be made that night; but the Egyptian commander, Felek-ed-Din, fearing lest the caravan should fail to keep together in the darkness, decided to wait till morning.[943] Meanwhile a native Syrian scout had come to Richard at Galatia and told him that if he made haste he might capture the caravan at the Round Cistern. Richard, conscious that there was no real need to hurry—since he and his horsemen could easily overtake the slow movements of a caravan—determined to verify the report before acting on it. He accordingly sent out three more scouts,[944] one a real Bedouin, the others native Turcoples disguised in Bedouin attire, to make a further reconnaissance in the evening. Meanwhile he and his troops seem to have advanced to the head of the Wady el Hesy, which Aslam had crossed shortly before them.[945] Here the returning scouts met them with the news that not only the caravan, but also the army from Egypt, was encamped at the Round Cistern for the night. The king gave orders for all to mount and ride, and, as they valued their honour, not to think of gain, but devote all their energy to routing the Turkish soldiers. He took his usual post in the van; the [Sidenote: _June 23_] French formed the rearguard. By daybreak they were all close to their destination, and were forming up for attack when another scout came to warn them that their approach had been discovered and the caravan was on the alert. Richard sent forward some archers, Turcoples, and crossbowmen, to harass the enemies and impede their movements till he could come up with his other troops. The caravan remained stationary; the Moslem troops took up a sheltered position close to the hills and greeted their assailants with a thick cloud of missiles “which fell on the ground like dew,”[946] but it was all in vain. “Those of our men who were reputed bravest,” confesses Bohadin, “were glad to save their lives by the fleetness of their horses. It was long since Islam had had such a disgraceful defeat.”[947] Aslam, to the neglect of whose counsel the disaster was due, had before the fight began withdrawn with his troops into the mountains. Thither the others fled, chased by the Frank cavalry, while the infantry turned to secure the caravan. Aslam, seeing the Christian forces thus divided, seized his opportunity to send down by a side path a party of horsemen who attacked the Christian foot; but the attack was beaten off, and the caravan surrendered.[948] The booty was immense; there were more than four thousand camels laden with precious stores of the most varied kind, gold and silver, silks and purple cloth, grain and flour, sugar and spices, tents, hides, arms of all sorts; the horses and mules were “altogether beyond counting”; and besides all this, the Egyptian contingent so eagerly awaited by Saladin had lost nearly two thousand men[949] and suffered a most ignominious defeat. “No tidings,” says Bohadin, “ever dealt a more grievous wound to the heart of the Sultan