Harold Lamb

“ Michael’s smile broadened into a wide grin—“Messer Ruy de Gonzales Clavijo is the greatest liar in Christendom.”
Bembo gaped and glanced from the ship to the stores on the jetty and at the Breton as if doubting his senses.
“Clavijo, my good Bembo, is a man with one talent. Aye—a tongue. The sun never shone upon a greater liar. ”

“ Michael thrust it into his belt and observed that the galley was drawing off, followed by the taunting shouts of the Venetians.
“They have small stomach for a fight,” he muttered.
“Thanks to God and our good friend Pietro Rudolfo.” Clavijo’s bull voice filled the ship. “Come, Master Bearn, I do not see that you were any too forward in the affray. Doubtless your skin is tender and you hang back lest it be pricked.”
Now Michael had not seen Clavijo at all along the embattled rail of the galliot and he strongly suspected that the man had remained in his cabin until the pirates had drawn off. ”

“ Rudolfo, however, voiced a blunt negative.
“By the rood, sir, we have made a bond between us. We will go in a body or not at all.”
This view was shared by Soranzi, who, despite privations and plundering, had hugged to his bosom the dream of fabulous profits promised him by his astrologer in Venice.
“Aye,” put in Bembo seriously; “we will go in our bodies or not at all.”
“I would fain see the bull-stag that you say is to be met with in Cathay,” insisted Michael.
“A most curious beast, Master Bearn,” observed Clavijo mechanically. “It has more hairs on its tail than a lion in its mane. ”

“ Michael glanced at him searchingly and was silent. “You will be safe here, sirs,” continued the Spaniard, “under the potent protection of Rudolfo and his men. I have no fear. What I have done once can be accomplished again. Even though I may never return, I would prefer to press on from here alone. A score of swords and halberds will avail us little against the Cathayans. Better one should die than all.
“If I am not back by the first of Winter, sirs, you can retrace your steps easily to Trebizond. ”

“ Now they were bound, as Bembo had stated, into unknown territory—into blank spaces on Venetian maps. No one in Trebizond had been anxious to accompany them for it was known that the mountains to the south and east as far as the Salt Sea were occupied by tribes who paid tribute to a monarch of Tatary.
Soranzi and others of the party had taken this information as a good augury and were in high spirits. So also was Bembo.
“Come, my flock!” He jangled the bells on his hood. “Follow your bell-wether. Ply your spurs, sound the timbrels! A fool is your leader, and folly your guide. ”

“ Before long it transpired that the foul beast came from its lair to attack a passing lion. Verily, signori, it twined about the king of beasts and swallowed its victim hindquarters first. Forsooth, that was my chance. Rushing forward, I swung my sword upon its neck as it lay sluggish. When the head of the serpent fell to earth the head of the lion fell off with that of its conqueror, and I rode back with double booty to the city of the Cham.”
Michael was rolling himself in his cloak on a table for the night when Bembo approached. ”

“ It was each man for himself and the best dinner to the quickest. The torches were soon darting into every quarter of the deck, leaving Michael in semi-darkness. Clavijo was leading the angry Rudolfo away. ”

“ Captain,” suggested Michael, “it would be well to man the sweeps and get the galliot well under weigh. Your sloping sides are comfortably devised for boarders. Our safety lies in ramming the galley with our wooden beak, such as it is.”
The Venetian, experienced in such matters, saw the wisdom of this and was giving orders for the rowers to push out the great oars, when a tall figure appeared on the balcony below the steering-platform and silenced him.
“Nay. No time for that. Summon up your oarsmen to fight on deck.”
Michael, leaning down, saw that it was Rudolfo who spoke. ”

“ At this Rudolfo swore and began to muster his mailed men-at-arms to the front of the column, when Michael checked him.
“This rider declares that he is lord of the castle, although he does not dare occupy it owing to the attacks of the Turks who are in the habit of raiding the country from the sultanate to the south. He says that he is very poor and a Christian—which, forsooth, is but half true—and needs money to carry on his fighting. What will you give him, Messer Soranzi?” ”

“ The pagans in Cathay entrap the beast by setting a snare artfully between two trees so that when the taurus—which is the name bestowed upon it by Herodotus—passes between the trees, its tail is caught fast. ”