Although never before incorporated into any of the Slavonic states which surrounded her, she had a natural affinity with them; the greater part of her inhabitants were, like theirs, of Serbian blood. Her cause thus became bound up with that of the whole Serb race in its aspirations after freedom and a national existence. When there came upon that sorely tried race the darkest hour it had ever yet known, a Serbian statesman publicly appealed, as the ground of his confidence in England’s help, to the memory of the mutual obligations formed more than seven centuries before between Ragusa and Richard the Lion Heart.[1053] At Ragusa the king took ship again. What port he really made for we cannot tell; for he was wrecked a second time, and came finally ashore somewhere between Aquileia and [Sidenote: _Nov.-Dec._] Venice.[1054] Stranded in this remote corner of the Italian border-land, where almost every local magnate was a connexion or a dependent of either the house of Montferrat, the duke of Austria, or the Emperor, or of all three, Richard suddenly awoke to his danger. He despatched one of his followers to ask Count Mainard of Gorizia, the most powerful noble of the district,[1055] for a safe-conduct for the little party; he bade the messenger describe them as Baldwin de Béthune (who really was one of them), a merchant called Hugh, and their companions, all pilgrims returning from Jerusalem; and he also—most unwisely—sought to gain the favour of the count by sending him, in the name of the “merchant Hugh,” a valuable ruby ring. Mainard, who was a nephew of the marquis of Montferrat, gazed intently at the ring, and then said: “His name is not Hugh; it is Richard, the king. I have sworn to seize all pilgrims coming from those parts and to accept no gift from any of them; but for the worthiness of this gift, and of him who has honoured me, a man unknown to him, by sending it, I return it and give him free leave to depart.” On receiving this message the terrified pilgrims bought some horses and set off in the middle of the night,[1056] Richard, according to one account, disguised in the habit of the Temple,[1057] of which Order there were several in the little company.[1058] Their fears were well founded; Mainard and his men pursued them and captured eight of the party.[1059] The rest made their way through Friuli[1060] to Freisach in Carinthia;[1061] but Mainard had sent spies to dog their steps all the way, and warned his brother, Frederic of Pettau, to lie in wait for them there. Frederic chanced to have in his household a Norman from Argenton, named Roger, who had been in his service twenty years and whom he trusted implicitly. He bade this man search the houses where pilgrims were wont to lodge, if haply he might recognize the king by his speech or other token; promising Roger half of the town if the prize were captured. Roger soon penetrated his native sovereign’s disguise, and instead