"Brothers, do you see yonder, at the foot of the hill, that little structure surrounded by pillars?"
"That building was formerly a warm water bath. The warm spring lay in the mountain. The bath is reached from the villa by a long underground gallery. The bishop had the stream turned away, and transformed the former bath into a chapel that he consecrated to St. Loup. Now, then, my sturdy Vagres, we will penetrate to the very heart of the episcopal villa by that underground gallery, without need of boring holes through walls or breaking doors or windows. If I promised, did I keep?"
"As always, Ronan! You promised and kept!"
The troop entered the former warm water bath, now chapel of St. Loup. It was dark as a pocket. A voice was heard saying:
"I and mine. Lead, Simon, you good servant of the episcopal villa! Lead on, we follow."
"Count Neroweg is still with the bishop, with his leudes."
"All the better! We shall capture a fox and a wild-boar at once! A superb hunt!"
"The count has with him twenty-four well armed leudes."
"We are thirty! That is fifteen Vagres more than enough for such a raid. Lead on, Simon, we follow."
"Why is not the passage free that leads underground into the banquet hall?"
"The bishop prepared a miracle for this evening, in order to frighten the Frankish count with hell. Two clerks carried into the apartment under the banquet hall large bales of hay, bundles of fagots and boxes of sulphur. They are to set them on fire and yell like devils possessed; then one of the mosaic slabs of the flooring in the hall will sink down; it drops by means of the same contrivance that used to remove it in order to descend to this gallery for the warm baths."
"And the stupid Frank, imagining he sees one of the mouths of hell yawning wide, will make some generous donation to the holy man--"
"You guessed it, Ronan. So, then, we shall have to wait until the miracle is over. When the count is gone and the villa slumbering you and your men can come in safely."
"To us the iron money-chest, the gold and silver vases! To us the bishop's full money-bags--and then we shall scatter alms among the poor who have not a denier!"
"To us," cried another set, "the full wine pouches and bags of grain--to us the hams and smoked meats! Alms, alms to the poor who hunger!"