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:
‘I, as well as you, count Jerusalem to be the house of God; I will not defile it with blood if I can gain it by peace and love. Give it up, and I will give you freedom to go where you will, and as much land as you can till.’
But they answered: