All was as yet dark and undecided as to the plan of the expedition.

Was Egypt, or Palestine, or Constantinople, or Tunis, to be the first point of attack?
Negotiations, touching this subject, had been opened with the Venetians and the Genoese without arriving at any conclusion or certainty.

Steps were taken at haphazard with full trust in Providence and utter forgetfulness that Providence does not absolve men from foresight.

On arriving at Aigues-Mortes about the middle of May, Louis found nothing organized, nothing in readiness, neither crusaders nor vessels; everything was done slowly, incompletely, and with the greatest irregularity.

At last, on the 2d of July, 1270, he set sail without any one's knowing and without the king's telling any one whither they were going.