The horsemen riding ahead of the rest of the army encountered a group of Saladin’s forces out on a plundering expedition and bested them in a skirmish. Both sides fell back. The Latin knights pursued the scattered plunderers for several miles, but before long they ran into Saladin himself with a far more substantial body of men. Suddenly, fortunes were reversed. After a brief attempt to stand and fight, the Latins now found themselves fleeing for their lives.
