THE NINTH CRUSADE.

70. Some eight years later the tidings that Antioch had been taken by
the infidels revived in St. Louis the old yearning for the rescue of
the holy places. Cheered by the sympathy of Pope Clement IV, he
embarked with an army of sixty thousand in 1270, but a storm drove his
ships to Sardinia, and thence they sailed for Tunis. They encamped on
the site of Carthage, when a plague broke out. The saintly king was
among the victims, and the truest of all crusaders died. In the
following year Edward, of England, reached Acre, took Nazareth--the
inhabitants of which he massacred--fell sick, and during his sickness
narrowly escaped being murdered by an assassin sent by the Emir of
Joppa. Having made a peace for nine years, he returned to Europe, and
the ninth and last crusade was at an end.

71. The after fate of the Holy Land may be briefly told: The
Christians, unmindful of their past sufferings and of the jealous
neighbors they had to deal with, first broke the truce by plundering
some Egyptian traders, near Margat. The Sultan revenged the outrage by
taking possession of Margat, and war once more raged between the two
nations. Tripoli and the other cities were captured in succession,
until at last Acre was the only city of Palestine remaining to the
Christians.

72. The Grand Master of the Templars collected his small and devoted
band, and prepared to defend to the death the last possession of the
order. Europe was deaf to his cry, the numbers of the foe were
overwhelming, and devoted bravery was of no avail. In the disastrous
siege the Christians were all but exterminated. The Grand Master fell
at the head of his knights, pierced by many wounds. Seven Templars and