"But where are they, César?" said the voice, with a somewhat impatient accent. "You say that from the top of the hill you plainly saw two of them who left the carriage to repose itself, and went on alone. Is it not droll how those English always desire to walk? In that case they ought to be somewhere about here now, yet we have looked both up and down the road, and they are not there. What then has become of them? May be that they have turned and gone back again." "_Diavolo_! that would be too provoking," answered César. "It was unlucky that I lost sight of them as I descended the hill, but it could not possibly be helped, for the bushes were too thick to see through." "Well, there is sure to be fine spoil to be had out of these rich English," said the first speaker, "and we must try to get hold of it somehow. If we fail to find these two by themselves, I suppose we must do what we thought of at first--manage to upset the carriage at that sharp corner of the road further on, and attack when all is in confusion." "But what if the carriage should not upset after all?" objected César; "or what if the driver should carry arms and show fight? Then perhaps we should be wounded, captured, and shut up again in prison. Bah! I hate that prison! Have we not been used like dogs there, and compelled to beat the _maquis_ near Chiavari for _sangliers_, when some English milord wanted a _chasse_? And is it not an altogether detestable place? Truly I have no fancy to go there again, and I much prefer this second plan to the first one that we thought of. We shall have no danger to fear in dealing with only two women. Let us on no account be foolhardy, Napoleon." "Certainly not," answered Napoleon; "I have no more wish than you have either to go back to prison or to encounter needless peril! Still, it will be a pity if we cannot secure the golden prize that destiny throws in our way. Those two must be somewhere not far off at this very moment, unless by bad luck they should have turned back just after you first saw them. Do you think they can have gone off from the road?" "It is possible," returned César; "anyhow, it is too soon yet to despair of finding them. Do you, Napoleon, go and watch on the road, whilst I search the _maquis_ on each side, first below and then above. Whichever of us discovers them can summon the other by a whistle." "Good," replied Napoleon. And with that the two men separated and went off in different directions, as I knew by the rustling of the bushes. Here, then, were two villains in search of Kitty and me, with evil intentions towards us, and we were quite defenceless. Truly, a pleasant predicament to be in! What was I to do now?