Leonardo ran through the whole mill to the window while from outside, the hoofbeats of the dashing horsemen were already to be heard. The window opening was draped with a linen cloth, because glass seemed to be too expensive for the paper miller. Leonardo ripped the cloth aside and looked at the riders. But much more than a receding dust cloud he could not recognize anymore.
"They're over the hill," he heard Carlo say, who had followed him. Leonardo nodded.
"I fear it, too," he nodded.
Chapter 4: Master Andrea deep in a Fix
Master Andrea was beside himself with desparation. He gasped for breath and his face turned dark reddish, because he was driven so mad by this robbery. "What shall I do now?" he ranted. "In three days, someone from the Medici bank will arrive to take over the paper deliveries – and then, of course, I will have to give back the form of the watermark! Just imagine what happens if I cannot show it." He spun around.
"Matteo! Enrico! Just think it over, too, and find out what we can do!" With the palm of his hand he stroked his bald head and then closed his eyes for a moment. Finally, he shook his head in silent despair.
"Best you go to Florence and address to the city guard," Martino said. "If robbers are on the loose in this area, they will be interested in it. After all, the whole area is part of the Republic of Florence ..."
Master Andrea laughed hoarsely. "In Florence, they only think of this when it comes to collecting taxes!" He shook his head once again. "No, that will not work. Cosimo de 'Medici is the City Lord of Florence and in addition, he leads the Medici Bank. The city guard would report to him immediately that the watermark has been stolen and thereby, it would be possible to forge bonds and notes of the Medici Bank."
"But that would require not only the correct paper watermark, but also the seal of the bank," Leonardo threw in.
Choosing this moment to speak was a mistake, the boy realized the next moment.
"Do you truly think these bandits have stolen the wire form for fun, you little clever-dick? They will doubtless know what they can do with it and how they got it right at the end that everything looks perfect! But of course you know everything better – just as you are more capable to produce paper than someone like me who is a master in this profession! Wood instead of rags – don’t make me laugh!"
He performed a dismissive gesture.
Leonard was shocked about how he was told off by the paper miller. Martino stepped beside him and put a hand on Leonardo’s shoulder.
"It’s not meant like that," he whispered.
"I am ruined!" Master Andrea murmured. "Never again the Medici Bank or anyone else who is important in Florence, will order watermarked paper from me ..."
In a low tone, Carlo said now, addressing to Leonardo: "Let us go now, Leonardo, I think it’s the best. The situation here becomes quite uncomfortable and Master Andrea appears to be in a bad mood ..."
"I cannot blame him for it," Leonardo whispered back. Master Andrea now turned to Martino and his friends.
"How 'bout if you help me?" he asked. "I pay you a fortune if you manage to get back the watermark form before an envoy of the Medici Bank appears – this will be the case in three days at the latest! So, what do you think? Will you help me?"
Martino and his friends exchanged some glances. They hemmed and hawed.
"These men are armed and well equipped. Therefore, we could not do anything, Andrea."
"I agree," added one of the men who had helped Martino to chase away the cheating rag picker. "With clubs and fists, you cannot fight against arquebuses and swords! In addition, the gang is surely long gone. After all, they were mounted, and if we follow them on foot ..." He performed a dismissive gesture and then shook his head. "I think that would be useless."
An affirmative muttering could be heard from the others. These cowards!, thought Leonardo. In order to chase away a single and even unarmed man who has collected rags in Martino’s area, they were brave enough – and now they do not dare.
"But you cannot let me down!" cried Andrea di Marco.
"If you help me to catch the bandits, I will give you more money than you poor souls have ever had in a life! That's still cheaper for me than telling the representative of the Medici Bank that the watermark form has been stolen! I am responsible for it with all my means! I will lose the mill if I have to pay damages ..."
"Would you give me a pile of paper if I helped you?" asked Leonardo.
They all looked at him.
Both Martino and his friends, as well as journeymen and apprentices in the mill. If the situation had not been so terribly serious, they would now probably have to grin. But when looking at Andrea di Marco’s extremely bitter expression, they preferred giving it up.
"A pile of paper?" Master Andrea laughed. "How modest! You can also get two or three piles and for my part, you can choose the sheets individually if you really manage to put a stop to this gang’s game." He raised his eyebrows. "So there’s only one trifling matter open: the fact that you are a small unarmed squirt and we have to deal with a gang of armed men – as far as I could tell, probably all grown men. But please! This minor problem shouldn’t scare anyone!"
"I'll take you at your word, Master Andrea," promised Leonardo.
Master Andrea rolled his eyes. "It has come to that: A honest paper miller in a dilemma can only count on the help offered by a crazy child!" He snarled, his face turned in a dark red color.
"That's crazy," Carlo said when they were on their way home. Somewhere in the distance a church clock struck eight times and this meant that it was high time.
Actually, they should have been back in Vinci for a long time. But as much as Carlo urged his friend to hurry, he did simply not succeed because Leonardo was talking all the way over almost exclusively about how he might find the traces of the gang. Then, sometimes, he even stopped waving his arms around in the air when trying to explain Carlo something.
