CONSTANTINOPLE AND CAIRO 137
unreliable Emperor and with a force of fifty thousand men,
Pelagius began the march towards Cairo.
In the meantime, El Kamel had marshalled a considerable
army and he awaited the Crusaders at Mansourah. The
Sultan was still willing to make peace, and he renewed his
offer to restore the Holy Land and return the true cross to
Christian custody. Pelagius pointed out that such terms had
been offered before the capture of Damietta and he asked
for further concessions. While negotiations were proceed-
ing, the Sultan's army was strengthened by new levies and
he refused to improve upon his offer. A month was passed
at Mansourah, and the delay proved fatal to the Christians.
The banks of the Nile overflowed. The camp was flooded,
and when the Egyptians cut off the Christians from their
base at Damietta, the invaders were faced with famine. The
Master of the Temple reported the disasters in a letter to
the Temple in England: " Our provisions were lost, many
men were swept into the stream, and we could make no
progress. The water continued to rise, and we lost our
horses and saddles and our baggage and everything that we
had. We could neither advance nor retreat and we did not
know where to turn. . . . We had no food, and, being like
fish caught in a net, we could do nothing but sue for peace ".
The Egyptians were anxious only to get rid of the invaders
and they granted a truce on condition that the Christians
evacuated Damietta and returned to Palestine immediately.
The defeated army sailed back to Acre, Once again the
dissension among the Franks had ruined the chance to regain
Jerusalem.