260 THE HISTORY OE THE ORDER OF |noOK ir.

was dangerous. Gratitude was a reed not to bemuch relied on, happy if not converted into crime.Nor had lie even a personal acquaintance withMolay. So Fulk ought not to be suspected; but itwas better heave off, and he did so. The financialmeans were chiefly by a subscription of ladies, par-ticularly those of Genoa, who sold their jewels forthat purpose . 1 Some of these Genoese Amazonstook the cross themselves, whose cuirasses, madesmall and with bulges to receive their breasts, wereshown in the arsenal long after . 2 He had only toselect the number of warriors he desired fromseveral. Many of the most illustrious houses inGermany 3 took the white cross on that occasion.But he was so reserved, and perhaps severe a man,that not one of them dared to inquire where he wasgoing to. So passing Rhodes, to lull any suspicionof the Saracens, he sailed to Cyprus, and theretaking all his knights and their effects; sailed againto the astonishment of the King of Cyprus, andevery one else. But when out of sight of Cyprus,Sir Fulk veered north-east, and keeping Syria onhis right, instead of landing, went into a port onthe coast of Asia Minor, and anchored. Immense

1 Bosio.—Vertot: iv. 79.

8 Michaud: Hist., v. 160.—Misson’s Italy in 1702.

3 Bosio.—Vertot : iv. 80.