Page:Czecho-Slovak Student Life, Volume 18.djvu/362
a man who boasts and threatens that his banner, and his alone, shall be planted on the Temple? No! I hate the island upstart! I hate him for his pride, I hate him for his insolence, but most deeply of all, I hate him for his Insatiate ambition to dispose of our conquests according to his own sweet will—But come, Sir Giles, I pray thee put aside for once the mask from thy features, and tell me what thou thinkest of this Richard?
AMAU: I say all when I say that thy cause is my cause, Lord Marquis. I might add that I am thy friend, because I am the enemy of this Guy de Lusignan, and of his barbarian protector of England. Look you, Conrad, this petticoat king, who could not keep kingdom when he had one, and to whom a sweeping-broom were more becoming than a knight’s sword, declared that we, forsooth, the Knights of the Temple, were too proud, too powerful, too independent. Out on the craven coward! And this English Lion? Conrad, I hate him as I hate the Saracen, as I ought to hate the devil himself. The uncouth islander has accused our Order of dissensions with Guy de Lusignan and the Hospitalers, and that we have caused the downfall of the Holy City—Curse the lion’s whelp—When I, first of the Crusaders, scaled the walls of Acre, and plunged thru the Saracen host to plant the banner of the Cross on the turret, this ambitious Richard thrust me aside, and planted his own banner on the tower. I had then, I tell thee, struck him down, but that the Archbishop, who was at his heels, held my arm, begged and beseeched me to forebear for the sake of peace, I did forebear then, Conrad, but, by the honor of mine order, I did not forget, and shall not forgive! Thus, Conrad, my grudge against Richard is a personal one; as for thee, unless I mistake my guess, thou carest little what becomes of Richard, provided he is deprived of his power and influence in the camp?
CON.: What meanest thou?
AMAU.: Why, nothing more than this, that Conrad, Marquis of Montserrat would be Conrad, King of Jerusalem; and that cannot be while the King of England controls the fortunes of the Crusade.
CON.: Sir Giles, thou art as shrewd as thou art brave and reckless, Yes, truly thither trend my ambitions. I do confess, Amaury, that the royal crown would not displease me at all; but, as thou savest, it doth peeve me that the claims of Lusignan will be preferred to mine by Richard. This is confidence: that I shall exert all my wit and skill that Richard, should he rise from his bed, gain not again his former ascendancy over the leaders of the Crusade. Phillip favors me: so does his vassal, Henry; so dost thou, as thou hast assured me; so do the Syrian nobles. Therefore England’s influence reduced, my way is sure and clear.
AMAU: Enough. I am convinced of thy sincerity. King Richard is in thy way, thou sayest; and I say, he is in mine also. Thou wouldst the Crusade to succeed, and Jerusalem delivered from the Saracen: as for that, I care little either way. I stand to lose little if they lose; and to gain nothing if they win. But against Richard I will join thee. Thou wouldst be King of Jerusalem, which Richard prevents. Why then, Richard must be removed. The King of England is impetuous, proud, jealous, overbearing. His pride is a boil on the body of the Christian host the constant source of irritation, rancor, and discord. If he is put back, or forced to return to his island realm, why so much the better for our cause, say I.
CON.: Well, then, with thy aid, he shall be removed.
AMAU.: And how, my lord, dost thou propose to go about it?
CON.: I—we, thou and I—shall stir up such a united opposition to him, that he will either yield the leadership, or go back home to play the lion in his own forests. Phillip of France hath long borne with patience Richard’s haughty spirit; so has Henry of Champagne. The Austrian hates the English mastiff as much as he fears him. With these, and such others as