THE GOOD SARACEN, 179

the head with a mortar, and cast after his master,
In this manner the Saracens dealt with all the
captives who were suffering from sickness.

Horrorstruck at such a destruction of human life,
Joinville, by means of the good Saracen who had
saved his life, informed them that they were doing
very wrong; but they treated the matter lightly.

‘We are only destroying men who are of no use,’
said they; ‘for they are much too ill with their
disorders to be of any service.’

Soon after witnessing this harrowing spectacle,
Joinville was requested by the Saracen admiral to
mount a palfrey; and they rode together, over a
bridge, to the place where the Crusaders were im-
prisoned, At the entrance of a large pavilion the
good Saracen, who had been Joinville’s preserver,
and had always followed him about, stopped, and
requested his attention.

‘Sir,’ said he, ‘you must excuse me, but I cannot
come further. I entreat you not to quit the hand
of this boy, otherwise the Saracens will kill him.’

‘Who is he?’ asked Joinville.

‘The boy’s name,’ replied the good Saracen, ‘is
Bartholomew de Bar, and he is son of the Lord
Montfaucon de Bar.’

And now conducted by the admiral, and leading
the little boy by the hand, Joinville entered the
pavilion, where the nobles and knights of France,
with more than ten thousand persons of inferior rank,
were confined in a court, large in extent, and sur-
rounded by walls of mud. From this court the
captive Christians were led forth, one at a time, and