Then Saladin, raising his cry of " On for Islam ! " hurled his men at their backs with irresistible impetus. A number of the knights went down. More Moslems joined in the attack and more knights were unhorsed and slain. Panic seized upon the nearby Franks, and attacks from Taki ed-din spread it down the line. Presently the whole Christian army was in retreat to its camp, with the victorious Moslems in pursuit. Only the aid of a contingent left to guard this prevented it from being overrun. The losses of the Franks were the greatest they had sustained since the Battle of Hattin. Twenty of the Knights Templar alone had been killed, among them the Grand Master. Gerard de Rideford would no longer stir up strife between his own or plant the virus of revenge in the bosom of the enemy. In his death, at least, he showed a fine nobility. When he was urged to save himself by flight he is quoted as replying : "God forbid that men should say of me, to the shame of our order, that to save my own life I fled away, leaving my fellows dead behind me." The King saved his lukewarm ally, Conrad of Montferrat, in the melee, and James of Avesnes got away on the horse of a subordinate, who sacrificed himself for his master. But there were many other knights left on the bloody field, together with thousands of common soldiers. Whether the Moslem report of only one hundred and fifty dead is correct or not, their losses were small in comparison. One fact alone dampened the rejoicing of the Mos