Upon this the Saracens let him go, as being under their
protection by virtue of the articles made between Abu Obeidah and the
Aleppians, but beheaded all the rest.
In the evening, after having sent two of his men to Abu Obeidah,
requesting him to order a body of horse to move forward to his support
about sunrise, Dames has recourse to the following stratagem: Taking out
of a knapsack a goat's skin, he covered with it his back and shoulders,
and holding a dry crust in his hand, he crept on all-fours as near to
the castle as he could. When he heard a noise, or suspected anyone to be
near, to prevent his being discovered he began to make a noise with his
crust, as a dog does when gnawing a bone; the rest of his company came
after him, sometimes skulking and creeping along, at other times
walking. When they came near to the castle, it appeared almost
inaccessible. However Dames was resolved to make an attempt upon it.
Having found a place where the walls seemed easier to scale than
elsewhere, he sat down upon the ground, and ordered another to sit upon
his shoulders; and so on till seven of them had mounted up, each sitting
upon the other's shoulders, and all leaning against the wall, so as to
throw as much of their weight as possible upon it.
Pages:
534
535
536
537
538
539
540
541
542
543
544
545
546
547
548
549
550
551
552
553
554
555
556
557
558