Cœur de Lion and the Templars remained encamped amid the ruins of Ascalon, and employed themselves in intercepting the caravans and convoys which were crossing the neighbouring desert, from Egypt to Palestine, and succeeded in setting at liberty many christian captives. The second Sunday after Trinity, the tents were struck, and they once more resumed their march, with the avowed intention of laying siege to the Holy City. They again proceeded, by easy stages, across the plain of Ramleh, and on the 11th of June, five days after they had left Ascalon, they reached Beitnubah where they again halted for the space of an entire month, under the pretence of waiting for Henry, the new king of Jerusalem, and the forces which were marching under his command from Tyre and Acre. But the rugged mountains between Beitnubah and Jerusalem were the real cause of delay, and again presented a barrier to their further progress. Saladin had fixed his station in the Holy City, leaving the main body of his army encamped among the mountains near Beitnubah. His Mamlooks appear to have been somewhat daunted by the long continuance of the war, and the persevering obstinacy of the Christians. They remembered the bloody fate of their brethren at Acre, and pressed the sultan to reserve _his_ person and _their_ courage for the future defence of their religion and empire. Bohadin gives a curious account of their misgivings and disinclination to stand a siege within the walls of Jerusalem. He made an address to them at the request of the sultan, and when he had ceased to speak, Saladin himself arose. A profound silence reigned throughout the assembly,--“they were as still as if BIRDS _were sitting on their_ HEADS.” “Praise be to God,” said Saladin, “and may his blessing rest upon our Master, Mahomet, his prophet. Know ye not, O men, that ye are the only army of ISLAM, and its only defence. The lives and fortunes and children of the Moslems are committed to your protection. If ye now quail from the fight, (which God avert,) the foe will roll up these countries as the angel of the Lord rolls up the book in which the actions of men are written down.” After an eloquent harangue from the sultan, Saifeddin Meshtoob, and the Mamlooks exclaimed with one voice, “My Lord, we are thy servants and slaves; we swear, by God, that none of us will quit thee so long as we shall live.”[94] But the anxiety of Saladin and the Mamlooks was speedily calmed by the retreat of the christian soldiers who fell back upon the sea-coast and their shipping. The health of king Richard and of Saladin was in a declining state, they were mutually weary of the war, and a treaty of peace was at last entered into between the sultan, the king of England, Henry, king of Jerusalem, and the Templars and Hospitallers, whereby it was stipulated that the christian pilgrims should enjoy the privilege of visiting the Holy City and the Holy Sepulchre without tribute or molestation;