Now the King of England had three daughters, each of them being married to some prince of importance on the Continent of Europe, and he had adopted this means of sending certain letters to be given into their hands.  The letter was carried inside a marionette, the head of the little carved wooden figure being so made as to unscrew and reveal a deep narrow hole in the body.  The last of the three was Matilda, wife of Henry the Lion Duke of Saxony, the most powerful vassal of Frederick Barbarossa; and Barbarossa and his court now occupied Goslar, the walled city of Prussia which the two comrades were approaching.  Giovanni wished to have the Emperor’s permission to go on to Saxony.  It might save his being detained as a spy or interfered with in some other way.

He wished also to discover how far the preparations for the invasion of Italy had gone.  From what he had heard he thought that Barbarossa was about to gather his forces.  He himself intended to join the army of the Lombard League as soon as he had delivered his letter.

There was not much difficulty in finding an inn where they could have supper, and sleep, rolled up in their cloaks, on the floor in a corner of the common room.  The donkey was unloaded and fed, and the saddle-bags were brought in to serve as pillows.  Having eaten, they lay down to the dreamless sleep of healthy youth.  Cimarron’s mountain-bred ears caught the sound, two hours after, of clanking swords and trampling horses, and he signaled silently to Giovanni.  Troopers clattered in, laughing, cursing, calling for this and that, and not seeing the two motionless figures in the dark corner at all.  When all was still again Cimarron whispered,

“Who are they?”

“They are Swabian cavalry,” answered the other.  “We were none too soon.  The army is mustering already.”

Next morning Giovanni cast about for means to get inside the walls of the great castle, where the Imperial banner floated in the cold blue air.  But there seemed to be no disposition to encourage foreigners.  Cimarron, who could sometimes gain admittance as a horse-boy, was kicked out.  There was tumult and excitement in the streets.  Giovanni, retreating to a narrow alley to brush mud off his doublet, was aware that a man with keen observant eyes was regarding him from the doorway of a wine-shop.  The man wore the cap and bells of a jester, and his fantastic costume was gorgeously colored and ornamented.  He was drinking a cup of wine, and when that was finished he poured another for himself and began to sip it slowly.  Catching Giovanni’s eye, he asked,

“What’s in those great saddle-bags, my friend?”

Giovanni nearly jumped, for the question was in his own native dialect—­ not only Lombard but the variety peculiar to Milan itself.  But remembering that he must not betray his blood he answered meekly, in French,

“I crave your pardon, master.  I do not understand your question.”