Gonzaga became excited.

It seemed indeed as if this were man who might be useful to him.

He made pretence to sip the wine Luciano had brought him, and listened avidly to that swashbuckling story, from which it appeared that this knave had once been better circumstanced and something of a leader.
Intently he listened, and wondered whether such men as he boasted he had led in that campaign were still to be found and could be brought together.
At the end of perhaps a half-hour the two companions of that thirsty giant rose and took their leave of him.

They cast a passing glance upon Gonzaga, and were gone.
A little while he hesitated.

The ruffian seemed to have lapsed into a reverie, or else he slept with open eyes.