Having accomplished their work, the Good Knight and his company made their way back to Verona, where they were received with great honour.  On the other hand, when the Venetians heard of the loss of their men they were furious, and the Doge Andrea Gritti sharply blamed Manfroni for leaving them behind.

We may mention here that this Giovanni Paolo Manfroni was a splendid soldier and one of the finest captains of men-at-arms in Italy at this period.

Manfroni had a certain spy, who often went backwards and forwards between Venona and San Bonifacio, and who served both him and the Good Knight; but those treacherous spies always serve one better than the other, and this one hoped for the most gain from the Venetian.

So one day Manfroni said to him:  “You must go to Verona and let Captain Bayard know that the Council of Venice wish me to be sent in command of Lignano, a fortified town on the Adige, as the present governor is ordered to the Levant with a number of galleys.  Tell Bayard that you know for certain that I start to-morrow at dawn with three hundred light horsemen, and that I shall have no foot-soldiers with me.  I am sure that he will never let me pass without a skirmish, and if he comes I trust he will be killed or taken, for I shall have an ambush at Isola della Scale (about fifteen miles south of Verona) of two hundred men-at-arms and two thousand foot-soldiers.  If you manage for him to meet me there I promise on my faith to give you two thousand ducats of gold.”

This precious scoundrel readily promised that he would not fail to do so.  He went off straight to Verona, and to the lodging of the Good Knight, where he was admitted at once, for all the people there believed him to be entirely in the service of their master.  They brought him in as soon as Bayard had finished supper, and he was warmly welcomed.  “Well, Vizentin, I am glad to see you.  You do not come without some reason; tell me, what news have you?”

[Illustration:  Seizure of the Spy.]

“My lord, I have very good news, thank God!” was the reply.  The Good Knight at once rose from table and drew the spy on one side, to learn what was going on, who repeated the lesson he had learned.  Bayard was delighted at the prospect before him, and gave orders that Vizentin was to be well feasted.  Then he called together the Captain Pierre du Pont, La Varenne, his flag-bearer du Fay, and a certain Burgundian captain of “landsknechte,” Hannotin de Sucker, who had fought with him in most of his Italian wars.  He told these friends what he had heard from the spy, and how Manfroni was going to Lignano on the morrow with only three hundred horsemen.  Then he added that, if his good companions would join him, these Venetians would not finish their journey without a little fighting, but the matter must be seen to at once.