The sledge was the thing! How clever it was of Old Faithful to remember
Firdoos Gita Makani's way of saving his horse; but after all, when one
came to think of it, the thanks were due to Babar the brave for being a
real King, kind-hearted to animals.
And now Roy's task became dangerous as well as hard, for every moment
lessened the firmness of the ice film. And he was now running down a
shallow valley, which was completely blocked up by drift, except in the
very middle, where every now and again you got a glimpse of a roaring
torrent--kept unfrozen by its snowy covering--hollowing its way
downward; but for the most part it was invisible, the only sign of it
being a roar, a tremble beneath your feet. Thus he was, as it were, on a
snow bridge, of which the surface might at any moment give way. And that
meant certain death in the dark pools below. In one place, indeed, he
was all but lost; however, a wild leap landed him on safe ground, and
with a gasp of fear, not for himself, but for the children ahead of
him, he ran on, comforted by the sight of the sledge track going on and
on.
After a while he had to cease running from sheer fatigue; but still he
plodded on, telling himself that even half an hour would have made a
difference in the snow. That where he found danger, the children might
have found safety; and always before him that track of the
scabbard-sledge showed him that so far, at any rate, all had gone well.
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