inforced by the halberdiers that had been guarding me, they made short
work of the resistance of those four officers. In as little time as it
takes me to record it, they were disarmed and ranged against the wall
behind those guards and others that had come to their support--to be
dealt with by Ramiro after he had dealt with me.

His fear of Cesare's coming was put by for the moment in his fierce
lust to be avenged upon me who had betrayed him and the officers who
had turned against him. Madonna sank back once more in her despair. The
little spark that she had so bravely fanned to life had been quenched
almost as soon as it had shown itself.

"Now, Federigo," said Ramiro grimly, "I am waiting."

The executioner resumed his work, and in an instant I stood stripped of
my brigandine. As the fellow led me, unresisting, to the torture--for
what resistance could have availed me now?--I tried to pray for strength
to endure what was to come. I was done with life; for some portion of
an hour I must go through the cruellest of agonies; and then, when it
pleased God in His mercy that I should swoon, it would be to wake no
more in this world. For they would bear out my unconscious body, and
hang it by the neck from that black beam they called Ramiro del' Orca's
flagstaff.

I cast a last glance at Madonna. She had fallen on her knees, and with
folded hands was praying intently, none heeding her.

Federigo halted me beneath the pulleys, and his horrid hands grew busy
adjusting the ropes to my wrists.

And then, when the last ray of hope had faded, but before the
executioner had completed his hideous task, a trumpet-blast, winding a
challenge to the gates of the Castle of Cesena, suddenly rang out upon
the evening air, and startled us all by its sudden and imperious note.

CHAPTER XXI. AVE CAESAR!

For just an instant I allowed myself to be tortured by the hope that a
miracle had happened, and here was Cesare Borgia come a good eight hours
before it was possible for Mariani to have fetched him from Faenza. The
same doubt may have crossed Ramiro's mind, for he changed colour and
sprang to the door to bawl an order forbidding his men to lower the
bridge.

But he was too late. Before he was answered by his followers, we heard
the creaking of the hinges and the rattle of the running chains, ending
in a thud that told us the drawbridge had dropped across the moat.
Then came the loud continuous thunder of many hoofs upon it