midnight
It is enough if I say that he was greatly mixed up in the affairs of the Crusaders , lending his irresistible arms now to this side , now to that . He was the chief of the heterodox Mohammedan sect of the Assassins -LRB- this word , I believe , is actually derived from his name -RRB- ; imagined himself to be an incarnation of the Deity , and from his inaccessible rock-fortress of Alamut in the Elburz exercised a sinister influence on the intricate politics of the day . The Red Cross Knights called him Shaikh-ul-Jabal -- the Old Man of the Mountains , that very nickname connecting him infallibly with the Ul-Jabal of our own times . Now three well-known facts occur to me in connection with this stone of the House of Saul : the first , that Saladin met in battle , and defeated , _ and plundered _ , in a certain place , on a certain day , this Hasn-us-Sabah , or one of his successors bearing the same name ; the second , that about this time there was a cordial _ rapprochement _ between Saladin and Richard the Lion , and between the Infidels and the Christians generally , during which a free interchange of gems , then regarded as of deep mystic importance , took place -- remember `` The Talisman , '' and the `` Lee Penny '' ; the third , that soon after the fighters of Richard , and then himself , returned to England , the Loculus or coffin of St. Edmund -LRB- as we are informed by the _ Jocelini Chronica _ -RRB- was _ opened by the Abbot _ at midnight , and the body of the martyr exposed . On such occasions it was customary to place gems and relics in the coffin , when it was again closed up . Now , the chalice with the stone was taken from this loculus ; and is it possible not to believe that some knight , to whom it had been presented by one of Saladin 's men , had in turn presented it to the monastery , first scratching uncouthly on its surface the name of Hasn to mark its semi-sacred origin , or perhaps bidding the monks to do so ? But the Assassins , now called , I think , `` al Hasani '' or `` Ismaili '' -- `` that accursed _ Ishmaelite _ , '' the baronet exclaims in one place -- still live , are still a flourishing sect impelled by fervid religious fanaticisms .