Zenghi's first act was to enter Diarbekr, the country of the Ortukids, and capture a town which had recently revolted against the rule of Mosul. He followed this up by taking a number of other fortified places, after which he arranged a truce with Joscelin de Courtenay, ruler of the cities forming the outposts of the Crusaders along the upper branch of the Euphrates, which left him free to turn into Syria. Having consolidated his conquests he took advantage of an appeal from Aleppo, long subject to Frankish extortions, to take possession of that once powerful city. Two years later he marked his opening of the campaign against the Christians by the capture of a frontier fortress, Athareb, which had been a menace to all the country around Aleppo. It was during the siege of this fortress that one of the warriors of King Baldwin of Jerusalem drew the latter's attention to the fact that this was the same young man who had ridden unattended up to the gate of Tiberias, and suggested that it would be well to extinguish so dangerous a spark before it became a conflagration. Baldwin decided to act on this counsel and led a goodly force of knights and other tried warriors to meet the young upstart. Zenghi's aids advised retirement before so formidable an army, especially as the defenders of Athareb were likewise renowned fighters and the danger of being caught between the two forces was considerable, but Zenghi was always ready to accept desperate chances. His capture of Jezira had been achieved only by swimming