"If we give her two gold pieces she will take us there."
"Spawn of hell! I will give her nothing. But if she do not lead us aright I will give her a bullet for her breakfast."
The soldier translated to Nerina: "He will give you two gold pieces if you guide us aright; and you need have no fear; we are honest men and the king's servants."
"I will guide the king's servants."
"You are sure of the way?"
"Is the homing pigeon sure of his?"
"Let us be off," said the sergeant. "A bullet for her if she fail."
He had little pleasure in trusting to this girl of the Abruzzo hills, but he and his men were lost upon these moors, and might grope all night, and miss the meeting, and fail to join his comrades and surprise those who gathered at it. He reckoned upon fear as a sure agent to keep her true, as it kept his conscripts under arms.
"Bid him take his hand off me," said Nerina, "or I do not move."
The private translated to his superior. "She prays of your mercy to leave her free, or she cannot pass through the heather."