Children -- Religious life -- Juvenile fiction; Christian life -- Juvenile fiction; Tableaux -- Juvenile fiction
He jumped up and caught Daisy's willing hand, with the other hand caught
up her shawl, and drew her along swiftly under cover of the trees and
shrubbery towards the river, and away from the voice they heard calling.
Daisy half ran, half flew, it seemed to her; so fast the strong hand of
her friend pulled her over the ground. At the edge of the bank that
faced the river, at the top of a very steep descent of a hundred feet or
near that, under a thick shelter of trees, Capt. Drummond called a halt
and stood listening. Far off, faint in the distance, they could still
hear the shout.
"Drummond!--where are you? Hallo!"
"We'll go down to the river," said the Captain; "and he is too lazy to
look for us there. We shall be safe. Daisy, this is a retreat--but it is
not a hardship, is it?"
Daisy looked up delighted. The little face so soberly thoughtful a few
minutes ago was all bright and flushed. The Captain was charmed too.
"But we can't get down there,"--said Daisy, casting her eye down the
very steep pitch of the bank.
"That is something," said the Captain, "with which as a soldier you have
nothing to do. All you have to do is to obey orders; and the orders are
that we charge down hill."
"I shall go head first, then," said Daisy, "or over and over. I couldn't
keep my feet one minute."
"Now you are arguing," said the Captain; "and that shews
insubordination, or want of discipline. But we have got to charge, all
the same; and we'll see about putting you under arrest afterwards."
Daisy laughed at him, but she could not conceive how they should get to
the bottom. It was very steep and strewn with dead leaves from the trees
which grew thick all the way. Rolling down was out of the question, for
the stems of the trees would catch them; and to keep on their feet
seemed impossible. Daisy found however that Capt. Drummond could manage
what she could not. He took hold of her hand again; and then--Daisy
hardly believed it while she was doing it,--but there she was, going
down that bank in an upright position; not falling nor stumbling, though
it is true she was not walking neither. The Captain did not let her
fall, and his strong hand seemed to take her like a feather over the
stones and among the trees, giving her flying leaps and bounds down, the
hill along with him. How _he_ went and kept his feet remained always a
marvel to Daisy; but down they went, and at the bottom they were in a
trifle of time.
"Do you think he will come down there after us?" said the Captain.
"I am sure he won't," said Daisy.
"So am I sure. We are safe, Daisy. Now I am your prisoner and you are my
prisoner; and we will set each other at any work we please. This is a
nice place."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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