nald of Sidon, representing the Prince of Antioch, and the local commanders, offered to surrender the town if Saladin would withdraw his forces. The Sultan, confident of the result, sent two of his banners to be displayed from the heights of the castle. The whole situation changed, however, with the unexpected arrival of Conrad, Marquess of Montferrat. " The Marquess," wrote Ibn el-Athir, " was one of the most godless of the infidels, a Satan of misfortune, worse than a wolf, meaner than a dog, a seducer the like of which is not to be found," by which the Arab chronicler indicated that he was a very thorn in the flesh for the Moslems, and indeed so he proved, in this instance at least. He had arrived in a ship at Acre some time earlier, supposing it was still in the hands of the Franks, for their defeat had not yet become known at Constantinople when he left that port. Surprised that no welcoming bells had greeted the appearance of his vessel, which was the custom at Acre when a friendly ship arrived, he asked for an explanation. The messenger sent out by el-Afdal appears to have been as deceived in the character of the ship as was the Marquess in his visitor, and innocently went on to relate how the victory of Hattin had resulted in the driving of the Franks from Palestine, so that now only Jerusalem and a few other places were still held by them. Both parties discovered their mistake before the interview was ended and, while the messenger returned to the city to secure ships to seize the Marquess, the latter slipped his anchor and sailed for Tyre,