When the 5th of April, the day fixed for the retreat, had come, Louis himself was ill and much enfeebled.

He was urged to go aboard one of the vessels which were to descend the Nile, carrying the wounded and the most suffering; but he refused absolutely, saying, "I don't separate from my people in the hour of danger." He remained on land, and when he had to move forward he fainted twice.

When he came to himself, he was amongst the last to leave the camp, got himself helped on to the back of a little Arab horse, covered with silken housings, and marched at a slow pace with the rear-guard, having beside him Geoffrey de Sargines, who watched over him, "and protected me against the Saracens," said Louis himself to Joinville, "as a good servant protects his lord's tankard against the flies." Neither the king's courage nor his servants' devotion was enough to insure success, even to the retreat.

At four leagues' distance from the camp it had just left, the rear-guard of the crusaders, harassed by clouds of Saracens, was obliged to halt.

Louis could no longer keep on his horse.