ady ranks, called them 'a nation of iron.'

"Richard had renewed his orders for the whole army to remain on the
defensive, and not to advance against the enemy till six trumpets
sounded--two at the head of the army, two in the centre, two in the
rear. This signal was impatiently expected; the barons and knights
could bear every thing except the disgrace of remaining thus
inactive in presence of an enemy, who without intermission renewed
his attacks. Those of the rear-guard had already began to reproach
Richard with having forgotten them; they invoked in despair the
protection of St George, the patron of the brave. At last some of
the bravest and most ardent, forgetting the orders they had
received, precipitated themselves on the Saracens. This example
soon drew the Hospitallers after them; the contagion spread from
rank to rank, and soon the whole Christian army was at blows with
the enemy, and the scene of carnage extended from the sea to the
mountains. Richard showed himself wherever the Christians had need
of his succour; his presence was always followed by the flight of
the Turks. So confused was the _melee_, so thick the dust, so
vehement the fight, that many of the Crusaders fell by the blows of
their comrades, who mistook them for enemies. Torn standards,
shivered lances, broken swords, strewed the plain. Such of the
combatants as had lost their arms, hid themselves in the bushes, or
ascended trees; some, overcome with terror, fled towards the sea,
and from the top of the rocks precipitated themselves into its
waves.

"Every instant the combat became warmer and more bloody. The whole
Christian army was now engaged in the battle, and returning on its
steps, the chariot which bore the royal standard was in the
thickest of the fight. Ere long, however, the Saracens were unable
to sustain the impetuous assault of the Franks. Boha-Eddin, an
eyewitness, having quitted the Mussulman centre, which was put to
the route, fled to the tent of the Sultan, where he found the
Sultan, who was attended only by seventeen Mamelukes. While their
enemies fled in this manner, the Christians, hardly able to credit
their victory, remained motionless on the field which they had
conquered. They were engaged in tending their wounded, and in
collecting the arms w