For some time we stood observing the royal arrangements. A throng of captains and courtiers was continually passing in and out of the King’s tent. Then we drew off with our water-cart into a thicket that was near, fed the honest mules, and proceeded to eat some cheese made out of goats’ milk with which we had provided ourselves.
About an hour after sundown the moon rose; and this was a circumstance that gave satisfaction to our leader.
“John Castilian,” said he, “there is an old score that is due to thee by the hand of English Dickon that will not go much longer unrequited.”
Saying this the English giant produced a stout piece of cord from the recesses of his jerkin, to which he added a short piece of iron, a cloth, and a huge bag woven of hemp, which had been tied to the tail of the water-cart. And swearing an oath in round London English, he waved these articles in the face of the good lady the moon.
It was near to midnight when we led the water-cart out of the thicket. We drove it to within a quarter of a league of that narrow path that winds sheerly upwards to the heights of Montesina, and thereby to the base of the walls of the duke’s castle. Hitching the mules to a tree in a retired spot, we retraced our steps cautiously by the light of the moon, until the outlines of the royal pavilion again took shape before us.
Not a sound disturbed the stillness of the night, for the King of Castile was no reveller. Doubtless his Majesty was already abed and lapped in slumber. At the door of his tent we were able to discern the drawn swords of the sentinels glancing to the moonlight as they mounted guard.
As we emerged from the shelter of the trees into the open meadow in which the pavilion was set, Sir Richard Pendragon, having taken the precaution to tie the bag round his middle, got down upon all fours and began to crawl like a great serpent through the grass towards the royal dwelling. And as the Count of Nullepart immediately got himself down upon his hands and knees also, and began to crawl after our leader, in order not to be out of the hunt, in whatever our quarry might consist, I was fain in these particulars to imitate their example.
Without causing a twig to break, we crept upon our hands and knees to the rear of the royal tent. And so artfully did we make our way that none perceived us when at last we came into its shadow, and actually lay with our shoulders against its canvas walls. And the three sentinels stood all unsuspecting in the moonlight, not fifty paces from us, yet hidden by the body of the pavilion.
Hardly had we come to lie thus than the Englishman drew his dagger and began to cut a large hole in the tent. And no sooner had I observed this to be his occupation than a kind of wonderment overcame me, for at last I had come to discern the depth, the daring, and the subtlety of his invention.