500 JOINVILLES MEMOIRS OF 8ΑΓΚΤ LOUIS IX. £PT.H. and indeed command, in the king's name, that yon join me to assist the seneschal of Champagne." A knight, whose name was Sir William de Beaumont, came to him, and said that I was killed ; but, notwith standing this, the good Sir Olivier de Termes did not the more spare himself, for he was determined to know the truth, whether I was alive or dead, that he might give the king certain information of it, and gallantly ascended the mount, when I went to bim. Sir Olivier, when on the mount, saw the great danger we were in, and that we could not descend the way we had got up; he therefore gave us good advice, and made us descend a slope of the hill, as if we were going to Damascus, saying that the Saracens would suppose, by this manœuvre, that we meant to fall on their rear. When we had got into the plain, Sir Olivier ordered a large heap of corn, that was stacked on the ground, to be set on fire, and by this means, and our own exertions, through the good counsel of Sir Olivier de Termes, we escaped, and arrived on the morrow in safety at Sajecte, where the king was. We found the good and holy man had ordered the bodies of those Christians that were slain to be buried, and that he himself had assisted in carrying their corpses to the grave. Some of the bodies were in such a state of corruption, that divers of the car riers were obliged to stop their nostrils, but the good king never did this. When we came to him, he had caused our lodgings and quarters to be ready prepared for us. * While we were before Sajette, some merchants came to the king, and brought him intelligence that the king of Tartary had taken the city of Baldac, with the apostle of the Saracens, who was lord of the town, and was called the Caliph of Baldac. 4 4 The manner of its capture was as follows :—The king of Tartary had laid his plans with much secrecy and caution, and after he had besieged the place, sent to inform the caliph, that in order to preserve peace and be on good terms with him, he was desirous that a marriage should * The chapter, which is here given, is omitted by Menard, but is contained in the Poitiers edition. As it bears every appearance of having been written by Joinville, it has been thought proper to insert it in ita place.