"What say you of this adventure?" asked Griffi of the knight, with whose long strides he could scarcely keep pace; "I know that you are entirely disinterested in the question."
The knight made no answer. They soon reached a clearing, where a dozen soldiers were sleeping on the ground. The knight's horse was fastened to a tree by a long strap, which allowed him to graze at his ease.
"Up sleepers!" cried the knight. The soldiers sprang to their feet, and awaited anxiously their leader's instructions.
"Come here, Wido!" he continued, speaking to a broad-shouldered young man near him.
After Wido had unfastened the horse and tied the strap to the saddle-bow, Cocco Griffi approached.
"You will surely not kill them?" he said.
"What is that to you?" the knight answered roughly. "And you," he added, turning to one of the troopers, "lead my horse to the road, and wait until you hear my bugle."
"But, noble sir," observed Griffi, "we did not come here to commit an evil action, but to help pass in some provisions for the hungry Milanese. It would be terrible if the convoy, deprived of our support, should fall into Hesso's power. He will cut off the right hands of all the people in the train, and the provisions will never get to Milan."
"Silence!"
"Silence! yes, silence!" murmured Griffi; "I am to hold my tongue and let my fellow-citizens die of hunger! Before I announced to you the presence of this girl, I should have reflected on the folly of which I was guilty in speaking of her."