t toward the spot which the
Saviour had trodden in the hours of his agony and his passion.

But before their feelings of devotion could be indulged, there was other
work to be done. The chiefs took up their posts on those sides from
which the nature of the ground gave most hope of a successful assault.
On the northern side were Godfrey and Tancred, Robert of Flanders, and
Robert of Normandy; on the west Raymond with his Provencals. On the
fifth day, without siege instruments, with only one ladder, and trusting
to mere weight, the crusaders made a desperate assault upon the walls.
Some succeeded in reaching the summit, and the very rashness of their
attack struck terror for a moment into their enemies. But the garrison
soon rallied, and the invaders were all driven back or hurled from the
ramparts. The task, it was manifest, must be undertaken in a more formal
manner. Siege engines must be made, and the palm and olive of the
immediate neighborhood would not supply fit materials for their
construction.

These were obtained from the woods of Shechem, a distance of thirty
miles; and the work of preparation was carried on under the guidance of
Gaston of Beam by the crews of some Genoese vessels which had recently
anchored at Jaffa. So passed away more than thirty days, days of intense
suffering to the besiegers. At Antioch they had been distressed chiefly
by famine: in place of this wretchedness they had here the greater
miseries of thirst. The enemy had carefully destroyed every place which
might serve as a receptacle of water; and in seeking for it over miles
of desolate country they were exposed to the harassing attacks of Moslem
horsemen. Nor had visions and miracles improved the morals or discipline
of the camp; and the ghost of Adhemar of Puy appeared to rebuke the
horrible sins which were drawing down upon them the judgments of the
Almighty. Better service was done by the generosity of Tancred, who made
up his quarrel with Raymond: and the enthusiasm of the crusaders was
again roused by the preaching of Arnold and the hermit Peter. The
narrative of the siege of Jericho in the book of Joshua suggested
probably the procession in which the clergy singing hymns preceded the
laity round the walls of the city.

The Saracens on the ramparts mocked their devotions by throwing dirt
upon crucifixes; but they paid a terrible price for these insults. On
the next day the final assault began, and was carried on through the day
w