Part 8 (1/2)

[Sidenote: _Constructing Engines of War_]

Finding some large beams, they demolished churches and houses to obtain other material. The drought of summer came on; the cisterns had been filled up or poisoned; Kedron ran dry, and thirst added its horrors. The intermitting fountain of Siloam was insufficient. The soldiers were reduced to licking the dew from the stones. Animals died in great numbers. The loot of great cities was exchanged for a few draughts of foul water. Fear alone prevented the sortie from the city which would have nearly extinguished the Christian army. Some fled. The wonder is that so many remained and saw that the only remedy for their evils lay in the capture of the city.

[Sidenote: _Aided by German Fleet_]

[Sidenote: _Scarcity of Water_]

As if a sudden gift from G.o.d, a German fleet reached Jaffa. It was well unloaded before capture by a Saracen fleet, and the detachment sent from the besiegers to open communication, searched Jaffa, and the provisions and instruments and material for war were carried to the Crusaders'

camp. Desiring yet more, a native led the Duke of Normandy to a forest thirty miles from the city, and this timber was dragged to the city.

Regular expeditions to find water were successfully organized, and lines of women and children quickly pa.s.sed it to the camp. Bunches of f.a.ggots were rapidly acc.u.mulated and machines of war grew each day, and were planted for the next attack. They made three towers higher than the walls of the city, with a draw-bridge, over which the besiegers might reach the top of the walls.

[Sidenote: _Religious Processions_]

[Sidenote: _Peter's Address_]

All being ready, they fortified their courage by religious exercises, and with the clergy leading, marched around the city. From the valley which faces Calvary, the Crusaders set out, pa.s.sing by the reputed tomb of Mary, the Garden of Gethsemane, and the Mount of Olives. They halted on the Mount of the Ascension to reconcile all differences and seal pardon with mutual prayer. The Saracens raised crosses on the walls, and denied them in every way which could be devised by a foul imagination.

After a long silence, Peter the Hermit once more finds voice: ”You hear them! You hear their threats and blasphemies! Christ dies again on Calvary for your sins. Swear, swear to defend them. The army of infidels will soon disappear. The mosques shall be temples of the true G.o.d.” And much more did Peter say after his old eloquent fas.h.i.+on, and with results which were wholly like those which followed his early preaching. The soldiers fell on each other's necks, praised G.o.d, and pledged themselves to finish the holy work they had begun. They pa.s.sed the night after their return to camp in prayer and in the reception of the holy sacrament.

The Mohammedans spent their time also in exercises of their religion, and thus both sides were animated by the extreme of devout zeal.

[Sidenote: _Saracen Machines_]

The Christian leaders resolved to make the attack before the courage of their army could diminish by longer contemplation of the difficulties and dangers of the a.s.sault. The Saracens had built up their machines opposite those of the Christians, and to the last determined, as their mechanism seemed more movable, to change their locality and attack at a less prepared spot. During the night G.o.dfrey moved his quarters to the gate of Kedar. With the greatest difficulty the tower on wheels and other machines were moved. Tancred got his machines ready between the gate of Damascus and the angular tower known later as the Tower of Tancred.

[Sidenote: _Filling a Ravine_]

A ravine which needed to be filled delayed Raymond, who succeeded, by paying a small sum to every one who would throw three stones, in building, in three days, a good path across the ravine. This done, the signal was given for a general attack.

[Sidenote: _The Fight Begins_]

The camp of the Christians was summoned to arms by the trumpets on the 14th of July, 1099. Men and machines began their awful task. The air was full of flints hurled to the walls by ballistas and mangonels. Under large s.h.i.+elds and covered galleries, the battering-rams approached the walls. A cloud of arrows swept the ramparts, and the ladders were erected at the most promising points. Northeast and south the rolling towers were pushed to the walls, and G.o.dfrey set the example of being first to open the battle from their tops. The resistance was as vigorous as the attack. Arrows, spears, boiling oil, Greek fire, and the missiles from the besieged machines repulsed the attack. Through a hole made by the besiegers the besieged attacked the machines of the Christians, hoping to burn them. Night came on after a twelve hours'

fight without victory to either side.

[Sidenote: _Battle of Second Day_]

[Sidenote: _Saracens Attempt to Burn Towers_]

The next day, after a night spent in repairing the attacking machines on the one hand and the guardian walls on the other, the order to attack was early given after heartening speeches by the Christian leaders and tent-to-tent visitations by the clergy. An Egyptian army was reported as approaching and the report greatly encouraged the besieged. The besiegers were infuriated by a damaging resistance, whose strength and energy they had underrated. The battle opened with a fierceness unparalleled. Javelins, stones, and beams were hurled in such numbers that some met in the air and both fell on the besiegers. Flaming torches and firepots were hurled from the walls. The Christian towers did their work in the midst of flames, particularly the Tower of G.o.dfrey, on whose roof a golden cross shone. The leaders fought amidst piles of their dead and seemed to be invulnerable themselves. Breaches were made in the walls behind which stood a living barricade of Saracens. An Egyptian emissary was caught, his message to the besieged squeezed from him, and his body was then hurled from a catapult into the city. The wooden machines of the Christians began to burn, as well as the battering-rams and their roofs, while their guards and operators were crushed and buried under their ruins. The attacking force was fought to a standstill, and was reviled for their wors.h.i.+p of a helpless G.o.d.

[Sidenote: _Body Hurled From Catapult_]

[Sidenote: _Inspiring Vision_]

[Sidenote: _Crusaders Enter City_]

A vision of a knight waving his buckler above the Mount of Olives, and signaling that the Christians should advance, renewed the attack. It is said women and children defied all dangers, brought food and helped push the towers against the walls. G.o.dfrey's Tower got near enough to lower its gangway on the walls. Fire now came to the aid of the Crusaders, being carried by a favoring wind to the bags of hay, straw, and wool which made the last inner defense. G.o.dfrey, preceded by two and followed by many, pursued the smoke-driven enemy and entered the city. They killed as they went. Tancred, encouraged by another apparition, entered the city from another point; some through a breach; others by ladders; others from the top of the towers. The enemy at length fled, and the cry heard first under Peter's preaching, ”G.o.d wills it!” was echoed in the streets of the Holy City. While these were in the city, Raymond still met with resistance which led them to abandon their tower and machines, and to attack with the sword. They scaled the walls by ladders, and were soon the victors.

The Saracens made a brave rally and charged the Christians, who had already begun to pillage. These were, however, soon led to victory by Everard de Puysaie, and the infidels were finally routed.