One day, several weeks after the arrival at Corfu, the comrades found Villehardouin in his tent, wringing his hands in despair. The pressure was most severe upon him, for he was in fact, if not in title, Marshal of the entire host, as well as of the men of Champagne.
"Now, at last, I am prepared to believe that the Holy Saints and Our Lord Christ Jesus have turned their faces from us," he cried. "Never was such a sorry end to so brave an enterprise!"
"What is it, Lord Marshal?" exclaimed Hugh. "Hath some new uproar arisen?"
"In sore truth, yes. I have but just received word that a group of barons, men I have known since first we wore hauberk, have banded together to secure shipping from Count Walter de Brienne, who holds Brindisi in Apulia, so that they may leave us and return home."
"That is bad news, indeed," conceded Matteo. "Who hath done this?"
"The chief is Ode de Champlitte, a lord of Champagne, of my own country, Messers. Others are James d'Avesnes, Peter d'Amiens, Guy the Castellan of Coucy, Oger de St. Chéron, Guy de Conflans, Odo de Dampierre—I cannot repeat all the names. More than half the host—nigh all the lesser barons—are with them."
"What is to be done?" enquired Hugh.
"We hold a Parliament this day after nones, but what will come of it I do not know. I tell you, Messers, for the first time since I put my hand to this undertaking, I feel that God is not with us. I could despair."
Villehardouin had not exaggerated. The barons met that afternoon in two separate and opposing Parliaments, one determined to continue the expedition, the other firm set in their intention to abandon it and return home, if they could not secure shipping direct to Syria. Negotiations were hopeless. The host had come to the diverging of the ways.
But Boniface of Montferrat, the greatest uncrowned lord in southern Europe, one of the best generals and statesmen of his time—and with the keen brain of Dandolo behind him—was not the man to allow himself to be daunted by any obstacle. He met the situation by taking the line which his opponents did not expect, and as is usual when a leader does the unexpected, he achieved amazing success.