"I come down from the mountains to work here in summer."
"Can any of you speak her dialect?" cried the sergeant to his privates: the sergeant was a man of Milan.
One man answered, "I come from Paganica; it is much the same tongue there as in these parts."
"Ask her the way, then."
The soldier obeyed.
"What is the way to the Three Pines? — to the tomb of Asdrubal?"
"The way is long," said Nerina.
"Do you know it?"
"I know it."
"Have you heard tell of it?"