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CHAPTER XXVIII.
JOINVILLE IN PERIL.

HILE King Louis and the brave companions of
\ ‘his ill-starred retreat were seized as captives, or
mercilessly massacred by the Saracens at Minieh, the
sick and wounded Crusaders who embarked on the
Nile were not more fortunate. In order to understand
the extent of their dangers and sufferings, it is
necessary to refer to the chronicle of the good Lord
of Joinville—who, still suffering from disease, em-
barked with his knights and followers, including Guy
Muschamp, not yet recovered from the sickness by
which he had been prostrated.

Nor is it possible to peruse the seneschal’s simple
narrative without profound interest. In reading his
account of this disastrous expedition, we are trans-
ported, in imagination, to the thirteenth century,
and witness, with the mind’s eye, the scenes in which
he was an actor, and gradually come to feel as if we
were not reading a chronicle penned centuries ago,
but listening to a Crusader who, just returned from
the East, and seated on the dais of the czstle hall,
tells his story over the wine-cup to his kinsmen
and neighbours assembled at the festive board.