It is said that Beaujeu, before the last combat began, forced his way to the sultan’s tent to propose conditions of truce; which might have been accepted but for the unwillingness shown by the renegades in the Saracen army to listen to terms of peace. Whether or no this be true, the attempt was certainly of no avail; for it was still night when the Moslems broke into the city by the great gate of St. Anthony, their way lighted up by the terrible gleam of the Greek fire, and a frightful carnage followed in the streets. Beaujeu fell in the front of the defenders, and Claremont too, the gallant marshal of the Hospitallers, was cut to pieces by a thousand blows. The day broke cold and gloomy over the city, which was the scene, not of one, but of innumerable combats. Every house was defended and stormed; every square was a rallying post and a battle-ground; the streets were piled high with dead and dying, and were slippery with blood. At length it was all over: a rush towards the port carried soldiers and populace together in one dense and crowded mass, pursued and massacred by the mamelukes, as they swept along treading one another under in the crush. Of all that multitude, not half ever reached the vessels; for the Saracens were amongst them, slaughtering them as they stood, the Greek fire fell thick over the shipping, and the crowded boats that left the shore were burnt or sunk before they reached the vessels’ sides. Sixty thousand Christians fell, it is said, in that short but horrible massacre. A whole convent of nuns of the order of St. Clare, to save themselves from the brutal violence of the conquerors, following the example of their courageous superior, mutilated their features in the most frightful manner; so that the Pagan soldiery no sooner beheld these spouses of Christ all bleeding and ghastly, than, seized with disgust and fury, they fell upon them and slaughtered them without mercy.[3] As to the Hospitallers, there were but six left alive, and these made a gallant retreat under cover of a shower of arrows, and gained the karrack, or galley of the order, in which they made their way towards Cyprus. The Templars finding it impossible to cut their way through the masses of their enemies, threw themselves into a tower, and held it for some days against all assaults. It was the last struggle of despair: the tower was soon mined, and scaled by thousands of the Saracens; but as they crowded to the ladders, the walls gave way, and falling with a hideous crash, buried Christians and Moslems in their ruins. It is said that ten Templars escaped previous to the catastrophe, and found their way to Cyprus; but all that remained in the city, whether soldiers or citizens, were put to the sword; and for days the slaughter lasted, till there were none left to be slain.