212 THE BOY CRUSADERS,

warehouses were stored with merchandise; the
market-place was lively with bustle and excitement:

a

=

monks, sailors, pirates, pilorims, merchants, and war-
riors appeared in the streets; the squares and public
places were screened from the heat by silken cover-
ines; and there on certain days the magnates of the
city, wearing golden crowns and vestments glittering
with precious stones, walked to show themselves to
the people, attended by splendid trains composed of
men varying in language and mauners, but unfor-
tunately separated by jealousies and rivalries that
frequently led to riot and bloodshed.

Around Acre, the country was fertile and fair to the
eye of the gazer. Outside the walls were beautiful
gardens where the citizens were wont to repair for
recreation; and farther away groves and pleasure
houses, and scattered villages and orchards, gave
variety to the landscape. ,

Such was Acre when King Louis landed there with
his queen and the remains of his once brilliant army;
and when Walter Espec, penniless and pensive, but
still hoping to hear tidings of his lost brother, leapt
ashore with Bisset the English knight, and returned
thanks to heaven for having escaped from the power
of the Saracens and the perils of the sea.

‘Sir knight,’ said Walter, who was in a despond-
ing mood, ‘we have now, thanks be to God reached a
place of safety; and yet, beshrew me if my heart
does not fail me; for we are in a strange land, without
money, without horses, almost without raiment
befitting our rank,’ | |

‘In truth,’ replied the knight, ‘I own that our