All reached shore in safety, and
King Richard then hired three small vessels, in which he sailed to the
port of Zara, whence he hoped to reach the domains of his nephew, Otho
of Saxony, the son of his sister Matilda. The king had with him now but
two of his knights, Baldwin of Bethune, and Cuthbert of Evesham. Cnut
was with his feudal chief--for such Cuthbert had now, by his accession
to the rank of Earl of Evesham, become--and three or four English
archers.
"I fear, my lords," the king said to his knights as he sat in a little
room in an inn at Zara, "that my plight is a bad one. I am surrounded by
enemies, and, alas! I can no longer mount my steed and ride out as at
Jaffa to do battle with them. My brother, John Lackland, is scheming to
take my place upon the throne of England. Philip of France, whose mind
is far better at such matters than at setting armies in the field, is in
league with him. The Emperor Henry has laid claim to the throne of
Sicily. Leopold of Austria has not forgiven me the blow I struck him in
the face at Ascalon, and the friends of Conrad of Montferat are
spreading far and wide the lie that I was the instigator of his murder.
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