He played the violin well and could always work just as a musician. Inwardly, he hoped he would be asked to help on another, if unrelated task. Somehow he liked being a part of the intrigue, and the fact that the king was part of this added to the sense of mystery. Then he thought ahead to Valladolid and how they would gain the information Pedro wanted. How could they, a troupe of itinerant musicians, discover where the king lived and worked in the Royal Palace? Although they would be able to see the guards outside the palace and how often they changed, they could surely not discover the whereabouts of those inside. Could they manage to find a means to enter, perhaps by breaking in or would they have to extract this information from some …show more content…
She may be here and you could have missed her. You do the downstairs and I’ll go up.’ Antonio knocked on Carolina’s door. ‘It’s me, Antonio!’ She opened it. ‘Let’s go down stairs. I found you in your room, right? And you’d been talking to one of the chambermaids who took you to around to the pump for some water.’ ‘That should be fine,’ she said looking up and smiling. ‘I hope he doesn’t suspect…’ ‘Shh…’ They met Esteban on the stairs. ‘Where were you, Carolina? I was truly worried.’ ‘I went with a chambermaid to get a drink of water. The rusty, old pump jammed and it took some time to free it.’ That seemed to satisfy Esteban but neither Antonio nor Carolina was sure. ‘What about the drum?’ said Esteban. ‘What do you think, Antonio? I thought if Esteban had a drum, he could beat out a rhythm and sing at the same time. We’d each have an instrument to play on then!’ Antonio thought it was a good idea and said as much. So Esteban and Carolina left for an instrument shop. They soon returned with a double drum: two small drums, one larger than the other, tied to each other by a strand of thick leather. By then, Antonio was sitting at a table having a drink in the drinking room. ‘What do you think of this,