by a
gesture with his finger.

At one time the party met a company of peasant girls coming down from
the mountain. They came into the path by which our travellers were
ascending from a side path which seemed to lead up a secluded glen.
These girls came dancing gayly along with bouquets of flowers in their
hands and garlands in their hair. They looked bright and blooming, and
seemed very contented and happy.

They bowed very politely to Mr. George and to Rollo as they passed.

"_Guten abend_," said they.

These are the German words for "Good evening."[9]

"_Guten abend_," said both Mr. George and Rollo in reply.

The girls thus passed by and went on their way down the mountain.

"Where have they been?" asked Mr. George.

"They have been at work gathering up the small stones from the
pasturages, I suppose," said Henry. "Companies of girls go out for that
a great deal."

After getting upon the horse, Mr. George took care to keep _behind_
Rollo and the guide. He knew very well that if he were to go on in
advance Rollo would exert himself more than he otherwise would do, under
the influence of a sort of feeling that he ought to try to keep up.
While Rollo was on the horse himself, having the guide with him too, Mr.
George knew that there was no danger from this source, as any one who is
on horseback or in a carriage never has the feeling of being left behind
when a companion who is on foot by chance gets before him. Consequently,
while they were coming up the steep part of the mountain, Mr. George
went on as fast as he pleased, leaving Rollo and Henry to come on at
their leisure. But now his kind consideration for Rollo induced him to
keep carefully behind.

"Now, Rollo," said he, "you and Henry may go on just as fast or just as
slow as you please, without paying any regard to me. I shall follow
along at my leisure."

Thus Rollo, seeing that Mr. George was behind, went on very leisurely,
and enjoyed his walk and his talk with Henry very much.

"Did you ever study English, Henry?" said Rollo.

"No," said Henry; "but I wish I could speak English, very much."

"Why?" asked Rollo.

"Because there are so many English people coming here that I have to
guide up the mountains."

"Well," said Rollo, "you can begin now. I will teach you."

So he began to teach the guide to say "How do you do?" in English.

This conversation between Rollo and Henry was in French. Rollo had
studied French a great deal by the help