"If we did not take some such precautions," said Lucien, "they would think that hostilities had recommenced, and we should soon hear our shots echoing in the streets of Sullacaro. A little farther on you will see a footpath to the right that will lead us directly up the mountain." CHAPTER VI. ALTHOUGH it was only the beginning of the month of March the weather was beautiful, and we should have said that it was hot, had it not been for a refreshing breeze which carried with it a savour of the sea. The moon was rising brilliantly behind Mount Cagna, and the cascades of light were falling upon the southern slope which separates Corsica into two parts, and in a measure forms two different nations, which are always at war, or at least, detest one another heartily. As we mounted we could see the gorge in which the Tavaro was buried in profound darkness, impossible to penetrate, but we could view the calm Mediterranean, like a vast steel mirror extending into the horizon. There are certain noises one hears only at night, for during the day they are overcome by other sounds, or it may be they awake only with the darkness, and these produced not upon Lucien, who was familiar with them, but upon me, who was a stranger to them, curious sensations of surprise, and awoke in me a powerful interest in all that I saw. When we reached the place where the path united with another--one going up the mountain direct, and the other to the right, Lucien turned to me and said-- "Are you anything of a mountaineer?" "Yes, a little, as far as walking goes." "You are likely to get giddy, then." "I am afraid so. The precipice has an irresistible attraction for me." "Then we had better take this foot-path where there are no precipices, but merely rough walking." "I am quite equal to that." "Very well, then, we have three-quarters of an hour's walk before us." "Let us take the path." Lucien then went first, and crossed through a little oak wood, into which I followed him. Diamond trotted fifty or sixty paces away, beating right and left, and occasionally coming back to us, wagging his tail as much as to inform us that we might trust to him and continue our route in safety. I saw that as some people like to possess a horse, equally for riding or driving, so Diamond had apparently been trained to hunt the biped or the quadruped, the bandit or the boar. I did not wish to appear altogether strange to Corsican manners, so I said as much to Lucien. "You are mistaken," he replied; "Diamond is very useful in hunting men or animals, but he never chases bandits. It is the triple red of the gendarmes, the voltigeur, and the volunteer that he hunts." "Then I suppose Diamond is a bandit's dog?"