he went in high dudgeon with all his men, and a number of the lesser emirs were influenced by his example to desert, too. When they arrived at headquarters they met with severe criticism from Nur ed-din, which improved Saladino position in the esteem of all Moslems. In the meantime Saladin, ignoring the defections, put his house in order. Disbanding the motley and unreliable Egyptian troops, he organized a compact guard of his own Kurds, and at once started in with the liberal dispensing of gifts which marked his entire career. Civilians as well as soldiers were the beneficiaries of his largesse, and the large fortune left by his uncle was distributed on all sides. That many of his gifts were dictated by policy was undoubtedly true, but he had a perfect itch for giving, and many of the recipients of his bounty were poor scholars, poets and holy men from whom no definite return could be expected. In remarkably short time his rule was definitely established. Envious rivals ceased to smirk at the young subaltern raised over the heads of his elders. The Caliph and his partisans woke up to find that the supposedly weakest of his conquerors was not only a master among men but the master of his rivals. There was much concealed fury as well as chagrin in the discovery, and conspiracy—almost the daily diet of the Palace—was presently at work. The plan was to maneuver Saladin into some part of the country where a new alliance of the Caliph and the Franks might overwhelm his comparatively small force. But Saladin was no dreamer. His agents were busv*