"Oh! a bear-hunt has its charms!"
"Very dangerous ones, I should think."
"But it is precisely on account of their danger that this sport is attractive, fair lady. To slay a timid stag requires little courage, but a struggle with the bear needs both bravery and skill. The bear-hunt is the school in which we take our first lessons in the art of war."
The Count's earnestness proved that he spoke of one of his favorite pastimes.
"In what part of Germany is your domain, Count?" said Hermengarde, after a short pause.
"In Suabia."
"If I mistake not, Suabia is the birthplace of the Hohenstauffen?"
"Precisely, noble lady! The castles of Hohenstauffen and Rechberg are neighboring ones. Our families have always been intimate and are even connected by ties of blood."
Erwin almost regretted his last remark when he reflected that his relationship with Barbarossa would be a poor recommendation in the eyes of the young Lombard.
"I fear that our journey will be unpleasantly interrupted," said Bonello, who, for some time, had been watching a gray speck on the summit of the mountain.