Vicenza, M. Francesco
Manente, had at this time a feud with certain of the Guazzi and the
Laschi, which had lasted several years, and cost the lives of many
members of both parties and their following. M. Francesco, being a
friend of M. Antonio, besought that gentleman to lend him Bibboni and
Bebo for a season; and the two _bravi_ went together with their new
master to Celsano, a village in the neighborhood. 'There both parties
had estates, and all of them kept armed men in their houses, so that not
a day passed without feats of arms, and always there was some one killed
or wounded. One day, soon afterwards, the leaders of our party resolved
to attack the foe in their house, where we killed two, and the rest,
numbering five men, entrenched themselves in a ground-floor apartment;
whereupon we took possession of their harquebusses and other arms, which
forced them to abandon the villa and retire to Vicenza; and within a
short space of time this great feud was terminated by an ample peace.'
After this Bebo took service with the Rector of the University in Padua,
and was transferred by his new patron to Milan. Bibboni remained at
Vicenza with M. Galeazzo della Seta, who stood in great fear of his
life, notwithstanding the peace which had been concluded between the two
factions. At the end of ten months he returned to M. Antonio da Roma and
his six brothers, 'all of whom being very much attached to me, they
proposed that I should live my life with them, for good or ill, and be
treated as one of the family; upon the understanding that if war broke
out and I wanted to take part in it, I should always have twenty-five
crowns and arms and horse, with welcome home, so long as I lived; and in
case I did not care to join the troops, the same provision for my
maintenance.'

From these details we comprehend the sort of calling which a bravo of
Bibboni's species followed. Meanwhile Bebo was at Milan. 'There it
happened that M. Francesco Vinta, of Volterra, was on embassy from the
Duke of Florence. He saw Bebo, and asked him what he was doing in Milan,
and Bebo answered that he was a knight errant.' This phrase--derived, no
doubt, from the romantic epics then in vogue--was a pretty euphemism for
a rogue of Bebo's quality. The ambassador now began cautiously to sound
his man, who seems to have been outlawed from the Tuscan duchy, telling
him he knew a way by which he might return with favor to his home, and
at last disclosing the affair