mount tabor
as roland had said, the sheik of aher reached the camp about daybreak. in accordance with his maxim, "always wake me for bad news but never for good," bonaparte had been awakened.
the sheik, when admitted to his presence, told him what he had seen, and that twenty-five or thirty thousand men had just crossed the jordan and entered the territory of tiberias.
when bonaparte inquired what had become of roland, he replied that the young aide-de-camp had volunteered to go and warn junot, who was at nazareth, and that there was a great plain at the foot of tabor between the mountains of nablos and that mountain in which twenty-five[pg 625] thousand turks could sleep without inconvenience. bonaparte sent some one to wake bourrienne, called for his map, and summoned kléber.
in the latter's presence he bade the young druse point out the exact place at which the mussulmans had crossed the river, the road which they had followed, and that which he and the sheik had taken in returning to the camp.
"you will take your division," bonaparte said to kléber; "it should consist of about two thousand men. the sheik will serve as your guide, so that you may follow the same road as that which he chose for roland. you will reach safarie by the shortest route; you should be at nazareth by to-morrow morning. let each of your men carry enough water for the day. although i see a river marked on the map, i fear that at this season it will be dried up. if possible give battle on the plain, either in front of or behind mount tabor, at loubi or fouli. we must take our revenge for the battle of tiberias which saladin won over guy de lusignan in 1187. see that the turks lose nothing by waiting all these years. do not worry about me; i will get there in time."
kléber assembled his division, and bivouacked near safarie that evening—saint anne and saint joachim inhabited that city, according to tradition.
that same evening he was in communication with junot who had left an advance-guard at cana, and gone on to nazareth, for which he showed great partiality. he learned from him that the enemy had not left their position at loubi, and that they could therefore be found at one of the two points which bonaparte had indicated—that is, the one in front of mount tabor.
there was a village called sa?d-jarra about three-quarters of a mile from loubi, which was occupied by a portion of the turkish army, about seven or eight thousand men in all. he ordered junot to attack it with a part of his division, while he formed a square with the rest of the men, and charged the cavalry.
[pg 626]
two hours later the pasha's infantry were driven from sa?d-jarra and the cavalry from loubi.
the turks, completely routed, fell back upon the jordan in great disorder. junot had two horses killed under him in this engagement. having nothing better at hand than a dromedary, he mounted that, and soon found himself among the turks, to whom he looked like a giant. the animal's hamstrings were cut and the dromedary fell, or rather sunk under him. fortunately roland had not lost sight of him; he came up with junot's aide-de-camp, teinturier—the same one whom roland had found with him watching the damsels at nazareth. they fell upon the mass surrounding junot like a thunderbolt, opened a passage, and made their way to him. they placed him on the horse of a dead mameluke, and all three, pistol in hand, pierced this living wall and reappeared in the midst of their soldiers, who had believed them to be dead, and who were hastening forward with no other object than that of recovering their dead bodies.
kléber had come so fast that his army wagons had been unable to keep up with him, and they were unable to pursue the fugitives for lack of ammunition. he fell back upon nazareth and fortified his position at safarie.
on the 13th, kléber sent scouts to reconnoitre the enemy's position. the mamelukes of ibrahim bey, the janissaries of damascus, the arabs of aleppo, and the different tribes of syria, had effected a junction with the people of nablos; and all these different tribes were encamped in the plain of loubi or esdrelon.
kléber informed the commander-in-chief of these details at once. he told him that he had reconnoitred the hostile army, that it amounted to about thirty thousand men, of which there were twenty thousand cavalry; and he announced that he proposed to attack this multitude with his twenty-five hundred men on the following day. he ended his letter with these words: "the enemy is exactly where you wanted him. try to come to the jollification."
the sheik of aher was intrusted with this message; but,[pg 627] as the plain was overrun with hostile riders, it was sent in triplicate by three different men over three different roads. bonaparte received two of the three despatches—one at eleven o'clock at night, the other at one in the morning. the third messenger was never heard from.
bonaparte fully intended to participate in the "jollification." he was eager for general action and a decisive battle which should drive all these hordes back, that they might not eventually crush him against the walls of saint-jean-d'acre.
murat was sent forward with a thousand infantry, one light piece of artillery, and a detachment of dragoons, at two o'clock in the morning. he had orders to march until he came to the jordan, where he was to take possession of jacob's bridge, to prevent the retreat of the turkish army. he had more than thirty miles to make.
bonaparte started at three in the morning, taking every man with him who was not absolutely needed to keep the enemy within their walls. he bivouacked on the heights of safarie at daybreak, and distributed bread, water and brandy to his men. he had been forced to take the longest road, because his artillery and wagons could not follow him along the banks of the kishon. he took up his march again at nine o'clock in the morning, and at ten he reached the foot of mount tabor.
there, about nine miles away, on the vast plain of esdrelon, he saw kléber's division, scarcely twenty-five hundred strong, face to face with the entire body of the enemy's army, which enveloped it on all sides, and where it looked like a black patch surrounded by a wall of fire.
