At length these articles were signed and the Marshal departed with his fee, for they must be paid for as though they were a legal document.  Next Hugh must try various horses from Sir Geoffrey’s stable, and choose one of them as his war steed for the morrow, since the beast he had ridden to Venice was in no condition to bear a full-armed knight.  In the end he selected a grey gelding, quiet of temperament and rather heavy of build, which it was reported had been used by its former owner in several tournaments and there borne itself handsomely.  This done, well or ill, his armour must be seen to, and Dick’s also, such as it was; his lance tested, and all their other weapons sharpened on a whetstone that Sir Geoffrey borrowed.  For this was a task that Grey Dick would leave to no other hand.

At length all was prepared as well as possible in such haste, and they went to supper with Lady Carleon, who, now she understood that they were to fight for their lives on the morrow, was more mournful even than she had been on the previous night.  When at last she asked what they desired as to their funerals and if they had any tokens to be sent to friends in England, Hugh, whose thoughts were already sad enough, could bear no more of it.  So he rose, saying that he would seek Sir Geoffrey, who was already in his cabinet engaged upon a letter to King Edward descriptive of these events and other business.  But when they were out of the room he said that he must have fresh air or he would faint, which was not strange, seeing that heat prevailed on this night in Venice of an intensity unknown there at this season of the year.

“Whither shall we go?” asked Dick, mopping his brow.  “Guards stand at the door and, I doubt, will not let us pass.”

“I wish to see the place where we are to fight to-morrow,” answered Hugh, “so as to form my judgment of it, if only we may come there.”

At this moment an English lad of Sir Geoffrey’s household chanced to pass by, having come to ask as to the feeding of the horse which Hugh should ride.  Dick caught him by the arm and asked whether he could get them out of the house secretly, so that the Guards would not see them, and conduct them to the spot called the Place of Arms, where they understood they were to fight.

The lad, whose name was David Day, replied somewhat doubtfully that he could do so by a back door near the kitchen, and guide them also, but that they must protect him from the anger of Sir Geoffrey.  This Hugh promised to do.  So presently they started, carrying their weapons, but wearing no mail because of the intense heat, although Dick reminded his master how they had been told that they should not venture forth without body armour.

“I have a sword and you have bow and axe,” answered Hugh, “so we’ll risk it.  In leather-lined mail we should surely melt.”