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242 |
LTLITH |
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animal of the giant kind; and the horse showed himself proud of the burden he bore. We exercised them every day until they had such confidence in us as to obey instantly and fear nothing; after which we always rode them at parade and on the march.
The undertaking did indeed at times appear to me a foolhardy one, but the confidence of the woman of Bulika, real or simulated, always overcame my hesitancy. The princess's magic, she insisted, would prove powerless against the children; and as to any force she might muster, our animal-allies alone would assure our superiority : she was herself, she said, ready, with a good stick, to encounter any two men of Bulika. She confessed to not a little fear of the leopardess, but I was myself ready for her. I shrank, however, from carrying all the children with us.
'Would it not be better,' I said, 'that you remained in the forest with your baby and the smallest of the Little Ones?'
She answered that she greatly relied on the impression the sight of them would make on the women, especially the mothers.
'When they see the darlings,' she said,' their hearts will be taken by storm; and I must be there encouraging them to make a stand ! If there be a remnant of hardihood in the place, it will be found among the women! '
You must not encumber yourself,' I said to Lona, ' with any of the children; you will be wanted everywhere !'
For there were two babies besides the woman's, and even on horseback, she had almost always one in her arms. |
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