Beyond some cuts and scratches that some of us had taken, not a man of ours
was missing, whilst of the Duke's followers not a single one remained alive
in that antechamber. The place was a shambles. Hangings that had been
clutched had been torn from the walls; a great mirror was cracked from top
to bottom; tables were overset and wrecked; chairs were splintered; and
hardly a pane of glass remained in any of the windows. And everywhere
there was blood, everywhere dead men.
Up the stairs came trooping now our assembled forces led by Landi and the
Pallavicini. Below all was quiet. The Swiss garrison taken by surprise at
table, as was planned, had been disarmed and all were safe and impotent
under lock and bolt. The guards at the gate had been cut down, and we were
entirely masters of the place.
Sforza-Fogliani, Copallati, and the two servants were fetched from the
Duke's chamber and taken away to be locked up in another room until the
business should be ended. For after all, it was but begun.
In the town the alarm-bell was ringing from the tower of the Communal
Palace, and at the sound I saw Galeotto's eyes kindling. He took command,
none disputing it him, and under his orders men went briskly to turn the
cannon of the fortress upon the square, that an attack might be repulsed if
it were attempted.
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