At last he took it, but there were no longer any inhabitants to be found in it; they had all taken refuge under ground.

Huge fires lighted at the entrance of their hiding-place forced them to come out, and as they came they were all put to death or carried off as slaves; "which so terrified the neighboring towns," says a chronicler, "that they yielded of their own free will and without compulsion." It was all at once ascertained that Jerusalem had undergone a fresh calamity, and fallen more and more beneath the yoke of the infidels.
Abou-Kacem, khalif of Egypt, had taken it from the Turks; and his vizier, Afdhel, had left a strong garrison in it.

A sharp pang of grief, of wrath, and of shame shot through the crusaders.

"Could it be," they cried, "that Jerusalem should be taken and retaken, and never by Christians ?" Many went to seek out the count of Toulouse.

He was known to be much taken up with the desire of securing the possession of Marrah, which he had just captured; still great confidence was felt in him.