110 THE BOY CRUSADERS.

and the Arabian historians, while eloquent in praise
of her courage, agree in saying, that ‘no woman
surpassed her in beauty, and no man excelled her in
genius.’

No sooner did Melikul Salih depart this life, than
Chegger Eddour assembled the principal emirs at
Mansourah, and made them acknowledge Touran
Chah as sultan. Moreover, she impressed upon them
the necessity of concealing the death of her husband
till the arrival of his successor. The policy she re-
commended was adopted. Orders were still issued
in Melikul Salih’s name; the Mamelukes still
guarded the gates of the palace as if he had been
living; and prayers for his recovery were still offered
up in the mosques, where the Moslems worshipped.
All these precautions, which were the work of the
sultana, were skilfully taken, and for a time the
Saracens hoped that Melikul Salih might yet re-
cover from his malady, and save them from the foe
by whom they were threatened.

Ere long, however, suspicion was aroused, and it
became more and more difficult to conceal the truth.
Of itself this was sufficient to create consternation ;
but, at the same time, rumour brought to Mansourah
intelligence that the French, having left Damietta,
and marched in hostile array along the banks of the
Nile, had reached Pharescour; and the approach
of the Crusaders converted the consternation into
panic, which rapidly extended its influence to Cairo.
Every cheek grew pale; and the Egyptians exhibited
such anxiety and terror as had never before been.
felt in their cities.