Shortly after this message, the Saracens determined in council to remain quiet for seven or eight days, and during that time neither to skirmish nor any way to annoy the Christians, but, when they should think themselves in perfect security, to fall on their camp like a deluge. This was adopted; and the ninth evening, a little before midnight, they secretly armed their men with their accustomed arms, and marched silently in a compact body toward the Christian camp. They had proposed making a severe attack on the opposite quarter to the main guard, and would have succeeded in their mischievous attempt if God had not watched over and preserved them by miracles, as I will now relate. As the Saracens approached, they saw before them a company of ladies dressed in white; one of whom, their leader, was incomparably more beautiful than the rest, and bore in front a white flag having a vermilion cross in the centre. The Saracens were so greatly terrified at this vision, that they lost all strength and inclination to proceed, and stood still, these ladies keeping steadily before them. The Genoese crossbows had brought with them a dog, as I heard, from beyond sea; but whence, no one could tell, nor did he belong to any particular person. This dog had been very useful to them; for the Saracens never came to skirmish, but by his noise he awakened the army; and as every one now knew that whenever the dog barked, the Saracens were come or on their road, they prepared themselves instantly. In consequence of this the Genoese called him the dog of Our Lady. This night the dog was not idle, but made a louder noise than usual, and ran first to the main guard, which was under the command of the Lord de Torcy, a Norman, and Sir Henry d’Antoing. As during the night all sounds are more easily heard, the whole army was in motion, and properly prepared to receive the Saracens, who they knew were approaching.

This was the fact; but the Virgin Mary and her company, having the Christians under their care, watched over them; and this night they received no harm, for the Saracens were afraid to advance, and returned the way they had come. The Christians were more attentive to their future guards. The Saracen knights and squires within the town were much cast down at the sight they had seen, more especially those who were advanced near this company of ladies; while, on the other hand, the Christians were greatly exerting themselves to win the place, which was courageously defended. At this period the weather was exceedingly hot; for it was the month of August, when the sun is in its greatest force, and that country was warmer than France, from being nearer the sun, and from the heat of the sands. The wines the besiegers were supplied with, from La Puglia and Calabria, were fiery, and hurtful to the constitutions of the French, many of whom suffered severely by fevers from the heating quality of their liquors. I know not how the Christians were enabled to bear the fatigues in such a climate, where sweet water was difficult to be had. They, however, had much resource in the wells they dug, for there were upward of two hundred sunk through the sands along the shore; but at times even this water was muddy and heated. They were frequently distressed for provision, for the supply was irregular from Sicily and the other islands: at times they had abundance, at other times they were in want. The healthy comforted the sick, and those who had provision shared it with such as had none; for in this campaign they were all as brothers. The Lord de Coucy, in particular, was beloved by every gentleman: he was kind to all, and behaved himself by far more graciously in all respects than the Duke of Bourbon, who was proud and haughty, and never conversed with the knights and squires from foreign countries in the same agreeable manner the Lord de Coucy did.

The Duke was accustomed to sit cross-legged the greater part of the day before his pavilion; and those who had any thing to say to him were obliged to make many reverences, and address him through the means of a third person. He was indifferent whether the poorer knights and squires were well or ill at their ease: this the Lord de Coucy always inquired into, and by it gained great popularity. It was told me by some foreign knights who had been there, that, had the Lord de Coucy been commander-in-chief instead of the Duke of Bourbon, the success would have been very different; for many attacks on the town of Africa were frustrated by the pride and fault of the Duke of Bourbon: several thought it would have been taken if it had not been for him.

This siege lasted, by an exact account, sixty-one days, during which many were the skirmishes before the town and at the barriers: they were well defended, for the flower of the infidel chivalry was in the town. The Christians said among themselves, “If we could gain this place by storm or otherwise, and strongly re-enforce and victual it during the winter, a large body of our countrymen might then come hither in the spring, and gain a footing in the kingdoms of Barbary and Tunis, which would encourage the Christians to cross the sea annually, and extend their conquests.”—“Would to God it were so!” others replied; “for the knights now here would then be comfortably lodged, and every day if they pleased they might have deeds of arms.” The besieged were alarmed at the obstinacy of their attacks, and redoubled their guards. The great heat, however, did more for them than all the rest, added to the uncertainty of being attacked; for the policy of the Saracens was to keep them in continual alarms. They were almost burnt up when in armor; and it was wonderful that any escaped death, for during the month of August the air was suffocating. An extraordinary accident happened, which, if it had lasted any time, must have destroyed them all. During one week, from the heat and corruption of the air, there were such wonderful swarms of flies, the army was covered with them. The men knew not how to rid themselves of these troublesome guests, which multiplied daily, to their great astonishment; but through the grace of God, and the Virgin Mary, to whom they were devoted, a remedy was found in a thunder and hail storm, that fell with great violence, and destroyed all the flies. The air, by this storm, was much cooled, and the army got to be in better health than it had been for some time.

Knights who are on such expeditions must cheerfully put up with what weather may happen, for they cannot have it according to their wishes; and, when any one falls sick, he must be nursed to his recovery or to his death.