and while
consoling himself with building castles in the air when he was to reside
in baronial state with her as his 'lady and companion,' he was under the
necessity of contenting himself in the meantime with worshipping at a
distance, as an Indian pays homage to his star. Ere long, however,
fortune, which had ever been friendly to Walter, gave him an opportunity
of acquiring a new claim on Adeline's gratitude.

It was about St. John the Baptist's day, in the year 1251, and the King
of France, having undertaken an expedition against the Saracens, was at
Joppa, while the queen and the ladies of the Crusade remained at Acre,
which was garrisoned by a large body of infantry under the command of
the Constable of Jerusalem, and a small party of cavalry under Bisset,
whose courage and prowess still, in spite of his recklessness, made him
a favourite with the royal saint. No danger, however, appeared to
threaten the city. The citizens were occupying themselves as usual; and
some of the ladies had gone to walk in the gardens outside the gate,
when suddenly a body of Saracens, who had marched from Joppa, presented
themselves before the walls, and sent to inform the constable that if he
did not give them fifty thousand bezants by way of tribute, they would
destroy the gardens. The threat was alarming, but the constable replied
that he would give them nothing; and having sent a young knight of Genoa
to order them off, he left the city and marched to the mount, where was
the churchyard of St. Nicholas, to defend the gardens; while bowmen
posted between them and the town kept up a brisk discharge of arrows,
and Bisset at the head of a band of horsemen, attended by Walter Espec,
charged forward and skirmished with the Saracens so as to retard their
approach. Nevertheless, the Saracens continued to advance, and the
Christian magnates who had been walking in the squares came to the
battlements, and with anxiety on their faces watched the feats of arms
that were performed, and especially those wrought by the young knight of
Genoa.

Meanwhile Bisset and Walter Espec, while skirmishing with the Saracens,
skirted their lines and made a circuit of the garden with the object of
defending a gate by which it was feared an entrance might be effected.
And in truth they found they had come too late to prevent the evil that
was apprehended. Just as they approached their ears were hailed with
loud cries of 'Help! help!' and to their horror they p