"
The boys had by this time led the traveller through the Gemsbock's
Pass, within sight of the convent. "There," said Ebbo, "will they
give you harbourage, food, a guide, and a beast to carry the rest of
your goods. We are now upon convent land, and none will dare to
touch your bales; so I will unload old Schimmel."
"Ah, signorino, if I might offer any token of gratitude--"
"Nay," said Ebbo, with boyish lordliness, "make me not a spoiler."
"If the signorini should ever come to Genoa," continued the trader,
"and would honour Gian Battista dei Battiste with a call, his whole
house would be at their feet."
"Thanks; I would that we could see strange lands!" said Ebbo. "But
come, Friedel, the sun is high, and I locked them all into the castle
to make matters safe."
"May the liberated captive know the name of his deliverers, that he
may commend it to the saints?" asked the merchant.
"I am Eberhard, Freiherr von Adlerstein, and this is Freiherr
Friedmund, my brother. Farewell, sir."
"Strange," muttered the merchant, as he watched the two boys turn
down the pass, "strange how like one barbarous name is to another.
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