This was a terrible blow to Saladin. Here he was with all the best troops of Islam, soldiers from Jerusa lem, Damascus, Aleppo, Egypt and .other Moslem centers, all eager to fight now, and yet he was helpless to avert this great loss. In fact, even while he was making his last desperate plans an embassy from the city was endeavoring to come to terms with the French King. Seif ed-din el-Meshtub, its leader, ad dressed the monarch in these words : " We have taken cities from you, and, even when we carried them by storm, we have been accustomed to grant terms to the vanquished, and we have had them taken to the places in which they wished to take refuge, treating them with all kindness. We, then, will surrender the city to you if you will grant us terms." To which the King replied haughtily: "Those you took were our servants and slaves. You are likewise our slaves. We shall see what we will do." When the Emir returned to Acre with this rebuff, three of his associates were so terrified they seized a boat and escaped to the Sultan's camp, where they hid, knowing they would receive slight consideration were they discovered by him. One was caught and put into chains. However, a spirit of mutiny showed itself in his own camp, and when he ordered the troops the next day to take spades and tools, intending to wreck the enemy trenches, they refused, crying out : " You will destroy all Islam, and there is no good in that." Still Saladin fought on, bringing his men back under control again. His money hired a new body of Tur