ams, that
each might follow in captivity his natural habits. The enraged Germans,
meriting the name of barbarians that had been bestowed upon them, laid
waste this pleasant retreat, and killed or let loose the valuable
animals it contained. Manuel, who is said to have beheld the
devastation from his palace windows without power or courage to prevent
it, was completely disgusted with his guests, and resolved, like his
predecessor Alexius, to get rid of them on the first opportunity. He
sent a message to Conrad respectfully desiring an interview, but the
German refused to trust himself within the walls of Constantinople. The
Greek Emperor, on his part, thought it compatible neither with his
dignity nor his safety to seek the German, and several days were spent
in insincere negotiations. Manuel at length agreed to furnish the
crusading army with guides to conduct it through Asia Minor; and Conrad
passed over the Hellespont with his forces, the advanced guard being
commanded by himself, and the rear by the warlike Bishop of Freysinghen.

Historians are almost unanimous in their belief that the wily Greek
gave instructions to his guides to lead the army of the German Emperor
into dangers and difficulties. It is certain, that instead of guiding
them through such districts of Asia Minor as afforded water and
provisions, they led them into the wilds of Cappadocia, where neither
was to be procured, and where they were suddenly attacked by the
Sultaun of the Seljukian Turks, at the head of an immense force. The
guides, whose treachery is apparent from this fact alone, fled at the
first sight of the Turkish army, and the Christians were left to wage
unequal warfare with their enemy, entangled and bewildered in desert
wilds. Toiling in their heavy mail, the Germans could make but little
effective resistance to the attacks of the Turkish light horse, who
were down upon them one instant, and out of sight the next. Now in the
front and now in the rear, the agile foe showered his arrows upon them,
enticing them into swamps and hollows, from which they could only
extricate themselves after long struggles and great losses. The
Germans, confounded by this mode of warfare, lost all conception of the
direction they were pursuing, and went back instead of forward.
Suffering at the same time for want of provisions, they fell an easy
prey to their pursuers. Count Bernhard, one of the bravest leaders of
the German expedition, was surrounded, w