ly the Huguenots
will counterfeit our white cross, and blunders may be made by the
overzealous."

He unclasped the jewel which hung at the end of his chain. It was a
little Agnus of gold and enamel, surmounting a lozenge-shaped shield
charged with an eagle.

"Take this," he said, "and return it to me when the work is over. Show
it if any man dares to question you. It is a passport from Henry of
Guise.... And now forward," he cried to his followers. "Forward for
Montgomery and the Vidame."

The two looked after the splendid figure. "That bird is in fine
feather," said Champernoun.

Gaspard's jaw was very grim. "Some day he will lie huddled under the
assassin's knife. He will die as he has made my chief die, and his body
will be cast to the dog's.... But he has given me a plan," and he spoke
in his companion's ear.

The Englishman laughed. His stolidity had been slow to quicken, but his
eyes were now hot and he had altogether ceased to swear.

"First let me get back to Walsingham's lodging. I have a young kinsman
there, they call him Walter Raleigh, who would dearly love this
venture."

"Tut, man, be serious. We play a desperate game, and there is no place
for boys in it. We have Guise's jewel, and by the living God we will use
it. My mark is Petrucci."

"And the priest," said Champernoun.

The crowd in the Rue de Bethisy was thinning, as bands of soldiers,
each with its tail of rabble, moved off to draw other coverts. There
was fighting still in many houses, and on the roof-tops as the pale dawn
spread could be seen the hunt for fugitives. Torches and lanterns still
flickered obscenely, and the blood in the gutters shone sometimes
golden in their glare and sometimes spread drab and horrid in the waxing
daylight.

The Jacobin stood at their elbow. "Follow me, my lords of Spain," he
cried. "No friends of God and the Duke dare be idle this happy morn.
Follow, and I will show you wonders."

He led them east to where a broader street ran to the river.

"Somewhere here lies Teligny," he croaked. "Once he is dead the second
head is lopped from the dragon of Babylon. Oh that God would show
us where Conde and Navarre are hid, for without them our task is
incomplete."

There was a great crowd about the door of one house, and into it the
Jacobin fought his way with prayers and threats. Some Huguenot--Teligny
it might be--was cornered there, but in the narrow place only a few
could join in the hunt, and the hunter