"First I thought, you should have to follow the hoofprints. But that is not really necessary. It is clear as mud where the watermark will be brought to. Well? Do you understand, too?"
"No idea, Leonardo."
"Well, to another watermill. Where else? This water mark has only a value when it is worked in paper! So a water miller in the area must cooperate with the scoundrels – or he is pressed by them and forced to do so!"
"Leonardo ..."
"My father knows a lot of water millers in the surroundings. And your father supplies many of them with goods! So we could get a list of watermills that could be envisaged, I have no doubt."
Carlo sighed annoyed. In his opinion, this was not the problem. Finally, Carlo interrupted Leonardo’s incessant speaking. "Now be quiet for a moment!" he demanded.
"Can it be that you do not truly think it over?" asked Leonardo.
"I'm here thinking about how we can catch these bandits and you're not even on the ball!"
Carlo crossed his arms over his chest and made a very serious face.
"Well, Leonardo, I admit that you are probably smarter than me and that you sometimes talk about things which I don’t understand," he said.
"But at the moment it’s clearly you who does not get it."
Leonard stopped and looked at Carlo, puzzled.
Never before his friend has spoken to him like this.
"What are you talking about, Carlo?"
"Master Andrea may well be in great despair – but he is not so desperate that he would ask a child for help, Leonardo!"
"Well, you were there and heard everything!"
"But he did not intend it! Do you really think he will give you two piles of paper, if ..."
"If I really manage to get him out of this difficult situation, then yes." Leonardo shrugged. "He's in trouble and I am convinced that he will be grateful to everyone who helps him out of there!"
"And you want to manage that, right?"
"With your help, this will surely work," Leonardo seemed to have every confidence. Then he took a deep breath
and added: "I do not understand why master Andrea doesn’t even try to make paper from wood! The wasps do the very same thing! They shred the wood with their bite tools, make a slurry and form it into a thin layer of paper ... I really do not understand why someone like Master Andrea does not see the opportunity that lies in the fact to imitate the wasps!"
"When you're grown up, you can found a paper mill on your own and then earn a lot of money with your idea," suggested Carlo. "And then, when you need someone to issue the customer invoices, call me, I would like to do it." He grinned. "In calculating, after all, I am better than you!"
Leonardo now carefully pressed on some marks on his arms and upper body, red and slightly swollen. The wasp stings! He had almost forgotten them, but after this conversation he had now to think of them again.
"They will hurt you for a while," said Carlo. Finally, the two boys reached the small village of Vinci. From the square, called Loggia, they went separate ways.
"I hope I may get out tomorrow," said Carlo.
"I'll probably get pretty big trouble, because we have returned so late!"
"Tell your parents that the attack in the paper mill has hindered you from coming home in good time," said Leonardo. "Describe them that the smoke was so thick that you could hardly see anything – then your father and your mother will be happy that you survived this dangerous situation and they won’t nag at you."
"Do you really think?"
"Then you have nothing more to do than to persuade them how important it is that the gang will be caught. Even your father could be robbed by the bandits! They see a heavensent opportunity in a merchant who drives with his horse and cart through the villages!"
Carlo nodded. "I'll try my luck. See you tomorrow."
"See you tomorrow."
Leonardo gazed after his friend for a while. He had to go to the end of the road to get home.
For Leonardo, it was not so far.
The house of his grandfather, with whom he lived, since his mother had married a farmer from the area, was directly placed at the village square. When approaching the entrance of the house and absently scratching one of the wasp stings, he suddenly jerked.
He stood like a statue when he saw appear the figure of his grandfather out of the shadows between the house and the neighboring barn.
"There you are at last!" he blurted out. "I was very worried!"
Leonardo began to follow his own advice which he had given Carlo. He began by telling about the raid in dramatic colors. Of course, he started with the attack at the mill and shots. If Grandpa did not understand everything, it did not matter. Further explanations could follow later on. He planned to describe finally the struggle between the two rag-pickers and the just-rescue from the swarm of wasps. Latest then, grandfather’s pity would be greater than his anger about Leonardo’s delay.
At least the boy thought that.
But he wasn’t expecting his grandfather’s reaction.
"Maybe Carlo’s parents forget their anger, considering all what you said that happened to you," he said. "But not me!"
Leonardo said nothing.
Suddenly he gasped for air and he swallowed as his throat was narrow.
Apparently Grandpa had secretly listened to the conversation between Carlo and Leonardo and had been watching the two boys for a while.
"Come in," he said. "Incidentally, I was already at your father’s, in order to prevent him from searching you by horse. But unfortunately he is not in his house."
"Where is he?"
Grandfather performed a dismissive gesture. "He does any business. I cannot tell you anything more. But since he has worked for the Medici family, he travels a lot."
Leonardo took out the paper sheet which he had received from Master Andrea.
"This paper comes from Andrea di Marco’s paper mill," he explained. "This sheet was sorted out and fell to the floor, so I was allowed to take it."
"I see ..."
