"You must increase the length of the casting arm," he directed a bearded artisan, who stood on the opposite side of the table from him. "I will have it throw the missile as far as a land machine. If the weight must be reduced to fit it on the forecastle of the galleys, then you must save on other parts." "But, your Highness, if we lighten the other parts it will not rest solid on the deck," objected the artisan. "Fool!" snapped the Doge. "Bolt it to the deck with iron nails. Do not come to me again until you have succeeded." The artisan retired, and Dandolo swept the room with his strange, wellnigh sightless eyes. "Who else?" he asked sharply. There was no trace of fatigue in his voice, no stoop in his thin shoulders. He carried his ninety-two years as though he had been a man of forty. "Your Highness," said the police officer, stepping forward, "these are the prisoners, foreigners, who have demanded to be brought before you." "Crusaders?" expostulated Dandolo. "All such are to be brought before their own chiefs on St. Nicolo. So it has been arranged. You know that." "But these are not Crusaders, your Highness. They say they have information for the Republic." "Humph! What are they?" "They are an English lord and a jongleur of Antioch, with three servants, who were found fighting with a gondola which escaped on the lagoons." "Yes," broke in Matteo, "and that gondola which escaped contained an enemy of the Republic, an outlaw of Venice, who was trafficking with the Saracens." The Doge turned quickly toward the jongleur. "You speak boldly, Messer," he said. "Who was this man?" "His name is Mocenigo, and he is in the employ of the Greek Emperor." "So?" Dandolo's dead-white face was emotionless. "Yes, it comes to our memory that Mocenigo was outlawed for debauchery. But what is that to you, Messer? Are you a relative of a family he has aggrieved?" "No." "Then could you not have left justice to the duly authorised officers of the Republic?" "Yes, your Highness. Ordinary justice. But this man is more than outlaw." "What then?" "I have said it. He trafficks with the Saracens. We pursued him, without his knowledge, to the Isle of Rabbits, where he met three Emirs, who landed from a galley which lay outside the lagoons. They came to ask him of the Crusade and where it was going, and----" "Stay," said Dandolo. He beckoned to his secretaries. "Clear the room. I wish nobody to remain except these strangers. The guards may wait without." Dandolo sat silent, his chin cupped in one hand, his eyes staring in front of him in the uncanny direct way which was one of his traits, until the fluttering of robes and the pattering of feet had ended with the shutting of the door. "Draw nearer," he ordered abruptly. "Both of you. Stand by my side here." He directed them to a position close to his chair. "Who are you who have talked thus far?" he asked, peering at them out of eyes which were clouded by a slight film.