was useless, and sought a haven at Beirut, but was caught in the flight and practically destroyed. On land, too, fortune was against the Moslems. At the very moment when they seemed to be making headway, and had taken advantage of the Marquess's absorption in the sea fight to scale the barbican and attempt the mining of the main wall, he suddenly opened the gate and with a surprise attack drove them back, inflicting heavy loss. The bad weather was approaching, the emirs were becoming restless and the men even more so, and the Sultan had ever disliked long sieges. Whether this would have been so had he been able to rely upon the full co-operation of his army is a moot question, but he was clearly at a disadvantage in long drawn-out operations, calling for stoical endurance and hard labor rather than the swift headlong dashes in the open country in which the Saracen soldier showed his best qualities. Besides, with the approach of winter the ties of home called too loudly to be resisted, the men clamoring to return to their wives, and it had always been the custom to dismiss them at that season, when movement was hampered anyhow, calling them back to the standard on the opening of spring. So now Saladin called a council of his emirs and, while some argued bravely for a continuance of the siege, pointing out what could not be denied, that the capture of Tyre would cut the Franks off from further reinforcements by sea, whereas their retention of it enabled them to increase their supplies of money, food