other nobles that “for no other concern or need, no messenger and no tidings, nor for any earthly quarrel, would he depart from them or quit the land before next Easter.” Then he called for his herald Philip, and bade him proclaim throughout Ascalon, in God’s Name, that the king had with his own lips promised to stay in the land till Easter, and that all men were to make themselves ready with whatsoever means God had given them, for they were going to Jerusalem to besiege it straightway.[921] CHAPTER VI RICHARD AND SALADIN 1192 Circumdate Sion et complectimini eam ... et distribuite domos ejus, ut enarratis in progenie altera. The abandonment of the projected expedition to Ibelin was due to more causes than one. On the day of the [Sidenote: _May 22_] surrender of Darum Saladin had yielded to the necessity strongly urged upon him by his emirs, of restoring peace and unity within the borders of Islam as the essential preliminary to a renewal of the “Holy” war, and had despatched Safadin with full powers to make whatever terms he might think good with his rebel great-nephew El Mansour.[922] The settlement thus made enabled the Sultan to call out all his forces again for action against the Franks; and so prompt was the response to his call that two important contingents, under the Emirs Bedr-ed-Din and Ezz-ed-Din, reached Jerusalem on the last day of May, just as the Christian host was on its march northward from Cassaba. Hearing that it was at the “parting of the roads” between Ascalon and Ibelin, he despatched Ezz-ed-Din with the newly arrived forces to intercept it, and an encounter in circumstances which would have been highly unfavourable to the Franks was only averted by the promptitude with which their leaders, on discovering Ezz-ed-Din’s approach, changed their plans and retired to Ascalon.[923] Ibelin was a place worth securing; but its capture was not essential to their present object; for the purpose of leading an army to Jerusalem the Wady el Afranj was as valueless as the Wady el Hesy. When once a new advance on Jerusalem was decided on, the matter of most urgent necessity was the restoration of the host to its fullest possible strength. Some of the French contingent were still at Acre. Thither Count Henry once more proceeded from Ascalon to call these recalcitrants back to their duty,[924] and also to collect any reinforcements that could be obtained from Tyre, Tripoli, or elsewhere.[925] Beit Nuba was appointed as the place where he and they were to rejoin the main