IN a few moments we were on the other slope of the upland, and I was threading my way through a valley straight in front of me. It was well that we had made haste, for it was not long before I saw five or six horsemen, then ten, then twenty, coming on behind us. We were most hotly pursued. About a parasang from us the valley contracted and converged into a narrow defile; it was this point that I wished to reach in order to defend the passage with Marghouz, Master John, Stephen, and my two retainers. My Arab guide had deserted us at the first appearance of danger, and I calculated on sending on the two women forwards under the escort of Youssouf, whilst

we remained to hold the assailants in check. The latter, who were mounted on fresh horses, were not long in coming up with us, and their arrows were soon whistling about our ears. Without stopping, I answered by shooting behind me, in the Mongol fashion, and Marghouz and my retainers followed my example. The blank astonishment of Stephen and Master John when we began to handle our bows in this way is something indescribable.

"By our Lady!" cried Stephen, "here are the Black Knight and my master the Knight of Prester John firing arrows behind their backs!"

"Wonderful! astonishing!" exclaimed old Master John himself. "They shoot their arrows backwards better than we do ours forwards!"

"Come along, you idle fellows!" said Marghouz to them; "make use of your cross-bows!"

"We cannot," replied Master John frankly. "We should have to stop our horses and confront the Saracens." "Idiots!" muttered Marghouz, who could seldom be brought to make allowances for any one.

At this instant an arrow struck against his helmet, and another against the leather cuirass of the Feather, but without hurting either of them. The arrows which these Mussulmans use have a flat tip, which is easily turned, and their bows, which are very long, are also very weak. Marghouz fired at the man nearest to him; his arrow, with its head of China steel, went through the coat of mail, and the man fell backwards. I fired in my turn, and brought down a second. I was taking another arrow out

of my quiver, when I received a blow which was deadened by my coat of mail; at the same time I saw Stephen fall under his horse, which had been struck by an arrow in the neck. The brave fellow picked himself up at once, and, seizing the cross-bow which Master John handed him, he squared his feet firmly, fired, and laid his man stone dead on the ground. I saw two more fall by the shots of the Feather and the Squirrel. Marghouz, not wishing to desert his new squire, who had taken up his position behind his prostrate horse, and was adjusting a bolt to his cross-bow, unsheathed his sabre and charged resolutely. When I saw this, I placed the metal tip on my lance, and charged in my turn, crying to the others,

"A Djani! a Djani! make room for the banner!"

About fifteen men advanced against us, with their lances lowered or their sabres and clubs in the air, exclaiming, "Allahou Akber!" I was very sorry to have to charge Mussulmans in this way; but my saddle was on my horse's back, and, as the saying goes, "When a Turk is on horseback, he no longer knows his own father; if others are charging your father's house, charge with them!" There was no longer any chance of drawing back.

The shock was a violent one. The Mussulmans of Syria handle the lance and the club well, but their sabres are bad, inasmuch as they are made of too fine metal; these weapons, moreover, are too light and keen, being excellent for cutting the bare flesh or ordinary garments, but they turn or break against steel or jacked-leather. I saw on this occasion that Djebe was quite right when he said

that the sabre was the best of weapons, and that the lance, the axe, and the club only produce their effect on one single spot, whilst the sabre threatens a man from head to foot. With my lance I broke the jawbone of the first with whom I had to deal, and then, drawing my sabre, I smote a second so lustily, that I clave his helmet and his skull into the bargain. As I was drawing my sabre back from the slash, I received a back-handed blow which numbed my left shoulder without penetrating the flesh, and the man's sabre broke short in his hand. Guiding my horse with my knee, I made him wheel, and struck my antagonist on the arm, between the sleeve of mail and the gauntlet; he reeled and tried to save himself, but I gave him a thrust right between the shoulders, which went clean through his coat of mail, and hurled him dead on to the neck of his horse.

At that moment I saw that Marghouz had just unhorsed one of their knights, and when the latter attempted to hamstring Marghouz's horse, in drawing aside he gave him such a blow on the back of the head that he severed it clean from the body. The Feather, seizing his opponent by the throat, strangled him with his hands, and the Squirrel, who had just despatched a Kurd with a sabre-thrust in the face, gave such a vigorous cut at an Arab's leg, that the man fell under the horse's feet. Youssouf got a blow from a mace which dismounted and stunned him. Stephen hamstrung a horse, and Master John finished off the rider before he could get clear, whilst Stephen brought down another with a bolt from his cross-bow. In the confusion, a Kurd cut one of our

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wounded Germans' throat and carried off his head, and another broke our second prisoner's back. Stephen was knocked over, and Master John, wishing to strike a second time with his sword, received a blow on the arm from a mace, which disarmed him. The sword used by the Franks is a good one, but heavy and difficult to manage, so that a nimble and resolute antagonist can take advantage of the moment when you lift it to hit you in the body, or of the moment when you bring it down to avoid it and hit you on the arm. Letting my sabre swing by the sword-knot, I seized my bow, and sent an arrow into the ribs of Master John's opponent, who was redoubling his efforts and threatening him with his mace. The Feather picked up Youssouf, who was quite stunned, and laid him across the neck of his horse, whilst Marghouz dealt around such furious back-handers that he sent two men rolling on the ground, and Stephen had time to remount another horse. The Squirrel supported Master John, who was reeling in his saddle. I couched my lance and charged our remaining adversaries, but they hurriedly took to flight, and left us masters of the field of battle.

We carried off with us eight horses and our wounded, and I made all possible haste to arrive at the gorge, which was just broad enough to let two men pass abreast.

"It is time," said Marghouz to me, pointing to some thirty horsemen who were now close upon us and the fugitives of our party.

"Yes, it is time," I answered; "come, we must dismount, and take to our bows and cross-bows!"