aside, called out to the bystanders in a
loud voice, "Ho, ho! my friends, pay henceforth and forever all respect
to this worshipful cavalier. He is the expected guest of our blessed
patron of the Castle of the Mountain. Long life to him! May he, like his
host, be safe by day and by night; on the hill and in the waste; against
the dagger and the bullet,--in limb and in life! Cursed be he who
touches a hair of his head, or a baioccho in his pouch. Now and forever
we will protect and honour him,--for the law or against the law; with
the faith and to the death. Amen! Amen!"

"Amen!" responded, in wild chorus, a hundred voices; and the scattered
and straggling groups pressed up the street, nearer and nearer to the
horseman.

"And that he may be known," continued the Englishman's strange
protector, "to the eye and to the ear, I place around him the white
sash, and I give him the sacred watchword, 'Peace to the Brave.' Signor,
when you wear this sash, the proudest in these parts will bare the head
and bend the knee. Signor, when you utter this watchword, the bravest
hearts will be bound to your bidding. Desire you safety, or ask you
revenge--to gain a beauty, or to lose a foe,--speak but the word, and we
are yours: we are yours! Is it not so, comrades?"

And again the hoarse voices shouted, "Amen, Amen!"

"Now, signor," whispered the bravo, "if you have a few coins to spare,
scatter them amongst the crowd, and let us be gone."

Glyndon, not displeased at the concluding sentence, emptied his purse
in the streets; and while, with mingled oaths, blessings, shrieks, and
yells, men, women, and children scrambled for the money, the bravo,
taking the rein of the horse, led it a few paces through the village at
a brisk trot, and then, turning up a narrow lane to the left, in a few
minutes neither houses nor men were visible, and the mountains closed
their path on either side. It was then that, releasing the bridle and
slackening his pace, the guide turned his dark eyes on Glyndon with an
arch expression, and said,--

"Your Excellency was not, perhaps, prepared for the hearty welcome we
have given you."

"Why, in truth, I OUGHT to have been prepared for it, since the signor,
to whose house I am bound, did not disguise from me the character of the
neighbourhood. And your name, my friend, if I may so call you?"

"Oh, no ceremonies with me, Excellency. In the village I am generally
called Maestro Paolo. I had a surname once, thou