_ 17 _ threw them into the cistern, but the wall and roofs falling inside made more than half the water overflow, and as it ran through the streets the people collected it and drank it, and all the inhabitants of the city gathered there. While this was happening the Moors who were guarding the cistern, unable to withstand our attack, retreated to four main streets which led to the cistern and from there sent a stream of arrows which wounded those whom I named above. Our men attacked them several times and the Moors fled, and every time our men returned to the cistern the Moors came back to the entrances to the streets to shoot their arrows again. Because it was now clear daylight and the sun was beginning to rise, Khwaja Attar saw what had happened to the cistern and came up with many cavalry soldiers led by the son of Rais Nuruddin, who attacked our men so fiercely that he became caught up among them and was killed, with eight pulled down from their horses. Seeing them arrive in numbers and that the cistern was almost empty, the Captain-in-Chief began to retire with the men in good order, turning back from time to time, at which the Moors fled, but the Captain-in-Chief did not want our men to pursue them but go forward until they were in sight of the boats.
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