of the Temple; they set upon the treacherous infidels, and put ^"j™ every one of them, " from the greatest to the smallest," to death.* Immediately after this massacre the Moslem trumpets sounded to the assault, but the Templars successfully defended themselves until the next day (the 20th.) The Marshall of the order and several of the brethren were then deputed by Gaudini with a flag of truce to the sultan, to explain the cause of the massacre of his guard. The enraged monarch, however, had no sooner got them into his power than he ordered every one of them to be decapitated, and pressed the siege with renewed vigour. In the night, Gaudini, with a chosen band of his companions, collected together the treasure of the order and the ornaments of the church, and sallying out of a secret postern of the Temple which communicated with the harbour, they got on board a small vessel, and escaped in safety to the island of Cyprus.f The residue of the Templars retired into the large tower of the Temple, called " The Tower of the Master," which they defended with desperate energy. The bravest of the Mamlooks were driven back in repeated assaults, and the little fortress was everywhere surrounded with heaps of the slain. The sultan, at last, despairing of taking the place by assault, ordered it to be undermined. As the workmen advanced, they propped the foundations with beams * Videntes pulchrosFrancorum filini* acnlias.manushisinjecerunt,—Ahulfarag,Cliron. Syr. p. 595. Maledici] Saraceni mulieres et pueros ad Inra doraus secretiora ex eisdem abusori distrahcre conabantur, turpibus ecclesiam obscœnilatibua cura nihil passent aliud maculantes. CJund ridantes christian), elausis portis, in periidos viriiiter irruenint. et. omnes a minimo usque ad maximum oeriderunt, niuros, turres, atquc portas Templi munientes ad defensam.—De excid. Accords ut aup. eoi. 7fi"2, Marin Sanai ut sup. cap. xxii, p. 2.11. t Per totam noctem illam, dum fidèles vigiJarent contra perfidorum attaiiam, domum contra eoH defensuri, fratrum adjutorio de thesaum qund pota it rum snerosartetis roliquiis ecclesia! Templi, ad mare salubriter deporta vit. Inde quidem cum fratribus paucàs auspicato remicio, in Cyprum cnm cauteli transfretavit.—De eieid. Acconta, col. 78*2,