Across such a bridge as this the hill
children walk as easily as an English child does over a great brick
span; but Head-nurse resolutely refused to set foot over it herself,
much less to allow the Heir-to-Empire to risk his neck on such an
appallingly dangerous structure. In vain Foster-father, in order to set
a good example, allowed himself to be led over by the shepherd with his
eyes carefully bandaged lest he should get giddy in the middle by
looking down. As a matter of fact, this only made Head-nurse more
frightened, for, of course, the bridge swung and swayed with the weight
of the men on it. She would sooner, she declared, try to climb Heaven on
a rainbow! That was at least steady. Roy tried to hearten her up by
walking over himself with open eyes, though he felt frightfully dizzy
and had to fling himself flat on the grass to recover when he did get
over. Then Meroo, blubbering loudly that he was going to his death for
his young master, climbed up on the shepherd's back and allowed himself
to be carried over just to show how easy it was.
It was all in vain! Head-nurse was firm. They must bring the tents to
the Heir-to-Empire; the Heir-to-Empire should not go across a tight rope
to the tents. And there she would have remained had not a great, tall
burly woman with a fat baby on her hip come out of one of the tents, and
grasping the position, stalked over the bridge without even touching the
hand rail, caught Baby Akbar from Foster-mother, who was too taken aback
to resist, set him on her other hip and calmly stalked back again,
leaving the two women too surprised and horrified even to scream.
Pages:
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42