ied, "No!" It was almost a scream.

"I can manage," said Celino.

"I will not leave him!" the boy shouted.

Sophia whispered, "I wish we had never seen them--without our help, they
might only have been robbed. That poor boy!"

Celino clenched his fist and muttered to himself. Then he looked up and
motioned to Daoud, pointing out a road diverging westward from the
Appian Way. Daoud jerked the reins of his horse, and the hooves no
longer rang on old Roman paving stones but thudded on hard-packed dirt.
The trees closed together overhead, and they rode for a time in almost
total darkness.

Celino dropped back now, and Daoud, glancing over his shoulder a little
later, saw the boy and Celino in conversation as they rode side by side.
After they had gone a mile or so, Celino rode back to join Daoud and
Sophia. The old man's body was draped over his horse's back in front of
him.

"You have much to answer to me for," Daoud said.

"I know that," said Celino. "But as long as we are out of Rome by
morning, we are safe. The Giudecca, the Jewish quarter, is along the
Tiber on the south side of the city. We can leave the boy with them and
they will help him bury his father and take him in. It is not far from
here." Daoud could not see his face clearly in the dark, but there was a
note of pleading in his tone.

"How far?" Daoud demanded.

"We will be there long before dawn."

"But then we will have to go into the city," Daoud said. "How do we
explain to the Roman watchmen why we are carrying an old man, dead of a
knife wound? Surely they will be at least as thorough in inspecting
baggage as you were at Lucera."

Celino was silent a moment. "You two can cross a bridge that will take
you west of the city. I will take the old man's body and the boy to the
Giudecca, and I will be the only one who will have to deal with the
watch."

Sophia spoke up. "As you dealt with those ruffians at the inn? Then we
will have all of Rome hunting us."

"All of Rome?" Celino chuckled. "The Romans can agree on only one
thing--fighting among themselves. There are powerful Ghibellino families
here who will protect us if need be."

He needed this damned Lorenzo, Daoud thought, because of his connections
with the Ghibellini.

"How did the men at the inn know the old man was a Jew?" Daoud asked
Celino.

"The hat he was wearing," Celino said. "All Jews are required to wear
those round black hats in the Papal States. To make it easier for goo