him want to look at the men whose
raised voices he heard coming from across the street. Something had
disturbed them. But he had the feeling that if he did not look at them,
they would not see him.

_Hurry._ Holding the loosely coiled rope in one gloved hand, he ran as
lightly as he could so as not to disturb anyone in the rooms below him.

He came to the back of the building, where, two stories below him, a
crenelated lower wall protecting the courtyard joined the main building.
He uncoiled the rope, found its center, and doubled the line around an
angled merlon at the corner of the roof battlements so that both halves
dangled down just above the courtyard wall. Then, gripping the doubled
rope, he swung himself out and began to climb down.

A thunderous roar battered at his ears. He saw in the courtyard a big
gray hound racing over the paving stones twice as fast as any man could
run. It kept up a furious, enraged barking in a deep, bone-chilling
voice. In an instant the dog was below him. Its bellowing was sure to
rouse the cardinal's guards. Its huge, pointed white teeth glistened;
its tail lashed from side to side.

_If I fell, that damned dog would eat me alive._

He remembered seeing the dog before with Giancarlo, David of Trebizond's
servant. It had been friendly enough that day. But now it saw him as an
intruder.

_Giancarlo called it by name. What the devil was it? If I could speak
its name, maybe I could get it to shut up._

Simon stood on the courtyard wall, thankful that it was too high for the
dog to reach him. The hound sprang at the top of the wall, at the same
time emitting a bark so loud it almost knocked Simon off his perch.

Simon pulled on one end of the rope, and it snaked around the merlon and
came rippling down to him. To his horror, one end fell past him into the
courtyard.

In an instant those great ivory fangs had sunk into the braided hemp.
Simon yanked on the rope, but there was no tearing it loose. Hoping to
catch the dog by surprise, Simon gave the rope some slack and then
jerked with all his might, but succeeded only in dragging the beast a
foot or so, claws scraping on cobblestones. At least the animal could
not bite the rope and bark at the same time. Enraged, muffled growls
issued around its clenched teeth. It snapped its head from side to side,
trying to tear the rope out of Simon's hands.

He cut part of the rope away with his dagger, letting the end the dog
held fall int