hem a certain priest,
Hunus by name, a sharp man (_hominem callidum_), whom he ordered to
receive and bring back the body of the martyr in question. And so,
resuming their journey, they proceeded to Rome as fast as they
could. (Cap. i. 3.)

Unfortunately, a servant of the notary, one Reginbald, fell ill of a
tertian fever, and impeded the progress of the party. However, this
piece of adversity had its sweet uses; for three days before they
reached Rome, Reginbald had a vision. Somebody habited as a deacon
appeared to him and asked why his master was in such a hurry to get to
Rome; and when Reginbald explained their business, this visionary
deacon, who seems to have taken the measure of his brother in the flesh
with some accuracy, told him not by any means to expect that Deusdona
would fulfil his promises. Moreover, taking the servant by the hand, he
led him to the top of a high mountain and, showing him Rome (where the
man had never been), pointed out a church, adding "Tell Ratleig the
thing he wants is hidden there; let him get it as quickly as he can and
go back to his master." By way of a sign that the order was
authoritative, the servant was promised that, from that time forth, his
fever should disappear. And as the fever did vanish to return no more,
the faith of Eginhard's people in Deacon Deusdona naturally vanished
with it (_et fidem diaconi promissis non haberent_). Nevertheless, they
put up at the deacon's house near St. Peter ad Vincula. But time went on
and no relics made their appearance, while the notary and the priest
were put off with all sorts of excuses--the brother to whom the relics
had been confided was gone to Beneventum and not expected back for some
time, and so on--until Ratleig and Hunus began to despair, and were
minded to return, _infecto negotio_.

But my notary, calling to mind his servant's dream, proposed to his
companion that they should go to the cemetery which their host had
talked about without him. So, having found and hired a guide, they
went in the first place to the basilica of the blessed Tiburtius in
the Via Labicana, about three thousand paces from the town, and
cautiously and carefully inspected the tomb of that martyr, in
order to discover whether it could be opened without any one being
the wiser. Then they descended into the adjoining crypt, in which
the bodies of the blessed martyrs of Christ, Marcellinus an