JOINVILLE A PRISONER. — 177

aid was landed, and the other Saracens rushed on
him to cut his throat, and he expected no better fate.
But the Saracen who had saved him would not quit
his hold.

‘He is the king’s cousin,’ shouted he; ‘the king’s
cousin.’

‘I had already,’ says Joinville, ‘felt the knife at
my throat, and cast myself on my knees; but, by
the hands of this good Saracen, God delivered me
from this peril; and I was led to the castle where
the Saracen chiefs had assembled.’

When Joinville was conducted with some of his
company, along with the spoils of his barge, into the
presence of the emirs, they took off his coat of mail;
and perceiving that he was very ill, they, from pity,
threw one of his scarlet coverlids lined with minever
over him, and gave hima white leathern girdle, with
which he girded the coverlid round him, and placed a
small cap on his head. Nevertheless, what with his
fright and his malady, he soon began to shake so
that his teeth chattered, and he complained of thirst.

On this the Saracens gave him some water in a
cup; but he no sooner put it to his lips, than the
water began to run back through his nostrils.
‘Having an imposthume in my throat,’ says he,
‘imagine what a wretched state I was in; and I

looked more to death than life.’
When Joinville’s attendants saw the water running

through his nostrils, they began to weep; and the
good Saracen who had saved him asked them why
they were so sorrowful.

‘ Because,’ they replied, ‘our lord is nearly dead.’