232 THE HISTORY OE THE ORDER OF [book II.

the assistance of my MS. And to say it was the18th of May, 1 a sable day in the Almanack ofChristian Acre,when in hurst the Mahometans, andwhat of soldiery of the cross survived joined thepopulation in a wild and rapid current that ran inthe direction of the House of the Templars in thevery inmost heart of the town, down towards thesea; while one hideous crape of death seemed dratvnover Acre, and all was fury, dismay, and massacre!

“ None thought of sleep, nor can I tell how Iexisted. But kept steadily to my resolve to seeand remember all I could, and do my best to sur-vive. It was bitter cold, rain and hail—strangein that climate — and towards the end of May;but nature itself seemed to have changed, andthe elements to sympathise, participate, and emulatethe fury of men. And wild stories circulated.Every one ready to believe anything, and I thinkit would have been dark, but for the Greek fire,and my tread told me there had been hard fightingin that street. And then I saw Clai’emont comeriding slowly (not rapidly as he had passed and re-passed often before), and his direction was that ofreturning from where the battle at that time was,a desperate defence of the Templars’ residence;but the Christians were so completely losers, that

1 Michaud: Hist., v. 140.