icted--all the
boasting of the French has ended in disaster--the king and his nobles
being prisoners, and most of the other pilgrims slain or drowned; and,
for your second, as to Guy Muschamp, the English squire, who was a brave
and gallant youth, I own I entertain hardly a doubt that, ere this, he
is food for worms or fishes.'

Walter Espec uttered an exclamation of horror, and, without another
word, sank back on his pillow.

CHAPTER XXX.

ST. LOUIS IN CHAINS.

WHEN King Louis was led away by the faithful Segrines, and when he was
so exhausted that he had to be lifted from his steed and carried into a
house, and when the Crusaders outside were in dismay and despair, Philip
de Montfort entered the chamber where the saintly monarch was, and
proposed to renew negotiations with the Saracens.

'Sire,' said De Montfort, 'I have just seen the emir with whom I
formerly treated; and, so it be your good pleasure, I will seek him out,
and demand a cessation of hostilities.'

'Go,' replied Louis; 'and, since it can no better be, promise to submit
to the conditions on which the sultan formerly insisted.'

Accordingly De Montfort went; and the Saracens, still fearing their
foes, and remembering that the French held Damietta, agreed to treat. A
truce was, indeed, on the point of being concluded. Montfort had given
the emir a ring; the emir had taken off his turban, and their hands were
about to meet; when a Frenchman, named Marcel, rushed in and spoiled
all.

'Seigneurs,' said he, interrupting the conference, 'noble knights of
France, surrender yourselves all! The king commands you by me. Do not
cause him to be put to death.'

On hearing this message, the emir withdrew his hand, returned De
Montfort's ring, put on his turban, and intimated that the negotiation
was at an end.

'God is powerful,' said he, 'and it is not customary to treat with
beaten enemies.'

And now it was that there ensued such a scene as Minieh had never
witnessed. Almost as the negotiation ended, Louis was seized, violently
handled and put in chains. Both the Count of Poictiers and the Count of
Anjou were at the same time made prisoners; and the bulk of the warriors
accompanying the king had scarcely the choice between surrender and
death; for nothing, as has been said, but their hearts' blood would
satisfy the vindictive cravings of their foes; and, when the king's
captivity became known, many of those who had formerly been most
intrepid,