It was not long after this that the fleet put out to sea, shaping course for Acre.  Message after message came in from beleaguered Joppa; but King Richard paid little heed to them, pending the issue of new treating with Saladin.  He certainly sailed with a single eye on Acre.  But Joppa lay on his course, and it is probable, he being what he was, that the sight of no means to do great deeds made great deeds done.  When his red galley sighted Joppa, standing in for the purpose, all seemed over with the doomed city.  This, no doubt (since his mood was hot), urged him to one of those impossible acts, ‘incredible deeds of valour,’ as Milo calls them, for which his name lives, while those of many better kings are forgotten.

The country about Joppa slopes sharply to the sea, and gives little or no shelter for ships; but so quick is the slope that a galley may ride under the very walls of the town and take in provision from the seaward windows.  On the landward side it is dangerously placed, seeing that the stoop of the country runs from the mountains to it.  The few outlying forts, the stone bridge over the river, cannot be held against a resolute foe.  When King Richard’s fleet drew near enough to see, it was plain what had been done.  The Saracens had carried the outworks; they held the bridge.  At leisure they had broached the walls and swarmed in.  The flag on the citadel still flew; battle or carnage was raging in the streets all about it.  Its fall was a matter of hours.

Now King Richard stood on the poop of his galley, watching all this.  He saw a man come running down the mole chased by half a dozen horsemen in yellow, a priest by the look of him; you could see the gleam of his tonsure as he plunged.  For so he did, plunged into the sea and swam for his life.  The pursuers drew up on the verge and shot at him with their long bows.  They were of Saladin’s bodyguard, fine marksmen who should never have missed him.  But the priest swam like a fish, and they did miss him.  King Richard himself hooked him out by the gown, and then clipped him in his arms like a lover.  ’Oh, brave priest!  Oh, hardy heart!’ he cried, full of the man’s bravery.  ’Give him room there.  Let him cough up the salt.  By my soul, barons, I wish that any draught of wine may be so glorious sweet.’

The priest sat up and told his tale.  The city was a shambles; every man, woman, or child had been put to the sword.  Only the citadel held out; there was no time to lose.  No time was lost; for King Richard, in his tunic and breeches as he was, in his deck shoes, without a helm, unmailed in any part, snatched up shield and axe.  ‘Who follows Anjou?’ he called out, then plunged into the sea.  Des Barres immediately followed him, then Gaston of Bearn (with a yell) and the Earl of Leicester neck and neck; then the Bishop of Salisbury, a stout-hearted prince, Auvergne, Limoges, and Mercadet.  These eight were all the men in authority that Trenchemer held, except some clerks, fat men who loved not water.  But as soon as the other ships saw what was afoot, a man here and there followed his King.  The rest rowed closer to the shore and engaged the Saracen horsemen with their archers.  Long before any men could be got off the eight were on dry land, and had found a way into the sacked city.