"Crusaders?" expostulated Dandolo. "All such are to be brought before their own chiefs on St. Nicolo. So it has been arranged. You know that."
"But these are not Crusaders, your Highness. They say they have information for the Republic."
"Humph! What are they?"
"They are an English lord and a jongleur of Antioch, with three servants, who were found fighting with a gondola which escaped on the lagoons."
"Yes," broke in Matteo, "and that gondola which escaped contained an enemy of the Republic, an outlaw of Venice, who was trafficking with the Saracens."
The Doge turned quickly toward the jongleur.
"You speak boldly, Messer," he said. "Who was this man?"
"His name is Mocenigo, and he is in the employ of the Greek Emperor."
"So?" Dandolo's dead-white face was emotionless. "Yes, it comes to our memory that Mocenigo was outlawed for debauchery. But what is that to you, Messer? Are you a relative of a family he has aggrieved?"
"No."