Go, my lord! Remember your promise to
seek at your cousin's hand the gonfalon, and may God and His blessed
Saints prosper your Excellency."
The old man caught the young man's hand, and bending his head until his
face was hidden in his long white hair, he imprinted a kiss of fealty
upon it. But Aquila was not so easily to be dismissed.
"Where are your horses?" he demanded.
"Tethered at the back. But who would dare ride them at night adown this
precipice?"
"I dare for one," answered the young man steadily, "and so shall you all
dare. A broken neck is the worst that can befall us, and I would as lief
break mine on the rocks of Sant' Angelo as have it broken by the
executioner of Babbiano."
"Bravely said, by the Virgin!" roared Ferrabraccio. "To horse, sirs!"
"But the only way is the way by which they come," Fanfulla remonstrated.
"The rest is sheer cliff."
"Why, then, my sweet seducer, we'll go to meet them," rejoined
Ferrabraccio gaily. "They are on foot, and we'll sweep over them like a
mountain torrent. Come, sirs, hasten! They draw nigh."
"We have but six horses, and we are seven," another objected.
"I have no horse," said Francesco, "I'll follow you afoot."
"What?" cried Ferrabraccio, who seemed now to have assumed command of the
enterprise. "Let our St. Michael bring up the rear! No, no. You, Da
Lodi, you are too old for this work."
"Too old?" blazed the old man, drawing himself up to the full height of
what was still a very imposing figure, and his eyes seeming to take fire
at this reflection upon his knightly worth.
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