of co-operation. Amalric, alarmed by the menace of Moslem possession of Egypt, had secured the aid of a fleet from the Greek Emperor, and probably the secret offer of help from the Egyptian malcontents, and proceeded to besiege Damietta. When Saladin appealed for aid to Nur ed-din the latter promptly sent troops, and Amalric's design was defeated. Ibn el-Athir, gleefully quoting an Arab proverb, wrote that " the ostrich set out to find itself horns, and returned without ears." The Greek fleet had been sadly wrecked and Amalric's army badly punished. It turned out to be more than a mere repulse, for thereafter the Crusaders were almost continuously on the defensive. Events moved decisively in Saladino favor from now on. Taking the offensive on the Syrian frontier, plundering a number of the places belonging to the Franks and capturing others, he strengthened his reputation among the Egyptians, who now became so enthusiastic in his support that he was encouraged to throw off all allegiance to the Caliph and come out openly for the Abbasid Caliph of Bagdad. Both Nur ed-din and he belonged to this religious party, and neither had been happy in the nominal allegiance to the heretical Shiites. In fact, Nur ed-din had urged throwing off this pretense long before, but Saladin was undoubtedly well advised in biding his time. Even at the last it seemed a doubtful step, but the saying of the Khotba in the name of the Bagdad Caliph provoked no more than a murmur of surprise. El Adid Abu Muhammed Abd-Allah, the last of the