"ROMEO GONZAGA."
He folded the paper, and on the back he wrote the superscription--"To the
High and Mighty Duke of Babbiano." Then opening a large chest that stood
against the wall, he rummaged a moment, and at last withdrew an arbalest
quarrel. About the body of this he tied his note. Next, from the wall
he took down a cross-bow, and from a corner a moulinet for winding it.
With his foot in the stirrup he made the cord taut and set the shaft in
position.
And now he closed the door, and, going to the window, which was little
more than an arrow-slit, he shouldered his arbalest. He took careful aim
in the direction of the ducal tent, and loosed the quarrel. He watched
its light, and it almost thrilled him with pride in his archery to see it
strike the tent at which he had aimed, and set the canvas shuddering.
In a moment there was a commotion. Men ran to the spot, others emerged
from the tent, and amongst the latter Gonzaga recognised the figures of
Gian Maria and Guidobaldo.
The bolt was delivered to the Duke of Babbiano, who, with an upward
glance at the ramparts, vanished into the tent once more.
Gonzaga moved from his eerie, and set wide the door of the tower, so that
his eyes could range the whole of the sun-bathed ramparts. Returning to
his window, he waited impatiently for the answer. Nor was his impatience
to endure long. At the end of some ten minutes Gian Maria reappeared,
and, summoning an archer to his side, he delivered him something and made
a motion of his hand towards Roccaleone.
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