"Then heed my advice and attend him in future. By Our Lady of Tortosa, Hugh, I have seen that which interested me! He is high in the confidence of the Doge; he sits at meat one night in three with Boniface; he is always by the side of Alexius; never a council is held without his presence. Heart and soul he seems to work in the interest of the Angeloi. And he is the heir of the Comnenoi! Ay, this Emperor Isaac, father of the Young Alexius, whom we go to restore, cast out and slew the last Comnenian Emperor, Andronicus, he who befriended your father. It is a sorry mess, Hugh." "Mayhap, but he says that he is weary of exile, and he hopes that by aiding the Angeloi they will restore his estates and permit him to end his days in peace." "So he says!" commented Matteo. "'Tis a tale put out for innocents to mouth. But in Outremer men say: 'Beware the promise of a Greek, for that which he promiseth is the opposite of what he intends.'" "You are bitter, comrade." "I am suspicious, an you like: It is as natural for a lion to befriend a lamb as for the Comnenoi to work for the profit of the Angeloi. Depend upon it, the Cæsar hath some plan at the back of his brain which none other knows--save it be his tigerish daughter." "What make you of your suspicions?" demanded Hugh. "Nought precise, I grant you; but much food for thought. I believe Comnenus works with the host for his own end, and that it is a different end from the one he trumpets." "But how can that concern you and me?" "An he were to become Emperor of Byzantium, even under Dandolo's tutelage, that would concern us, would it not?" "Ay, but you grow over-subtle for me," laughed Hugh. "I cannot follow this reasoning. Bethink you, Matteo, we go upon a Crusade to establish one Emperor for the sake of the Faith and Christ's Sepulchre, and now, without consultation or counsel, you would set up another. 'Tis treason to the host." "Treason? Mayhap there will be talk of such before our prows point westward again." Hugh would have answered him with a friendly gibe, but at that moment Villehardouin and several other knights ascended the ladder-stairs to the poop. "Ha, Messers," the Marshal greeted them. "We are well quit of that cold Sclavonian land. Now we may look forward to such opportunities as all puissant knights must crave." "It is said there are pirates in these seas," returned Hugh. "Dost think there is any chance we may happen upon them, Lord Marshal?" "Nay, I fear we may expect no affair of arms until we enter the realms of the Emperor. By St. Remigius, no pirate that was whole in his wit would think to assail such a foison of ships as we see about us!" Hugh felt a hand on his arm, and turned to look into the anxious face of Ralph.