occupied the next few weeks in refortifying that city. Richard spared neither money nor labour in this necessary work; but the French knights, who in September had refused to follow him to save Ascalon from destruction, now drew off to loiter away their time in the orchards of Jaffa. Richard's influence brought them into line with the English for a time; but his influence could not shake their resolution of returning home at Easter. The feud between the two races grew more bitter when Richard, who had already made one large loan to the Duke of Burgundy—a loan that had never been repaid—found himself compelled to refuse a second. Hugh in anger went back to Acre, followed by many of the French. Acre itself was now in a state of open discord. The Pisans had taken up arms for Guy; the Genoese for Conrad. The Duke of Burgundy espoused the latter cause, and the Pisans sallied out to prevent him from entering the town. Then Conrad himself came south from Tyre and seized the place till driven away by the arrival of Richard, whom the Pisans had summoned to their aid (20 Feb.). After a futile interview with Hugh and Conrad, halfway between the two cities, Richard declared Conrad a defaulter. He knighted El Adel's son at Acre on Palm Sunday, and quitted the city next day (30 March). On 1 April the French at Ascalon and Jaffa demanded leave to go home, and Richard, though convinced of the existence of a French plot to depose Guy, had to let them go, marking his anger at their desertion by sending strict orders to exclude them from Acre.
The French had hardly left Ascalon when Richard's own plans underwent a change. Envoys arrived with news of serious trouble in England. His presence was absolutely necessary at home, or he might find that, while conquering kingdoms abroad, he was losing his birthright at home. Influenced by this consideration, he consented to acknowledge Conrad as king of Jerusalem, solacing his rival Guy with the lordship of Cyprus. Conrad's murder (27 April) cancelled this arrangement, and when the people of Tyre took matters into their own hands by electing Henry of Champagne and marrying him to Conrad's widow (1 May?), Richard was only too glad to acquiesce in an arrangement which satisfied both parties: for the new king if he was Philip's nephew was Richard's also. The effect of this compromise was soon evident. The French ceased to talk about going home, and while Richard was laying siege to the fortress of Darum, some twenty miles south of Ascalon, the French contingents, under Count Henry and the Duke of Burgundy, hurried south to help him. A new enthusiasm seized the crusaders, and they pledged themselves as one man to advance upon Jerusalem, whether the English king stayed or went away. Imperative though his motives for return were, Richard could not hold out against the general wish, and he swore not to leave Palestine for a year. By mid June the crusaders found themselves at Beit-Nuba for the second time. The French were for making a bold dash upon the holy city, and the Saracens themselves thought the place doomed. But Richard, relying on the advice of the great military orders, refused to lead so rash an adventure, though he expressed his willingness to take his part in such a foray as a private knight under another commander. A council of war recommended an advance on Cairo; but the Duke of Burgundy, speaking for the French, refused to attack Egypt, even when Richard generously offered to supply food and ships. From Beit-Nuba Richard organised a night expedition to waylay the great caravan at Tell-el-Hesy, and it was characteristic of his generous character that he offered the Duke of Burgundy, his rival and opponent, a share in the honours and profit of that famous foray (23 June 1192). The loss of this caravan drove Saladin to despair, threatened as he was about the same time with risings in the east. Had Richard only pressed on at this moment, Jerusalem must have fallen; and Saladin, when he heard that the crusaders had left Beit-Nuba and were falling back on Jaffa, could hardly believe his good fortune (4 July?). He reopened negotiations, offering to acknowledge Count Henry as king, and to divide the disputed districts. These conditions were not accepted, as he insisted on the dismantling of Ascalon and Gaza; and Richard had already gone north to Acre with a view to preparing an expedition against Beyrout, when he received news that Saladin was seizing Jaffa. He at once ordered Count Henry to advance to the relief by land, while he himself, to save time, set sail by sea. Through the harbour breakers he forced his way to shore, drove the Saracens out of the town, refortified the walls, and, this done, camped outside in the open plains with his little force of some fifty (mostly horseless) knights and two thousand foot. In the early dawn of an August morning Saladin made a desperate attempt to surprise the king, while sending another squadron to attack the town. It was the most glorious day in Richard's life. Richard drew up his little host behind a semi-palisade in what seems to have been a somewhat novel form of the array of the
