-morrow at dawn with three hundred light horsemen,
and that I shall have no foot-soldiers with me. I am sure that he will
never let me pass without a skirmish, and if he comes I trust he will be
killed or taken, for I shall have an ambush at Isola della Scale (about
fifteen miles south of Verona) of two hundred men-at-arms and two thousand
foot-soldiers. If you manage for him to meet me there I promise on my faith
to give you two thousand ducats of gold."

This precious scoundrel readily promised that he would not fail to do so.
He went off straight to Verona, and to the lodging of the Good Knight,
where he was admitted at once, for all the people there believed him to be
entirely in the service of their master. They brought him in as soon as
Bayard had finished supper, and he was warmly welcomed. "Well, Vizentin, I
am glad to see you. You do not come without some reason; tell me, what news
have you?"

[Illustration: Seizure of the Spy.]

"My lord, I have very good news, thank God!" was the reply. The Good Knight
at once rose from table and drew the spy on one side, to learn what was
going on, who repeated the lesson he had learned. Bayard was delighted at
the prospect before him, and gave orders that Vizentin was to be well
feasted. Then he called together the Captain Pierre du Pont, La Varenne,
his flag-bearer du Fay, and a certain Burgundian captain of "landsknechte,"
Hannotin de Sucker, who had fought with him in most of his Italian wars. He
told these friends what he had heard from the spy, and how Manfroni was
going to Lignano on the morrow with only three hundred horsemen. Then he
added that, if his good companions would join him, these Venetians would
not finish their journey without a little fighting, but the matter must be
seen to at once.

It was settled that they should start at daybreak and take two hundred
men-at-arms. Hannotin de Sucker had his lodging at the other end of the
town, and while he was on his way home he chanced to see the spy coming out
of the house of a man who was known to be on the Venetian side. The
Burgundian captain at once suspected treason; he seized Vizentin by the
collar and asked him what he was doing. The man, taken by surprise, changed
colour and prevaricated so much that the captain at once took him back to
Bayard's lodging. He found his friend just going to bed, but the two sat
together over the fire, while the spy was carefully guarded.

Hannotin explained why he felt sur