The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1923-08-10

CAPTAINS OF
ADVENTURE
BY ROGER FOCOCK
merrill
By ROGER FOCOCK

earth, but were never able to force
| them back upon US. At last they
| brought a churl on foot, who thrice
threw Greek fire at them. Once VIII
liam Of Boon received the pot Of Greek
| fire on his target, for If the fire had
caught any Of his garments he must
have been burnt alive. We were all
covered with the darts that failed to
hit the sergeants. Now, 1t CHANGED
that / found Saracen's quilted tunic,
lined with tow; l turned the open side
towards me and made a shield i. :.
which did me good service, for I was
only wounded by their darts In five
places, and my horse in fifteen. :.
The good count of scissors, In that
point of danger, TESTED with me and
said:
'Seneschal, let these ours howl! By
Gods bonnet we shall talk Of this day
yet, you and /, in ladies' chambers p"
SO came the constable of France,
who relieved Joinville and sent him
to guard the king.
$50 as soon as / came to the king,
lent him my steel cap so that he might
have air."
Presently knight brought news that
the Count of Artois, the kings brother,
was in paradise.
"Ah, SIRE" said the provost, 'be Of
good comfort herein, for never did
king Of France gain so much honor as
you have gained this day. For, in or
der to fight your enemies, you have
passed over river swimming, and you
have discounted them and driven them
from the field, and taken their engines,
and also their tents wherein you will
sleep this night"
And the king replied: LET God be.
worshiped for all He has given me-"
and then the big tears fell from his
eyes.
That night the captured camp was
attacked in force, much to the grief of
De Joinville and his knights, who rue
fully put on chain mail over their
aching wounds. Before they were
dressed De Joinville's chaplain en-
gagged eight Saracens and put them all
to flight.
Three days later came a general at
tack of the whole Saracen army upon
the Christian camp, but thanks to the
troops of Count William of Flanders,
De Joinville and his wounded knights
were not in the thick of the fray.
Wherein" he says, God showed us
great courtesy, for neither l nor my
knights had our hawberks (chain
shirts) and shields, because we had all
been wounded"
You see, De Joinville had the sweet
faith that his God was a gentleman.
After that the sorrowful army lay
nine days in camp till the bodies of the
dead foated to the surface of the ca
nal, and eight days more while hun
dred hired yagabOnds cleared the
stream. But the army lived on eels and
water from that canal, while all of
them sickened Of scurvy and hundreds
died. Under the hands of the surgeons
the men of that dying army cried like
women. Then came an attempt to re-
treat in ships to the coast, but the way
was blocked, the little galleys were
captured one by one, the king was
taken, and what then remained of the
host were prisoners, the sick put to
death, the rich held for ransom, the
poor sold away into slavery.
Saint Louis appeared to be dying of
dysentery and scurvy; he was threat
ened with torture, but day after day
found strength to bargain with the SOL
dan of Babylon for the ransom of his
people. Once the negotiations broke
down because the sedan was murdered
by his own emirS, but the king went on
bargaining now with the murderers.
For his own ransom he gave the city of
Damietta, for that of his knights he
paid the royal treasure that was on
board galley in the port, and for the
deliverance of the common men, he
had to raise money in France.
So came the release, and the emirs
would have been ashamed to let their
captive knights leave the prison fast
ing. SO De Joinville's party had "frit-
tiers Of cheese roasted in the sun so
that worms should not come therein,
and hard-boiled eggs cooked four or
five days before, and these, in our hon.
or, had been painted with divers col
Ors.'
After that came the counting Of the
ransom on board the royal galley, with
the dreadful conclusion that they were
short of the sum by thirty thousand
livres. De JOinville went off to the
galley Of the marshal of the knights
Templars, where he tried to borrow
the money.
MANY were the hard and angry
words which passed between HIM and
me-"
For one thing, the borrower, newly
released from prison, looked like a
ragged beggar, and for the rest, the
treasure of the Templars was trust
fund not to be lent to any one. They
stood in the hold in front of the chest
of treasure, De Joinville demanding
the key, then threatening with an AK
to make of it the kings key.
"We see right WE'LL" said the treas
urer, that you are using force against
us" And on that excuse yielded the
key to the ragged beggar, tOttering
with weakness, very specter of dis