Page:Christianity in China, Tartary, and Thibet Volume I.djvu/197

HEROISM OF TWO FRENCH PRISONERS. 185 warriors; and when they heard that these two were Frenchmen, they came to their master, and begged him to set them to fight together, for that they desired to see the way the Frenchmen had in battle, and also that they would have great joy, if they should kill one another. "It was therefore ordered that they should be armed in the best way, and mounted on two good horses ; but when the two Christians were armed and mounted, they did not go at one another as the Tartars desired, but rushed on the Tartars with their lances and swords, killed fifteen of them, and wounded cruelly full thirty more, before they could be taken and killed themselves. " By these two Christians, both the Tartar and the Turk had afterwards much fear of the people of France." Thus William of Nangis appears to date from this siege that fear of the French, which, according to him, was felt by all the Mongols. It is at least certain that the latter forbade their tributary nations to take any of them into their armies ; and it is not, therefore, sur- prising that they should have made inquiries of the Dominicans touching their redoubtable compatriots. After a very long delay, the Pope's letters were trans- lated into Persian by the Greek and Turkish interpreters, and afterwards from Persian into Tartar by those of Baicl- jou. It was then proposed to send two of the envoys to the imperial court, whilst the others should await their return; but Anselm, for the reasons before alleged, re- fused to agree to this proposal. The day wore away in these unsatisfactory negotia- tions, and then the monks, without having broken their fast, went back to the tent assigned them, which was about a mile from Baidjou's quarters.