"What says the Minnesinger? 'Marry, that the rank is but the
stamp of the guinea; the man is the gold.' And I tell thee, Karl of
Godesberg, that yonder Gottfried is base metal."
"By Saint Buffo, thou beliest him, dear Ludwig."
"By Saint Bugo, dear Karl, I say sooth. The fellow was known i' the camp
of the crusaders--disreputably known. Ere he joined us in Palestine, he
had sojourned in Constantinople, and learned the arts of the Greek. He
is a cogger of dice, I tell thee--a chanter of horseflesh. He won
five thousand marks from bluff Richard of England the night before the
storming of Ascalon, and I caught him with false trumps in his pocket.
He warranted a bay mare to Conrad of Mont Serrat, and the rogue had
fired her."
"Ha! mean ye that Sir Gottfried is a LEG?" cried Sir Karl, knitting his
brows. "Now, by my blessed patron, Saint Buffo of Bonn, had any other
but Ludwig of Hombourg so said, I would have cloven him from skull to
chine."
"By Saint Bugo of Katzenellenbogen, I will prove my words on Sir
Gottfried's body--not on thine, old brother-in-arms. And to do the knave
justice, he is a good lance. Holy Bugo! but he did good service at Acre!
But his character was such that, spite of his bravery, he was dismissed
the army; nor even allowed to sell his captain's commission.
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