Loud shouts were greeting the
uprising flame, and the people gathering thicker and thicker on the
slope. The friar undid the door to hasten out into the throng, and
Eberhard said he had left his spurs and belt in the hermit's cell,
and must return thither, after which he would walk home with his
bride, moving at the same time towards the stair, and thereby causing
a sudden scuffle and fall. "So, master hermit," quoth Eberhard, as
the old man picked himself up, looking horribly frightened; "that's
your hermit's abstraction, is it? No whining, old man, I am not
going to hurt thee, so thou canst hold thy tongue. Otherwise I will
smoke thee out of thy hole like a wild cat! What, thou aiding me
with my belt, my lovely one? Thanks; the snap goes too hard for thy
little hands. Now, then, the fire will light us gaily down the
mountain side."
But it soon appeared that to depart was impossible, unless by forcing
a way through the busy throng in the full red glare of the firelight,
and they were forced to pause at the opening of the hermit's cave,
Christina leaning on her husband's arm, and a fold of his mantle
drawn round her to guard her from the night-breeze of the mountain,
as they waited for a quiet space in which to depart unnoticed.
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