Neither the king's courage nor his servants' devotion was enough to
insure success, even to the retreat. At four leagues' distance from the
camp it had just left, the rear-guard of the crusaders, harassed by
clouds of Saracens, was obliged to halt. Louis could no longer keep on
his horse. He was put up at a house," says Joinville, "and laid, almost
dead, upon the lap of a tradeswoman from Paris; and it was believed that
he would not last till evening." With his consent, one of his lieges
entered into parley with one of the Mussulman chiefs; a truce was about
to be concluded, and the Mussulman was taking off his ring from his
finger as a pledge that he would observe it. "But during this," says
Joinville, "there took place a great mishap. A traitor of a sergeant,
whose name was Marcel, began calling to our people, 'Sirs knights,
surrender, for such is the king's command: cause not the king's death.'
All thought that it was the king's command; and they gave up their swords
to the Saracens." Being forthwith declared prisoners, the king and all
the rear-guard were removed to Mansourah; the king by boat; and his two
brothers, the Counts of Anjou and Poitiers, and all the other crusaders,
drawn up in a body and shackled, followed on foot on the river bank. The
advance-guard, and all the rest of the army, soon met the same fate.

Ten thousand prisoners--this was all that remained of the crusade that
had started eighteen months before from Aigues-Mortes. Nevertheless the
lofty bearing and the piety of the king still inspired the Mussulmans
with great respect. A negotiation was opened between him and the Sultan
Malek-Moaddam, who, having previously freed him from his chains, had him
treated with a certain magnificence. As the price of a truce and of his
liberty, Louis received a demand for the immediate surrender of Damietta,
a heavy ransom, and the restitution of several places which the
Christians still held in Palestine. "I cannot dispose of those places,"