"
His dexterous fingers were hard at work binding the long sword blades to
place. Then a strip of woollen shawl was fastened to them as a seat,
Meroo's turban served as harness, and in less time than could have been
imagined the quaint sledge was ready for trial.
Mirak sat on it first. "Now then, Tumbu! Good dog!" said Roy in a
flutter for fear of failure. Tumbu turned round, looked at his little
master with a broad grin of red tongue and white teeth, gave a little
grunt, and started.
The sledge slid on over the frozen snow quite easily!
"Now praise be to God!" cried Foster-father, overjoyed.
"And Grand-dad!" said the little Prince, who always listened to
everything; "but I knew he would help us, didn't you, Bija?"
"But I want to go on the thing, too," she whimpered.
"Mayhap it might support them both," put in Head-nurse; "she is but a
featherweight, and there is plenty of room."
Ere five minutes were over the little party, greatly heartened up by
finding this unexpected way out of their difficulties, started once
more, Roy encouraging Tumbu, who, in truth, seemed to feel his task
quite a light one, while Foster-father, in his relief and gratitude,
allowed Down, the cat, to creep once more inside his fur coat. Her
weight made him sink a little farther into the snow, but he was strong,
and felt he could have done more for the sake of the children's safety.
On and on they went, the frost film giving firmer foothold on the
top of the pass, while the chill which always precedes dawn took away
still more from the difficulty of Tumbu's task.
Pages:
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122