60 THE HISTORY OF THE ORDER OF [book i.

drawn up opposite likewise; so that he was ban-queting half way between the two armies ” 1

All this being from Mahometan accounts, andnot the least in contradiction with what otherMahometans write, and having come down throughso many centuries, unquestioned by any of theMoslems, would it not be very hardy in us to con-sider it an hyperbole, if even a Christian be reducedto call it a greater feat than what is attributed toAchilles or any of the ancients, or Amadis de Gaul,or Roland, or the greatest heroes of romance ? 2Nothing equals the plain truth. See what it is tobe terror-struck. Perhaps no veteran will denythe possibility of this, if he has been ever swept offby soldiers in a panic. Then it comes to be likeother facts, merely a matter of evidence. It standssolitary in history. It may be wiser to disbelieveeverything historic; but, if we believe any, it ishard to see why not this, which comes from themost opposite quarters. At a time when all dis-agreed, they agree as to this.

Some weeks later, King Richard sent to Saladinagain : “ How long am I to humble myself beforethe soldan? How long is he to remain deaf to myentreaties? In God’s name grant me peace, I am

1 Arab. Chron., 354.

2 Vinisauf, 3.—Bib. Crois., ii. 688, 722.