For a while we chatted on, then suddenly my host sat upright, and bent his head forward in a listening attitude.
'What do you hear?' I asked, for I could only distinguish the rustling of the night wind in the leaves of the creepers that covered the verandah.
'I thought I heard a strange horse's step,' he answered, still listening. 'Yes, there it is again. I expect it's my animal arriving.'
A few moments later I could plainly distinguish the clatter of a horse's step on the hard beaten track that led up to the door. How Pete had heard it so long before I could not imagine. Presently a dark form appeared against the starlight, and pulled up opposite where we sat. Pete sprang to his feet and went forward to the steps.
'Is that you, Dick?' he cried.
'My word, it is,' came back a voice from the darkness. 'And a nice job I've had of it.'
'Well, then, follow the track round to the left there, and I'll meet you at the stables.'
The horseman did as he was ordered, and when he had disappeared, Pete turned to me and said,—
'If you would care to see the horse, come with me.'