I have shown the road: let others
plan its details and build hostelries. For myself I am for a bolder
venture."
The balcony was filling up. A noisy group of young men were chattering at
one table, and at others some of the merchants from the Merceria were at
wine. But where the two sat it was quiet and dusky, though without on the
canal the sky made a golden mirror. Philip could see his companion's face
in the reflected light, and it reminded him of the friars who had filled
the chamber of his dying grandmother. It was strained with a steadfast
ardour.
Battista leaned his elbows on the board and his eyes searched the other's.
"I am minded to open my heart to you," he said. "You are young and of a
noble stock. Likewise you are a scholar. I am on a mission, Sir Philip--the
loftiest, I think, since Moses led Israel over the deserts. I am seeking a
promised land. Not Cathay, but a greater. I sail presently, not the African
seas, but the Sea of Darkness, the Mare Atlanticum." He nodded towards
Bianco's map.
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