Page:A History of the Knights of Malta, or the Order of St. John of Jerusalem.djvu/127

Rh atabal, prepared to defend themselves to the uttermost; failing in which they were ready to follow the example of so many of their brethren, and perish in the effort. As the undisputed sovereignty of the seas was still theirs, they at once removed from the city and embarked for Cyprus the whole of the noncombatant portion of the inhabitants, leaving as a garrison a strength of some 12,000 men, in addition to those who were serving under the banners of the Hospital and Temple. Henry II., king of Cyprus, in whose person rested at this time the sovereignty of Jerusalem, on learning the straits to which this solitary remnant of his kingdom was reduced, landed at Acre with a reinforcement of 200 knights and 500 men-at-arms. This was the sole auxiliary force upon which the garrison was enabled to rely in its resistance against the almost countless swarms by whom it was beleaguered. It was not a moment for ceremony in the choice of a leader. The claims of the king, whose reputation as a soldier was, to say the least, of a very doubtful character, were overlooked in favour of one whose experience in arms and military renown were of a far higher stamp, and William de Beaujeu, Grand-Master of the Temple, was unanimously selected for the onerous post. One of his first acts was to reject, with scornful indignation, the very munificent offers which were made to him by Khaled to tempt him to surrender the town. This magnanimity secured for him the perfect confidence of the garrison, who felt that whatever perils they might be called on to undergo from the scimitar of the foe, they had nothing to dread from treachery at home.

The siege was pushed forward by the infidels with the greatest vigour, and the defence of the Christians was equally obstinate. Closer and closer were drawn the hostile trenches, and day after day saw their battalions encircling the city with a tighter grasp. The effusion of blood which marked the progress of the contest was fearful. Numerous sorties were made by the defenders, led on by the heroic Beaujeu, in which prodigies of valour were displayed, and the desperation with which they fought was marked by the piles of Saracen dead that lay strewn along the plain in the track of the Latin squadrons. In such an army, however, as that which fought under the banner