In the mean time Saladin’s valiant brother Saifeddin, “sword of the faith,” had crossed the desert from Egypt, to participate in the plunder and spoil of the christian territories. He laid waste all the country from Daron and Gerar to Jerusalem. In front of his fierce warriors were to be seen the long bands of mournful captives tied together by the wrists, and behind them was a dreary desert, soaked with christian blood. Saifeddin had besieged the strong town of Mirabel, and placed his military engines in position, when the terrified inhabitants sent a suppliant deputation to implore his clemency. He agreed to spare their lives in return for the immediate surrender of the place, and gave them an escort of four hundred Mussulmen, to conduct them in safety to Jerusalem. Accompanied by their wives and little ones, the miserable Christians cast a last look upon their once happy homes, and proceeded on their toilsome journey to the Holy City. On their arrival at an eminence, two miles from Jerusalem, their Arabian escort left them, and immediately afterwards a party of Templars dashed through the ravine, charged the retiring Moslems, and put the greater part of them to the sword. The great Saladin, on the other hand, immediately after the battle of Tiberias, hastened with the main body of his forces to Acre, and the terrified inhabitants threw open their gates at his approach. From thence he swept the whole sea coast to Jaffa, reducing all the maritime towns, excepting the city of Tyre, which manfully resisted him. The savage Turcomans from the north, the predatory Bedouins, the fanatical Arabians, and the swarthy Africans, hurried across the frontiers, to share in the spoil and plunder of the Latin kingdom. Radolph, our worthy abbot of Coggleshale, one of those who fled before the ruthless swords of the infidels, gives a frightful picture of the aspect of the country. He tells us that the whole land was covered with dead bodies, rotting and putrifying in the scorching sun-beams. At early morning you might see the rich and stately church, with the bright and happy dwellings scattered around it, the blooming garden, the silvery olive grove, and the rich vineyard; but the fading rays of the evening sun would fall on smoking masses of shapeless ruins, and on a dreary and solitary desert. The holy abbot mourns over the fall of Nazareth, and the desecration by the infidels of the magnificent church of the Holy Virgin at that place. Sidon, Caiphas, Sepphoris, Nazareth, Cæserea, Jaffa, Lidda, and Rama, successively fell into the hands of the Moslems; the inhabitants were led away into captivity, and the garrisons were put to the sword. The infidels laid waste all the country about Mount Carmel and Caiphas, and they burnt the celebrated church of Elias, on the mountain above the port of Acre, which served as a beacon for navigators.