it was being attacked by more than twenty thousand cavalry, which twisted now like an avalanche, now like a whirlwind. never had these men, who had seen so many things, been confronted with such a horde of cavalry, charging and galloping around them. and yet each soldier, standing foot to foot with his neighbor, preserved the terrible calmness which could alone insure his safety, re[pg 628]ceived the turks at the end of his rifle, and fired only when he was sure of his man; stabbing the horses with his bayonet when they came too near, but reserving his bullets for their riders.
each man had received fifty cartridges, but at eleven in the morning they were obliged to make a fresh distribution of fifty more. they had fired a hundred thousand bullets; they had made a breastwork of dead horses and men around themselves; and this horrible heap, this bleeding wall, sheltered them like a rampart.
this was what bonaparte and his men saw when they rounded mount tabor. at this sight enthusiastic shouts rang down the line: "to the enemy! to the enemy!"
but bonaparte shouted, "halt!" he made them take a quarter of an hour's rest. he knew that kléber could hold out for hours yet if necessary, and he wished the day's work to be well done. then he formed his six thousand men into two squares of three thousand men each, and distributed them in such wise as to inclose the whole savage horde of cavalry and infantry in a triangle of steel and fire.
the combatants were in such deadly earnest that—like the romans and carthaginians, who, during the battle of trasimene did not feel the earthquake which overthrew twenty-two cities—neither the turks nor the french perceived the advance of the two armed bodies, in whose trains thunder was rolling, as yet mute, but with its glistening weapons flashing in the sunlight, forerunners of the storm which was about to burst.
suddenly they heard a single cannon-shot. this was the signal agreed upon to warn kléber of bonaparte's approach. the three squares were now not more than three miles apart, and their combined fire was about to be directed upon a struggling mass of twenty-five thousand men. the fire burst forth from all three sides at once.
the mamelukes and janissaries, in short all the cavalry, turned this way and that, not knowing how to escape from the furnace, while the ten thousand infantry, ignorant of[pg 629] all the art and science of war, broke their ranks and hurled themselves upon all three lines of fire.
all who were fortunate enough to run between the shots were fortunate enough to escape. at the end of an hour the fugitives had disappeared like dust swept by the wind, leaving the plain covered with dead, abandoning their camp, their standards, four hundred camels, and an immense amount of booty.
the fugitives thought themselves safe, and those who succeeded in reaching the mountains of nablos did indeed find shelter there; but those who tried to escape across the jordan by the way they had come, found murat and his thousand men guarding the ford of the river.
the french did not stop until they were weary of killing. bonaparte and kléber met upon the battlefield and embraced amid the shouts of the three squares.
according to tradition, it was then that the colossal kléber, putting his hand on bonaparte's shoulder, who barely reached to his chest, said those words which have so often since been disputed: "general, you are as great as the world!"
bonaparte ought to have been content.
he had just conquered on the same spot where guy de lusignan had been defeated; it was there that, on the 5th of july, 1187, the french, "after having exhausted even the source of their tears," says the arab author, "met in desperate conflict with the mussulmans commanded by saladin."
"at the beginning," says the same author, "they fought like lions; but at the end they were nothing more than scattered sheep." surrounded on all sides, they were driven back to the foot of the mount of beatitudes, where our saviour in teaching the people had said: "blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are they that weep, blessed are they who are persecuted for righteousness' sake"; and where he also said: "when ye pray say, 'our father, who art in heaven.'"
[pg 630]
the whole action took place in the neighborhood of this mountain, which the infidels call mount hittin.
guy de lusignan took refuge among the hills and defended the true cross as well as he could; but he could not prevent the mussulmans from capturing it after they had mortally wounded the bishop of saint-jean-d'acre who was carrying it.
raymond opened a passage for his men and escaped to tripoli, where he died of grief. so long as a single group of horsemen remained, they returned to the charge; but it melted before the saracens like wax before a blazing furnace. finally the king's standard fell to rise no more. guy de lusignan was made a prisoner, and saladin, taking the sword of the king of jerusalem from the hands of the man who brought it to him, dismounted from his horse, and, kneeling down, gave thanks to mohammed for the victory.
never did christians in palestine or elsewhere suffer such a defeat. "in looking over the number of the dead," says an eye-witness, "one could not credit the fact that any prisoners had been made; in looking upon the prisoners one could not believe that there were any dead."
the king, after having sworn to renounce his kingdom, was sent to damascus. all the chevaliers of the temple and the hospitallers lost their heads. saladin, fearing that his soldiers might feel the touch of that pity which left him unmoved, offered fifty gold pieces for the head of every one of these soldiers-monks which should be brought to him.
scarcely a thousand men were left out of the whole christian army. the arab authors say that prisoners were sold for a pair of sandals, and that they exposed the heads of the christians like melons in damascus.
monseigneur mislin, in his beautiful book, "les saints lieux," says that a year after this horrible carnage, in crossing the field of hittin, he still found heaps of bones, and that the mountains and valleys adjoining were covered with remains which wild beasts had dragged thither.
[pg 631]
after the battle of mount tabor the jackals of the plain of esdrelon had no need to envy the hyenas of the mountain of tiberias.
