Svirski punched the driver with his cane; the carriage halted; and they stepped out. Romulus and Remus ran forward at once, and only stopped, when some tens of yards ahead, to look from above at the houses in Eze, and roll stones into the olive-groves growing below. Svirski and Pani Elzen were left alone; but that day some fatality seemed to weigh on them, for before they could use the moment they saw that a horseman, coming from the direction of Monaco, had stopped near Romulus and Remus. Behind him was a groom dressed in the English manner. "That is De Sinten," said Pani Elzen, with impatience. "Yes, I recognize him." In fact, they saw next moment before them a horse's head, and above it the equine face of young De Sinten. He hesitated whether or not to salute and go on, but considering evidently that if they had wanted to be alone they would not have brought the boys, he sprang from the horse, and, beckoning to the groom, began to greet them. "Good-day," answered Pani Elzen, somewhat dryly. "Is this your hour?" "It is. Mornings, I shoot at pigeons with Wilkis Bey, so I cannot ride lest I disturb my pulse. I am now seven pigeons ahead of him. Do you know that the 'Formidable' comes to Villa Franca to-day, and to-morrow the admiral will give a ball on deck?" "We saw it arrive." "I was just going to Villa Franca to see one of the officers whom I know, but it is late. If you permit, I will go with you to Monte Carlo." Pani Elzen nodded, and they went on together. De Sinten, since he was a horseman by nature, began at once to speak of the "hunter," on which he had come. "I bought him from Waxdorf," said he. "Waxdorf lost at _trente et quarante_, and needed money. He bet _inverse_, and hit on a lucky series, but afterward fortune changed." Here he turned to the horse. "He is of pure Irish blood, and I will give my neck that there is not a better hunter on the whole Cornice; but it is difficult to mount him." "Is he vicious?" inquired Svirski. "Once you are in the saddle, he is like a child. He is used to me; but you, for instance, could not mount him." At this Svirski, who in matters of sport was childishly vain, asked at once,-- "How is that?" "Do not try, especially here above the precipice!" cried Pani Elzen. But Svirski had his hand on the horse's shoulder already, and a twinkle later was in the saddle, without the least resistance from the horse; perhaps the beast was not at all vicious, and understood, too, that on the edge of a cliff above a precipice it was better not to indulge in pranks. The rider and the horse disappeared at a slow gallop along the turn of the road. "He rides very well," said De Sinten; "but he will spoil my horse's feet. There is no road here for riding." "The horse has turned out perfectly gentle," said Pani Elzen. "I am greatly pleased at this, for here an accident happens easily--and I was a little afraid."