against the Christians. Preparations were carried on in Egypt to meet
the invasion of the Franks; and in the month of August, Beibars
announced by messengers that he was about to march to the assistance
of Tunis. The troops which the Sultan of Cairo maintained in the
province of Barca received orders to set forward. Thus the Moorish
army was about to become formidable; but it was not this host of
Saracens that the crusaders had most to dread. Other dangers, other
misfortunes, threatened them: the Christian army wanted water; they
had none but salted provisions; the soldiers could not endure the
climate of Africa; winds constantly prevailed, which, coming from the
torrid zone, appeared to the Europeans to be the breath of a devouring
fire. The Saracens upon the neighboring mountains raised the sand with
certain instruments made for the purpose, and the dust was carried by
the wind in burning clouds down upon the plain upon which the
Christians were encamped. At last, dysentery, that fatal malady of
warm climates, began to commit frightful ravages among the troops; and
the plague, which appears to be born of itself upon this burning, arid
sand, spread its dire contagion through the Christian army.

They were obliged to be under arms night and day; not to defend
themselves from an enemy that always fled away from them, but to guard
against surprise. A vast number of the crusaders sunk under fatigue,
famine, and disease.

It became impossible to bury the dead; the ditches of the camp were
filled with carcasses, thrown in in heaps, which added to the
corruption of the air and to the spectacle of the general desolation.

In spite of his sufferings, in spite of his griefs, Louis IX was
constantly engaged in endeavors to alleviate the situation of his
army. He gave orders as long as he had any strength left, dividing his
time between the duties of a Christian and those of a monarch. The
fever, however, increased; no longer able to attend either to his
cares for the army or to exercises of piety, he ordered the cross to
be placed before him, and, stretching out his hands, he in silence
implored Him who had suffered for all men.

The whole army was in a state of mourning--the soldiers walked about
in tears, demanding of heaven the preservation of so good a prince.
Amid the general grief, Louis turned his thoughts toward the
accomplishment of the divine laws and the destinies of France.

Philip, who was his successor to the t