Leonardo followed his grandfather into the house. Again, he reported his experiences. Although grandfather, at the moment, did not seem to believe him truly, Leonardo could not stop. What he had experienced today, it simply stirred him up too much. He had to talk about it.
"Sit down," said grandfather. "Want something to eat?"
"Yes, I am very hungry."
"You can still have a piece of cheese and bread."
"Gladly." He opened his shirt a bit and touched one of the wasp stings. He made a face in pain. "Ah ..." he muttered. "Maybe you even got anything that could be put on my skin ensuring that the marks do not swell further."
Grandfather sighed. "Life isn’t easy with you. I'll see what I can do with that. And then, please, tell me, first things first, so I can really understand everything."
Chapter 5: Following the Traces of the Masked Men
The next morning Leonardo woke up very early. The rays of the rising sun fell through the open window of his room where he lived in the attic at his grandfather’s. Since grandfather was not rich enough to afford glass for the windows of his house and since the shutters had been open all night it was now rather cool in the morning. The summer was coming to an end and every night was a bit colder than the previous one.
Thus Leonardo wrapped the blanket around his body and sat down at the rough wooden table that stood near the window. Then he opened the drawer. His pencils were in it; in addition, his collected drawings of fantastic designs and all kinds of ideas. Soon, the drawer would be so full that there wouldn’t be place for more things. In addition, his pencils were pretty worn out. Very soon he would need new ones. Therefore – and because the paper had become increasingly scarce – he had only taken the pencil recently when he had an idea which he considered as very important and, besides, could not be remembered in detail so he had to fix it. Sometimes it was not easy to decide when that was the case and at least one idea he had forgotten because he was not fast enough to draw it down.
The sheet which he had received at the paper mill, was in the drawer, too.
Leonardo took it out and unfolded it carefully. He took one of the pencils with his right hand. Well, convicting the gang of masked watermark thieves took priority, of course, but at this early hour he could not continue this work. He needed a list of paper mills in the area, because he was still convinced that the stolen watermark form would end, sooner or later, in one of these mills. In the evening he had had a long talk with his grandfather about it – finally the old man was even convinced of Leonardo’s report and the truth in it.
The man who probably knew most about the watermills around was his father who lived in a house at the other end of Vinci. But so early he could not appear there. Probably Ser Piero D'Antonio had returned very late last night, or had even stayed in Florence, because it had been too late for a return. In addition, Leonardo needed the help of his friend Carlo. However, it was too early to visit him – he would possibly wake up the whole family of the merchant Maldini. In addition, Leonardo had to consider that Carlo’s parents were probably still pretty angry that her son had returned home so late the previous evening. He could be happy if Carlo was allowed to come out today anyway. Therefore, he could only do harm when appearing too early at the Maldini’s.
So at the moment he could only do two things: to think and draw.
Leonardo looked at the blank sheet from the paper mill. That it was strongly fringed out at the edges did not bother him at all.
For a moment he wondered if he should perhaps bring to paper a new version of his roast turner. The useless fragments of his first attempt were, after all, still in the stable, but although he had fought until now against it: his previous ideas did not just work at all. Above all, he needed especially thinner wood for the wind turbine, which should drive the roast turning machine. Paper was too thin – and, first of all, too flammable ...
But Leonardo realized that he actually just found it difficult to concentrate on his machine. It just did not make sense at the moment to think about how it could b
e improved. Besides, maybe the only blank sheet of paper which he possessed at the moment, was much too good! Who knows!, he thought, maybe I will soon need a sheet quite urgently and if I have already fully subscribed this one, I am again facing the tiresome question which of my ideas I shall destroy ...
Absent-minded Leonardo drew a line with the pencil. He knew that he could erase it again – differently than if he used a pen and the ink would be drawn into the paper. The tip of the pencil was scratching on the surface. The paper tore. A hole was created.
"Damn it," he exclaimed. But actually, it was quite logical that this had happened. After all, the sheet had not yet been immersed in a bath of paper glue. A whole pile with real good paper! That was his greatest wish at the moment. But if he really managed to follow the gang’s traces, then Master Andrea certainly would keep his promise – though Carlo was right in his suspicion that the paper miller did not mean these words too seriously.
Three days.
Until then, the watermark form will have to be in Master Andrea’s possession again so that the paper miller could show it to the representative sent by the Medici Bank.
That was not much time ...
Later Leonardo went to his father's house. First, his path led across the village square and then along the road leading to the inn. If you went further on behind the inn, you reached the small house of Ser Piero, where he kept his notary office. Every day, people came who wanted to have him written something. These were often contracts, but sometimes letters of complaint. Since most people were either illiterate or very poor in writing and reading, Ser Piero did not need to fear that he would lack in orders one day. On the contrary! In many business branches, where contracts had been previously concluded with a handshake, it had become customary to fix every detail in a thick contract work, so that afterwards there couldn’t arise disagreements about the real agreement.
Since Ser Piero had been working more and more for the Medici family of Florence, his income had improved considerably. A rich merchant or banker like Cosimo de 'Medici could just pay much more than a small farmer who wanted to draft his will or change a piece of land with another farmer.
Da Vinci's Cases Page 3