Once King John Sobieski and the Winged Hussars had crossed the Danube and made camp, and a Messe in the religious sense had been said, and the thrill had died down a little, both Herr Augsburg the barley-merchant and Jack Shaftoe the vagabond-soldier made their own private calculations as to what it all meant for them. Two or (according to rumor) three great cavalry forces were now encamped around Linz. They were the spearheads of much larger formations of musketeers and pikemen, all of whom had to eat. Their rations were carried on wagons and the wagons were drawn by teams of horses. All of it was useless without the artillery, which was, as well, drawn by teams of horses. What it all amounted to, therefore, was the world's richest and most competitive Messe for barley. Prices were thrice what they'd been at the crossing of the Salz and ten times what they'd been in Munich. Herr Augsburg, having chosen the moment carefully, now struck, playing John Sobieski's barley-buyers off against those of the Bavarian, Saxon, and Austrian lords.