"Two!" merrily.
"May I present him? It will be the joy of his life."
"Certainly. All brave men interest me."
Grumbach rose up, uncovered, thinking that the riders were going to pass him. But to his surprise his friend Carmichael stopped his horse and beckoned to him.
"Herr Grumbach," said Carmichael, "her serene highness desires me to present you."
Hans was stricken dumb. He knew of no greater honor.
"Mr. Carmichael," she said in English, "tells me that you fought with him in the American war?"
"Yes, Highness."
She plied him with a number of questions; how many battles they had fought in, how many times they had been wounded, how they lived in camp, and so forth; and which was the more powerful engine of war, the infantry or the cavalry.
"The cavalry, Highness," said Hans, without hesitation.