The Old Man of the Mountain replied, that he frequently read it, as he had great faith in St Peter. He continued, " In the beginning of the world, the soul of Abel, after his brother Cain had murdered him, entered the body of Noah ; and the soul of Noah, on his decease, went into the body of Abraham ; and after Abraham it entered the body of St. Peter, who is now under the earth." Father Yves, hearing him thus talk, argued with him on the absurdity of his belief, and shewed him many fair promises and commandments of God, but he would never have any faith in them. Father Yves reported to the king, that when the prince of the Bedouins took the field, he was preceded by a man carrying his battle-axe, the handle of which wis covered with silver ; and this handle served as a case for a number of sheep knives. The bearer cried out with a loud voice in his language, " Turn back ! fly from before him who carries the deaths of kings in his hands." I have delayed informing you of the answer which the king made to the ambassadors from Damascus. It was to this effect ; that the king would send to the admirals of Egypt to know if they were willing to re-establish the truce they had promised, but which they had already broken, as has been said, and, should they refuse, the king would very willingly join his forces, and assist him in revenging the murder of his cousin the sultan of Babylon. After this, the king, during the time he was at Acre, sent Sir John de Yallance to the admirals in Egypt, to require them to make such satisfaction to the king for the outrages they had committed, contrary to treaty, that he should be contented with them. This the admirals promised to do, but on condition that he would unite himself with them against the sultan of Damascus before mentioned. To gain the king's heart, after that wise man Sir John de Yallance had strongly remonstrated with and severely blamed them for the wrongs they had done contrary to their law, and for breaking the truce they had solemnly sworn to keep, they sent to the king all the knights whom they had detained in their prisons. They likewise sent him the bones of the count Walter de Brienne, that they might be buried in consecrated ground. Sir John de Yallance brought back with him 200 knights, without including great numbers of common people who had