Saladin was quite as anxious for a truce as Richard could be. On the night of August 27 he had despatched several emirs on a reconnoitring expedition to ascertain the chances of success in another attempt on Joppa, or, failing this, a night attack on Ascalon. They came back to him at Ramlah with tidings that there were at Joppa scarcely three hundred mounted troops, most of whom had only mules for chargers. Yet against this small and ill-mounted force Saladin dared not pit his great army, “because,” says Bohadin, “he knew that his men were weakened and wearied and longing for their homes, and he feared that they would refuse, as they had refused once already at Joppa, to attack the foe, or would desert him altogether.”[1028] He therefore drew up his final terms on Monday, August 31. The truce was to last for three years, beginning on Wednesday, September 22. Ramlah or Lydda was to be added to the king’s share of the land, or even both places, unless he would be content with half of each; and Ascalon was to be dismantled again. All the Moslem territories were to be included in the truce, and also the princes of Antioch and Tripoli. When on September 1 the schedule was brought to Richard, he said he was too ill to read it, but he added: “I have already confirmed the agreement by giving my hand on it.” Count Henry and the other leaders were then informed of its details, and accepted them all, including the proposed partition of Lydda and Ramlah. Next day (Wednesday, September 2) they and Saladin’s envoys all met in Richard’s tent. Richard again confirmed the truce by giving his hand to the Moslems; they asked him for his oath, but he explained that it was not customary in the West for a king to swear on such occasions, and they accepted the explanation. The other Frank leaders then took the usual oath, and several of them went back with the Moslems to Saladin’s camp to witness his ratification of the treaty.[1029] Immediately afterwards Richard despatched to Saladin a special message setting forth his own purpose in making the truce. That purpose, he said, was first to revisit his home-lands and see how they did, and next, to collect there men and money wherewith he hoped to return and to wrest from the Sultan the whole “Land of Jerusalem.” Saladin answered in the spirit of true chivalry: if he were to lose the Land, he would rather it were won by Richard than by any prince whom he had ever known.[1030]