s and quarrels. First, the king fell out with the
Archduke of Austria."

"On what ground did this happen?" Cuthbert asked.

"For once," the earl said, "the king our master was wholly in the wrong,
which is not generally the case. We had just taken Ascalon, and were hard
at work fortifying the place. King Richard with his usual zeal, in order
to encourage the army, seized heavy stones and himself bore them into
their place. The Archduke stood near with some of his knights: and it may
be that the haughty Austrian looked somewhat superciliously at our king,
thus labouring.

"'Why do you not make a show of helping?' King Richard said, going up to
him. 'It would encourage the men, and show that the labour upon which we
are engaged can be undertaken by all without derogation.'

"To this the Archduke replied,--

"'I am not the son of a mason!'

"Whereupon Richard, whose blood no doubt had been excited by the air of
the Austrian, struck him with his hand a fierce blow across the face. We
nearly betook ourselves to our swords on both sides; but King Richard
himself could have scattered half the Austrians, and these, knowing that
against his impetuous valour they could do nothing, simply withdrew from
our camp, and sailed the next day for home. Then the king, in order to
conciliate some at least of his allies, conferred the crown of Jerusalem
upon Conrad of Montferat. No sooner had he done this than Conrad was
mysteriously wounded. By whom it was done none knew. Some say that it was
by emissaries of the Old Man of the Mountain. Others affirm that it was
the jealousy of some of the knights of the holy orders. But be that as it
may, he died. Some of the French, ever jealous of the valour of our king,
ascribed it to his orders. This monstrous accusation coming to the ears
of King Richard, he had hot words with the Duke of Burgundy. In this I
blame him not, for it is beyond all reason that a man like the king,
whose faults, such as they are, arise from too much openness, and from
the want of concealment of such dislikes as he may have, should resort to
poison to free himself of a man whom he himself had but a day or two
before appointed King of Jerusalem. However it be, the consequences were
most unfortunate, for the result of the quarrel was that the Duke of
Burgundy and his Frenchmen followed the example of the Austrians, and we
were left alone. Before this we had marched upon Jerusalem. But the
weather had been so bad, and o