caught
them and saved them from hurt; and even if they did weep and make a
great outcry, it was because they were frightened, not because they
were injured, and straightway they had forgotten what ailed them and
were again merrily trudging about.

In the midst of this wonderful vision of young Angels and bright-eyed
children mingling so riotously together, the Syndic heard an
inexpressibly joyous laugh behind him. Turning his head, he saw that
it was the little marble Babe in the arms of the Madonna. He was
clapping his hands, and had thrown back his head against his mother's
bosom in sudden delight.

Did the Syndic truly see this? He was certain he did--for a moment;
and yet in that same moment he knew that the divine Babe was once more
a babe of stone, with its sweet grave face and unconscious eyes; and
when the Syndic turned again to watch the children, it was only the
children he saw; the Angels were no longer visible.

"It is not always given to our sinful eyes to see them," said Brother
Agnolo, answering the Syndic's thought, "but whether we see them or see
them not, always they are there."

Now it was in the autumn of the same year that the fierce captain of
Free-lances, the Condottiere Ghino, appeared one moonlight night before
the gates of Spinalunga, and bade the guard open in the name of Pisa.

As I have said, the little hill-town could only be attacked on the
western side, on account of the precipitous ravine which divided it
from the hills; but the ridge before the gate was crowded with eight
hundred horsemen and two thousand men-at-arms clamouring to be
admitted. Nothing daunted, the garrison on the square towers cried
back a defiance; the war-bell was sounded; and the townspeople, men and
women, hurried down to defend the walls.

After the first flight of arrows and quarrels the Free-lances fell back
out of bowshot, and encamped for the night, but the hill-men remained
on the watch till daybreak. Early in the morning Ghino himself rode up
the ascent with a white flag, and asked for a parley with the Syndic.

"We are from Pisa," said the Condottiere; "Florence is against us; this
castello we must hold for our safety. If with your good-will, well and
good!"

"We are bound by our loyalty to Florence," replied the Syndic briefly.

"The sword cuts all bonds," said the Free-lance, with a laugh; "but we
would gladly avoid strife. Throw in your lot with us. All we ask is a
pledge that in the