deem that they will conquer lands. "Much did we make of the sergeant,
and gladly was he received in the host. For well may it be said, that
even after following a thousand crooked ways a man may find his way
right in the end.

The host fared forward till it came to Nigra (Negropont). Nigra is a
very fair island, and there is on it a very good city called
Negropont. Here the barons took council. Then went forward the Marquis
Boniface of Montferrat, and Count Baldwin of Flanders and Hainault,
with a great part of the transports and galleys, taking with them the
son of the Emperor Isaac of Constantinople; and they came to an island
called Andros, and there landed. The knights took their arms, and
over-rode the country; and the people of the land came to crave mercy
of the son of the Emperor of Constantinople, and gave so much of their
goods that they made peace with Wm.

Then they returned to the ships, and sailed over the sea; when a great
mishap befell, for a great lord of the host, whose name was Guy,
Castellan of Coucy, died, and was cast into the sea.

The other ships, which had not sailed thitherward, had entered the
passage of Abydos, and it is there that the straits of St. George (the
Dardanelles) open into the great

31

sea. And they sailed up the straits to a city called Abydos, which
lies on the straits of St. George, towards Turkey, and is very fair,
and well situate. There they took port and landed, and those of the
city came to meet them, and surrendered the city, as men without