"Come with me then, I'll show you the way," said Lanzo, and they left the spot, followed by the others, leading their horses.
"You merely ask me to perform a pious duty," said the priest, when Lanzo had explained the affair; "had we not better go at once to the poor wretch?"
"There is no need of haste," replied Lanzo. "They dare not hang him, until he has confessed and received absolution. You need fear no rivalry in the matter, either; for my cousin Barbarossa hates your fraternity, and will not allow a monk within the limits of the camp. So that we have no one here, save prelates in velvet and ermine, who will have nothing to do with a confession.--Holloa, there, you idlers, make way for honest people!" cried the jester, striking with his cap a crowd of servants who were blocking up the entrance to a narrow street.
Close at hand, in the middle of an open square, stood the tent of Henry the Lion, and behind were the lodgings of his suite and the stables for their horses.
"Here, Balderich!" said the jester to one of the servants, "take these animals to the stables, and feed them well."
And, as the varlet led away the horses, Lanzo conducted the monks to his own tent, where he offered them some food and wine.
"I am aware," said he, "that you abstain from meat; but, with the best will in the world, I cannot give you any fish, although there is plenty of it in camp."
The monks said their benedicite and ate what was set before them.
"Will you not change your dress, Father Conrad?" asked one of them, of him who seemed the superior.
"Not yet, my son," replied Conrad; "for the present it will suffice to shake off the dust."