"And I, for the men of Champagne," said Villehardouin. "And I, and I, and I, and I!" The barons crowded forward, eager to register their assent. "Well-played," whispered Matteo, with a cynical smile. "He is a master, that old Venetian eagle." "It may well be he serves God better than those who oppose him," answered Hugh. "Oh, ay, mayhap! But I warrant you first of all he serves Venice." "But never himself," protested Hugh. "Nay, there you are right. He is better than these barons who are thinking on the principalities and duchies they hope to carve out for themselves in Outremer." CHAPTER XV HUGH'S ENEMIES STRIKE AGAIN The comrades stood once more on the stern-castle of the galley _Paradise_, and watched the ruined walls of Zara dwindle in the distance. From below came the hoarse "Ha-hee-ho-ha!" of the galeotti as the long oars lifted, feathered and bit the water. In the distance frowned the savage mountains of the Sclavonian coast. All around them the pageantry of the Venetian fleet painted the sea a myriad hues--crimson and purple, Tyrian blue, orange-yellow, green and gold and silver, the colours clashed and blended in one gorgeous sheen of dazzling brilliance out of which leaped an occasional escutcheon or a saintly figure blazoned on a sail. "Right glad I am to be no longer idle," said Hugh contentedly. Matteo was silent for a space, his eyes drinking in the wonder of the spectacle. "I would not have missed this," he answered at last. "No, Hugh, not for anything would I have missed this. Ha, comrade, think on the songs men will sing of what we do." "Songs?" repeated Hugh. "Belike. But I think more of the mission we take up. Hast not forgot our quest, Matteo?" The jongleur's hand dropped on Hugh's mail-clad shoulder. "Nay, you are unjust," he said, with smiling eyes. "I forget not, and I rejoice with you that our course is eastward again. Bethink you, too, it is better to go as we go, with an army of friends, than to enter Byzantium alone, and mayhap dare the anger of the Emperor unaided." "So I have thought," Hugh acquiesced. "It puts my mind at ease. And yet--" he swept one arm around the compass of the horizon, embracing the hundreds of bobbing ships--"great as is our force, we go against the mightiest lord in the world, if all we hear be true." "Ay, the struggle will be worth while--and the glory will be all the more for the victors. We ride with the best knights that ever entered lists, but I wish I could be as sure of those who intrigue above our heads as I am of our good lord, Villehardouin." "How say you?" Matteo looked over his shoulder. Barring the helmsman at the unwieldy rudder and Ralph beside them, none else occupied the poop. "Hast watched this rat, Comnenus?" asked the jongleur. Hugh shook his head. Of a truth, he had steered a course wide of the Cæsar and his daughter.