sal, for
Richard further to carry on the crusade alone. Moreover, pressing news
had arrived from his mother in England, urging him to return, as his
brother John was intriguing against him, and had already assumed all but
the kingly tide. Saladin was equally desirous of peace. His wild troops
were, for the most part, eager to return to their homes, and the defeats
which they had suffered, and the, to them, miraculous power of King
Richard's arm, had lowered their spirit and made them eager to be away.
Therefore he consented without difficulty to the terms proposed. By
these, the Christians were to surrender Ascalon, but were to keep Jaffa,
Tyre, and the fortresses along the coast. All hostilities were to be
suspended on both sides for the space of three years, three months, three
weeks, three days, and three hours, when Richard hoped to return again
and to recommence the struggle.

Between the sultan and King Richard a feeling approaching that of
friendship had sprung up during the campaign. Saladin was himself brave
in the extreme, and exposed his life as fearlessly as did his Christian
rival, and the two valiant leaders recognized the great qualities of each
other. Several times during the campaign, when Richard had been ill, the
emir had sent him presents of fruit and other matters, to which Richard
had responded in the same spirit. An interview had taken place between
them which further cemented their friendship; and when Richard promised
to return again at the end of the truce with a far larger army, and to
accomplish the rescue of the holy city, the sultan smiled, and said that
it appeared that valour alone was not sufficient to conquer in the Holy
Land, but that if Jerusalem were to fall into the hands of the
Christians, it could fall into no worthier hands than those of Malek-Rik.

So, with many mutual courtesies, the great rivals separated, and, soon
after, King Richard and the little remnant of his army embarked on board
ship, and set sail for England.

It was on the 11th of October, 1192, that Richard Coeur de Lion left
Palestine. Soon after they started, a storm suddenly burst upon them,
and dispersed them in various directions. The ship in which Queen
Berengaria was carried, arrived safely in Sicily; but that in which King
Richard was borne was missing, and none of his fellow-voyagers knew what
had become of him.

Sir Cuthbert was in the same vessel as the king, and the bark was driven
upon the Island o