something, ask of those who have seen
it firsthand."

"Then perhaps you have new questions," said Friar Mathieu.

Simon felt despair pressing on him like a mail shirt that was too heavy.
Fra Tomasso was a man whose whole life was argument. How could Friar
Mathieu hope to persuade him to change his mind about anything?

His chair creaking loudly, Fra Tomasso leaned forward and rested his
elbows on the table in front of him. "I am so sure of my conclusions
that I have written to Emperor Sigismund in Germany, King Boleslav in
Poland, and King Wenceslas in Hungary--all lands that have suffered from
the depredations of the Tartars, urging them to beg His Holiness to
repudiate this scheme that will bring the frontier of Tartary so much
closer to us. I have written to King Louis of France, your liege lord,
too, young Count de Gobignon, even though he is said to be eager for a
pact with the Tartars. Furthermore, Father da Varda is considering my
proposal that the Dominican order all over Christendom preach against an
alliance with the Tartars."

Hearing in Fra Tomasso's words the ruin of all his hopes, Simon could
not contain himself. He burst out. "_Why?_"

Fra Tomasso looked surprised, even a bit affronted. "For all the reasons
you heard in church last Friday. They are not simple savages, my young
friend. They are diabolical."

It was hopeless. Simon's heart sank lower and lower. The great
preacher's mind was made up.

"Yes, but, Your Reverence"--Simon felt driven by desperation to debate
with a man whom he knew was invincible in argument--"we all know of many
times when Christians and Saracens have been just as cruel."

Friar Mathieu gave a little grunt of agreement.

Fra Tomasso looked down at his thumbs, the tips pressed together as they
rested on his wide belly. There was a moment of silence. He was
thinking, Simon realized. Hardly ever had Simon seen a man stop to
think before speaking in an argument. He began to tremble inwardly,
expecting to be crushed.

Fra Tomasso raised a fat finger. "Yes, I know that Christian knights
have also committed barbarities. But they did so in mindless rage, and
afterward they were ashamed. Even the Mohammedan faith teaches the
Saracens to wage only just wars, to be compassionate, to spare the
innocent and helpless. I stipulate that neither Christians nor
Mohammedans live up to these laws. But they _profess_ them. The Tartars
have no such laws. In their bottomless ignorance th