Get up and
let's start for Rome."
We enjoyed a brief rubdown and after Entedius joined us each relished a
small cup of mulled wine and one of Ofatulena's delicious little hot,
crisp rolls.
In the east courtyard we found our equipages and I descried my tenants
outside the gate, all horsed and each muffled in a close rain-cloak,
topped off by a big umbrella hat, its wide brim dripping all round its
edge, for the weather was atrocious; foggy mist blanketing all the world
under a gray sky from which descended a thin, chilly drizzle.
Hirnio was inspecting Tanno's litter and chatting with Tanno about it.
"Never saw one with poles like this," he said. "All I have seen had one
long pole on each side, a continuous bar of wood from end to end. What's
the idea of four poles, half poles you might call them, two on a side?"
"You see," Tanno explained, "It is far harder to get sound, flawless,
perfect poles full length. Then, too, full-length spare poles are very
bothersome and inconvenient to carry. With a litter equipped in this
fashion one man can carry a spare pole, and they are much easier and
quicker to put in if a pole snaps."
"I should think," Hirnio remarked, "that the half-poles would pull out of
the sockets.
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