CHAP. II.]

ST. JOHN OF JERUSALEM.

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turn. Nor was Baldwin hard to be won. Yet havingleft little garrisons in all the various towns andvillages he had stopped at, he had with him but ahundred horse. Curious was his triumphal entranceinto that splendid, most civilised, and strongly-fortified place. The whole population walked outto receive him with olive branches and singing.But at their first interview, the prince or governorperceived he wasmore dangerous than a Mahometan;and, with a wish to get clear of him, offered hima considerable sum. The wily Baldwin howeverrefused it, and threatened to go away, the towns-people, with loud cries, beseeching him to remain.But it could only be by his becoming bound tothem by the binding link of duty; and by thathonourable plea alone it were possible for him tobe detached from the crusade, on the precise termsthat the Prince of Orfa, who was old and childless,should adopt him, and proclaim him his successor;which being acceded to with eagerness, the legalceremony of adoption was instantly gone throughin the presence of Baldwin’s own soldiers, and ofthe people, as indubitable witnesses, and accordingto the Oriental custom, the Greek passed the Latinbetween his shirt and his skin, and kissed him,in sign of his being his child. The aged wifeof the prince did the same, and so Baldwin was ever

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