tribute for their safety. In their misery, concludes the historian, men longed for death. But this condition could not endure forever. After all, the oppressors were in a strange land and far outnumbered. Moreover, the native inhabitants were not humble in spirit, but warriors by birth and descent. The time must come when they would cease from fighting each other and turn upon the common enemy. This happened when Zenghi, surnamed Imad ed-Din, or Pillar of the Faith, got into his stride. Zenghi was the son of a slave of Malek Shah, who had been held in high esteem by his enlightened master. Slaves were not in those times the abject creatures the name would seem to denote. Ak-Sonkor, the Gyrfalcon, was made court chamberlain and later governor of the province of Aleppo, in which office he achieved a high reputation. At his death his followers rallied around the ten-year-old son, and Kurbugha, ruler of Mosul and one of the most important of the Moslem chiefs, took them all under his protection. The boy was bred to be a soldier and saw his first battle when he was only fifteen. In fact, he saved the day, for the issue was trembling in the balance when his protector called upon the boy's adherents to fight for him, and they responded with an ardor which set the enemy flying. Zenghi grew up to be a fine specimen of his race mentally and physically and to do great honor to his name. The Crusaders first became aware of the menace which lay in him at the siege of Tiberias where,