Collected works > Edinburgh edition, 1894-98 - Works of Robert Louis Stevenson > Volume 9, 1895 - Romances Volume II

DEPARTS ON AN ADVENTURE
* I do not see him, Kuno,' said the first hunts-
man, 'nowhere — not a trace, not a hair of the
mare's tail ! No, sir, he 's off ; broke cover and got
away. Why, for twopence I would hunt him with
the dogs ! '
'Mayhap he's gone home,' said Kuno, but with-
out conviction.
* Home ! ' sneered the other. * I give him twelve
days to get home. No, it 's begun again ; it 's as it
was three years ago, before he married ; a disgrace !
Hereditary prince, hereditary fool ! There goes the
government over the borders on a grey mare.
What 's that ? No, nothing — no, I tell you, on my
word, I set more store by a good gelding or an
English dog. That for your Otto ! '
' He 's not my Otto,' growled Kuno.
* Then I don't know whose he is,' was the retort.
'You would put your hand in the fire for him
to-morrow,' said Kuno, facing round.
' Me ! ' cried the huntsman. ' I would see him
hanged ! I 'm a Griinewald patriot — enrolled, and
have my medal too ; and I would help a prince !
I 'm for liberty and Gondremark.'
' Well, it 's all one,' said Kuno. ' If anybody said
what you said, you would have his blood, and you
know it'
'You have him on the brain,' retorted his com-
panion. — ' There he goes ! ' he cried, the next
moment.
And sure enough, about a mile down the moun-
tain, a rider on a white horse was seen to flit rapidly
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