when the news went through the army there was no longer any hope. Some tossed away their arms and sat down to he killed or to be taken prisoners; some threw themselves upon the swords of the Mohammedans. A little band of a hundred and fifty knights gathered round the royal standard and defended the king to the last. Raymond, with Balian of Ibelin, and a few more, cut their way through and escaped to Tyre; but at last all .resistance ceased, and King Guy, his brother Geoffrey, with Renaud de Chatillon, the Grand Master of the Templars, and all the chivalry of Palestine that were not killed, were taken prisoners and brought before Saladin.* As for the wood of the Holy Cross, some years after the battle of Tiberias had been fought and lost, a brother of the Temple came to Henry, Count of Champagne, and told him that, in order to save it from falling into the hands of the Saracens, he had himself buried it with his own hands, and that he knew where to look for it. He took with him certain men to help in digging, and they searched for three consecutive nights, but failed to find it. So, that for a time, there was an end of one mischievous imposture at least. And now the highest ambition of Saladin was to be crowned with success. Of all the holy places of his religion, only one was more sacred than Jerusalem. It was destined for him to restore that sacred Dome of the Rock which Omar had founded to the purposes for which it was built, and to remove from the midst of the Mohammedan Empire that hornet's nest of Christians which, for nearly a hundred years, had checked their conquests, insulted their faith, and perpetually done them injury. The gates of the cities of Palestine flew open at the approach of the conqueror. Tiberias yielded at once, and Saladin sent Raymond's wife to her husband. Raymond, however, was dying, and of a broken heart. Almost alone among the chiefs he had still some nobility left, and he * See also Chapter xvi., page 380.