ce to the
caliph as the successor of Mahomet, he exercised very little substantial
power over the fierce warriors who fought for Islamism. Nor, indeed, had
the history of the caliphate been such as to add to the sacredness of
the office, or to increase the superstitious veneration with which it
was regarded. For several centuries, the East witnessed the spectacle of
rival caliphs, both professing to be the representatives of the prophet,
and each claiming all the privileges attaching to the character. The
rivals were known as the Fatimites and the Abassides. The Fatimites
claimed the caliphate as being the heirs of Ali, Mahomet's son-in-law,
and established their throne at Cairo. The Abassides, who were Mahomet's
male heirs, maintained their state at Bagdad. At length, in 1170, the
struggle for supremacy was terminated by Saladin the Great, who killed
the Caliph of Cairo with his mace, and rendered the Caliph of Bagdad
undisputed chief of all Moslems; and, from that time, the Abassides,
though sunk in effeminacy, and much given to sensual indulgences,
continued to exercise their vague privileges and their shadowy
authority.

Nevertheless, King Louis, bent on obtaining the relief of the captive
Crusaders, despatched ambassadors to Bagdad to treat with the caliph.
The ambassadors were a Templar, and Bisset the English knight; and with
them, in their train, went Walter Espec, now, at length, hopeful of
ascertaining something about his brother's fate.

It was not without encountering considerable danger, and having to
endure much fatigue, that the Templar and the English knight, under the
guidance of Beltran the renegade, who had opportunely appeared at Acre,
and whom Bisset had pressed into the service, traversed the country;
and, after many days' travel, drew nigh to the capital of the caliphate,
which had been built, in the eighth century, by Al Mansour, one of the
Abasside caliphs, out of the ruins of Ctesiphon, and afterwards enlarged
and adorned by Haroun Alraschid, the great caliph of his dynasty.

But the journey had not been without its novelty and excitement; and
Walter Espec was riding by the side of Beltran the renegade, towards
whom, in spite of his prejudices as a Crusader, he felt the gratitude
due to a man who had saved his life, when he was cut down at Mansourah.
At present he was much interested with the account given by the renegade
of the ostriches or camel-birds, and eager to learn how they were
hunt