the book shut and sat down, looking triumphant.

De Verceuil failed to respond immediately. What a poor advocate he was,
Simon thought. If only Friar Mathieu were here. He, too, was a
Franciscan like this William of Rubruk, and he might well have the
answer to Rubruk's words.

"Friar William," de Verceuil said at last, "wrote years before the
Tartars conquered Baghdad. As for me, I count myself happy to have heard
the words of this merchant from Trebizond." He pointed a long finger at
David, who stood in the crowd about twenty feet away from Simon. David
looked back at de Verceuil with a rigid face full of raw hatred that
reminded Simon of what he had read about basilisks.

"Happy, I say," de Verceuil went on, "to hear every detail of the utter
destruction of that center of the Satanic worship of Mohammed. I was
reminded of the rain of fire and brimstone that wiped out Sodom and
Gomorrah. My heart sang with joy when I heard of the caliph, successor
of that false prophet, trampled by Tartar horses. I hold that the
Tartars are God's instrument for the final downfall of His enemies. What
wonderful allies they will make as we liberate the Holy Land from the
Saracens once and for all!"

"And who will liberate the Holy Land from the Tartars?" a cardinal,
forgetting his Latin, shouted in Italian.

"Be still, you fool!" cried another cardinal in French.

The Italian advanced on the Frenchman. "Whoever says 'Thou _fool_!'"--he
gave the French cardinal a vicious shove with both hands--"shall be
liable to the _judgment_." Another shove.

Fra Tomasso rang his small bell furiously, but the furious prelates
ignored him.

Now someone had seized the Italian from behind. Simon was shocked,
having never dreamed the leaders of the Church could be so unruly. It
seemed that anything the French cardinals were for, the Italians were
against. And was the pope, though a Frenchman, likely to approve the
alliance, with nearly half the cardinals against it? And even if he did,
could it succeed in the face of that much opposition?

"Pax!" the pope cried, climbing a few steps toward his throne and
lifting his arms heavenward. "Peace!" The angry sound of his voice and
the sight of him slowly brought quiet to the hall.

Urban took them to task. The whole future of Christendom might be at
stake, and they were brawling like university students. Perhaps he
should treat them like students and have them whipped. Sheepishly the
cardinals and bis