88 THE WONDER-BOOK OF HORSES 



Alps, and neighed shrilly as he passed over 

 Genoa, nestled between the mountains and the 

 sea ; he dropped one of his quills in Florence, and 

 whinnied with delight as he saw the City of Seven 

 Hills sleeping beneath him; and, all the time, 

 Astolpho sat astride of him, with pen in hand, 

 inditing wonderful stories of his adventures in 

 foreign lands. 



They alighted only when they were hungry, 

 for the horse never tired, and Astolpho had only 

 to look at a city to know all about its history, its 

 people and their customs, its public buildings and 

 its laws, and whether any demented knight was 

 wandering about its streets. Leaving Italy, they 

 passed over the Mediterranean, flinging down 

 another quill at Malta, and throwing side glances 

 toward Athens and Constantinople. Speeding 

 over old Egypt, from north to south, Astolpho 

 read the history of thirty centuries in the Pyra- 

 mids, and wise Griffen solved the mystery of the 

 Sphinx. Finally, after topping the Abyssinian 

 mountains, they alighted in the mythical land of 

 Prester John, and Astolpho at once introduced 

 himself to that wise monarch, and stated the busi- 

 ness which had brought him thus to the very ends 

 of the earth. 



