then, should the horsemen persist in charging, the archers were at once
to take refuge behind the lines of the knights.

Day after day passed in harassing conflicts. The distance passed over
each day was very small, and the sufferings of the men from thirst, heat,
and fatigue enormous. Cuthbert could well understand now what he had
heard of great armies melting away, for already men began to succumb in
large numbers to the terrible heat, and the path traversed by the army
was scattered with corpses of those who had fallen victims to sunstroke.
Not even at night did the attacks of the enemy cease, and a portion of
the harassed force was obliged to keep under arms to repel assaults.

So passed the time until the army arrived at Azotus, and there, to the
delight of the crusaders, who only longed to get at their foes, they
beheld the whole force of Saladin, 200,000 strong, barring their way. Had
it not been for the stern discipline enforced by King Richard, the
knights of England and France would have repeated the mistake which had
caused the extermination of the Christian force at Tiberias, and would
have levelled their lances and charged recklessly into the mass of their
enemies. But the king, riding round the flanks and front of the force,
gave his orders in the sternest way, with the threat that any man who
moved from the ranks should die by his hand.

The army was halted, the leaders gathered round the king, and a hasty
consultation was held. Richard insisted upon the fight being conducted
upon the same principles as the march--that the line of archers
should stand outside the knights, and should gall the advancing force
with arrows till the last moment, and then retire among the cavalry,
only to sally out again as the Bedouins fell back from the steel wall
of horsemen.