Page:Christianity in China, Tartary, and Thibet Volume I.djvu/282

270 270 CHRISTIANITY IN CHINA, ETC. separated them from the crusaders was broken, now that Aleppo, Damascus, and Syria were almost entirely- subject to them. Houlagou, while confiding his autho- rity to Kitou-Boga, had ordered him to conquer Jeru- salem and restore it to the Christians; and Kitou- Boga was with great good will setting about the execution of the order, when an unfortunate occurrence entirely put to flight his friendly feelings. The Chris- tians of Sidon and of the castle of Beaufort had made a sally against the Saracens, in which they had carried off considerable booty, and the nephew of Kitou-Boga, being in the neighbourhood, hastened to the spot, and in the name of his uncle demanded his share of the prize. The Christians refused to give it up, charged the Tartars, and killed, along with others, the nephew of Kitou-Boga ; and when the news of this untoward event was brought to the general, he mounted his horse and ordered an immediate attack on Sidon, which he took, and destroyed the greater part of the fortifications. From that moment, says the monk Hayton, the Chris- tians and Tartars had no confidence in each other any more. The taking of Sidon was up to this time the first harm the Tartars had done the Franks ; but there was now reason to apprehend that the latter would them- selves have to repulse the formidable force that they had been trying to turn against the Saracens. The Tartars, in fact, did not long delay sending them a summons to submission, and .the military Orders of Templars and Hospitallers, in whom piety and valour were so well blended, held a meeting, according to their custom, during the night, to deliberate upon the course to be taken. The Bishop of Bethlehem pronounced an ana-