East to fight against the Turks. Palestine, the land in which Jesus had lived, belonged to the heathen Turks, and when Christian pilgrims wished to visit the holy places where their Lord had been born, and crucified, and laid in the ground, they met with great dangers, and were often cruelly treated by the Turks. This seemed to the Pope, and to all pious Christians in Europe, a shameful state of things. At the bidding of the Pope men gathered from all lands to go and fight against the Turks, and try to win back the Holy Land. These wars were called the Crusades, for all who went to fight wore the cross upon their armour, and were called the soldiers of the cross. Richard the Lion-hearted, as he was called on account of his bravery, wished to go on the crusade too, and started off as soon as possible after he had been made king, taking many knights and soldiers with him. Whilst he was in the Holy Land he won great fame by his brave deeds, and many strange adventures happened to him, for he did not know what it was to be afraid, and often he fell into great danger, but always escaped.

An old story tells us that one day, taking only a few men with him, he went out to amuse himself by hawking. After a while, weary with riding, he got off from his horse to rest, and fell asleep. A body of Turks spied him and his men, and rushed upon them. King Richard woke up suddenly on hearing the noise of their coming, and had hardly time to mount upon his horse before the Turks were upon him. He drew his sword and rushed upon them. They pretended to flee so as to persuade him to follow them to a place where

some more Turks were lying in wait hidden. These jumped up quickly and surrounded the King to make him prisoner; but he defended himself bravely. Fortunately none of these Turks knew the King by sight, and one of the knights who were with him, William de Pratelles by name, wishing to save his master, called out in the language of the Turks that he was the King. The Turks believed what he said and took him captive, and the King escaped. Meanwhile the rest of the army had heard of the fight, and, afraid lest any harm should happen to the King, came at full gallop to the spot. They met Richard returning safe; but he quickly turned back with them to follow the Turks, so as to rescue William de Pratelles. The Turks, however, had ridden swiftly away, and it was too late to overtake them. Richard, whilst he thanked God for having saved him from such danger, grieved sorely to think that this noble knight was in prison for his sake. The next year, when he was getting ready to go back to England, he persuaded the Turks to send back to him William de Pratelles in return for ten most noble Turks who had been captured by the Christians, and so William was rewarded for the devotion which he had showed to his master.

XVI.

THE FIGHT AT JOPPA.

A.D. 1192.

KING RICHARD was preparing to go back to England from the crusade, and had gone to Acre with his army, where the ships in which he was to sail were nearly ready. The King was in his tent talking with his officers, when suddenly some men entered with terrified faces. They tore their clothes and told the King how the Turks had suddenly attacked Joppa, a neighbouring seaport, and taken it all but the citadel, in which all the Christians who had escaped death were gathered together. But their safety would not last long, for they had been forced to promise that if they were not helped by three o'clock on the next day, each of the Christians should pay a large sum of money to Saladin, the Sultan of the Turks. When Richard heard of their sad condition he was filled with pity. He did not wait to hear the end of the story, but exclaimed, "As God lives, I will be with them, and give them all the help in my power." He tried to persuade the French soldiers who were in Acre to go with him to help the Christians in Joppa; but the French, who had quarrelled with the English all the time they were in the Holy Land, refused. Many others of the crusaders, however, agreed to go with him. Some started to go by land; but the King, thinking to get there quicker, went

by sea. Before he could arrive, the hour came at which the Christians must give themselves up to the Turks. They waited till the last moment, and then in despair began to pay the money they had promised. But the cruel Turks, when they had received the money from the first men, cut off their heads. Seven died in this way; and when those who were still alive found out what had happened to their friends they began to cry aloud in their misery, and fled into the castle to fall on their knees and with many tears call upon God for mercy. Whilst their hearts were full of despair, help was close at hand. The Turks saw King Richard's ships enter the harbour, and rushed down to meet him. The beach was covered with a dense crowd of Turks who shot their arrows at the men in the ships, whilst the horsemen spurred their horses even into the sea to prevent the Christians from landing.

Many of Richard's officers told him that it was certain death to try and land in the face of so great a multitude. The King was gazing thoughtfully at the shore, wondering what to do, when he saw a priest plunge into the water, and swim towards the royal ship. The priest came to tell him that there were still some Christians alive and in great danger in one of the towers of the citadel. When Richard heard this, he no longer hesitated. The boats were pushed to land, and the King himself plunged into the water up to his middle, followed by his bravest knights. With his sword in his hand he cleft. for himself a way by terrible blows, and none of the Turks dared to face him, so great was the terror they felt at the sight of him. Richard himself was the first to enter the town, and

he caused his banner to be fixed on a height, so that the Christians in the town might see it. Cheered by the sight, they rushed out to join the fight, and the Turks, attacked on both sides fled from the city. Richard had no horses with him except three which he had found in Joppa, but all the same he and his men followed the Turks as they fled, and chased them for a long way. That evening he made his camp at the spot where the camp of the Turks had been.

When the fight was over, and the Turks understood with how very few soldiers Richard had put them to flight, and besides, that he had only three horses, they were very much ashamed. They said that they were nothing but lazy cowards to have allowed themselves to be defeated in this way. They were eager to wipe out their disgrace, and some of them made up their minds to surprise Richard in his tent and bring him a prisoner to Saladin. In the middle of the night they started fully armed for the English camp, finding their way by the light of the moon. But when they got to the camp, they wasted so much time in quarrelling which of them were to go in and seize the King, that a Christian soldier, who had risen early to go out into the fields, saw them. He rushed quickly back to the camp, shouting out, "To arms, to arms!" The noise awoke the King, who leapt at once from his bed, put on his coat of mail, and called up his men. The Turks were already upon them, and the Christians rushed from their beds to the fight, many of them not having even time to dress.

The Turks came on with horrid yells, hurling their javelins and shooting their arrows. The Christians awaited them