‘This army is all we have: if we lose it, the Holy City will be lost. Let us go to some place where Saladin will have to attack us, where we shall hold the fortress instead of attacking him. I would rather lose this country and all that I possess, if by that I might save the Holy City.’ But the other knights made the king believe that Raymond said this because he was really on Saladin’s side, and wished him to win. The king yielded to them, and the army marched forward to Tiberias. When they reached the town, they found that all the heights on the hills round it were fortified. For two days a terrible battle raged. The Moslems even were astonished at the brave way the crusading army fought to save the wood of the true Cross which they had carried into the fight. They said that ‘the knights flew round it like moths round a candle.’ But at last the bishop who bore it was killed, and the Cross was carried to Saladin’s camp. When the Crusaders raised the body of the dead bishop they found that he had worn a coat of mail under his robe, and they thought that it was because of his want of faith that they had lost the battle, for always before, the bearer of the Cross had gone unarmed into battle. When the Cross was taken, the crusading army lost all courage. One after another of the leaders was taken prisoner. Count Raymond escaped, but soon he died of misery for a lost cause and a lost home. When the king and the Lord of Carac were brought before Saladin the Moslem welcomed the king kindly. He offered him a great goblet full of cool wine. The king was hot and faint from battle. The wine was pleasant to him, and it made him hope for kindness from Saladin. The king drank. Then he passed the goblet to the Lord of Carac, but Saladin seized his arm. ‘That traitor shall not drink in my presence,’ he shouted. The count looked at him with scorn, and made his rage hotter by acting as boldly as if he had been a free man in his own castle. ‘Choose between the Moslem faith and death!’ said Saladin. Carac had not been true to the truce, but he would not give up his loyalty to the Crusaders in order to save his life. Quick as thought the scimitar of a Turkish soldier severed the head of the count from his body, which fell lifeless at the feet of the king. Then the captive knights were led in. ‘Slay every one his man. I will rid the earth of these unclean races,’ said Saladin to his warriors. They hung back. The knights were prisoners of war and unarmed, and the Moslem soldiers did not wish to butcher them. But Saladin would not listen even to his own soldiers when they asked him to spare his captives. They had to do his will, and knight after knight fell dead before the king. After these terrible days Saladin went with haste to Jerusalem. He sent this message to the Christians in the city: