one to stop them. He called all his knights together from their
castles with letters that his soldiers carried secretly through the
Muslim army lines. It was a dangerous plan, but it worked. The
Franks arrived to help their king and they surprised Saladin’s
army at Ramla. Saladin’s soldiers had to run to escape and the
Franks nearly killed Saladin. It was a very bad defeat, and after
it many emirs no longer wanted to be in Saladin’s army.
Saladin told his men, ‘Thinking that Baldwin the Leper is
weak because he’s young and ill was a mistake! We’ll have to
work harder to take Jerusalem. Some of you must ride the fastest
camels to Cairo to tell the Egyptians that we’re safe. We’ve lost a
battle, but we can win the war if we fight together!’
The only good news for Saladin was that, after Ramla,
Baldwin’s army wasn’t ready to keep fighting. ‘But we must do
something to stop him,’ Baldwin said to his knights. ‘Make all
your castles strong and next time we’ll be ready for the enemy!’