he
could not prevent his flesh from revealing its natural weakness, for it
quivered pitifully.

"Now, Baas," he said, gripping the edges of the stone with his large
hands, "when I give the word do you push gently, and then you will see
how a black bird can fly. Put your head lower, Baas."

Leonard obeyed, and the dwarf whispered in his ear:

"I only want to say, Baas, in case we should not meet again, for
accidents will happen even on the safest roads, that I am sorry that I
made such a pig of myself yonder; it was so dull down there in that hole
of a palace, and the fog made me see all things wrong. Moreover, drink
and a wife have corrupted many a better man. Don't answer, Baas, but
start me, for I am growing afraid."

Placing his hand at the back of the stone, Leonard gave it a slight
push. It began to move, very slowly at first, then more fast and faster
yet, till it was rushing over the smooth ice pathway with a whirring
sound like that produced by the flight of a bird. Presently it had
reached the bottom of the first long slope and was climbing the gentle
rise opposite, but so slowly that for a while Leonard thought that it
was going to stop. It crossed its brow, however, and vanished for a few
seconds into a dip where the watchers could not see it, then it appeared
again at the head of the second and longest slope, of which the angle
was very steep. Down this the stone rushed like an arrow from a bow,
till it reached the narrow waist of the bridge, whereof the general
conformation bore some resemblance to that of a dead wasp lying on its
back. Indeed, from where Leonard and Juanna stood, the span of ice at
this point seemed to be no thicker than a silver thread, while Otter and
the stone might have been a fly upon the thread. Now of a sudden Leonard
distinctly saw the rock sledge and its living burden, which just then
was travelling its swiftest, move upwards as though it had leaped
into the air and then continue its course along the rising place which
represented the throat of the wasp, till at length it stopped.

Leonard looked at his watch; the time occupied by the transit was just
fifty seconds, and the distance could not have been much less than half
a mile.

"See," he cried to Juanna, who all this while had sat with her hand
before her eyes to shut out the vision of the dwarf's dreadful progress,
"he has crossed safely!" and he pointed to a figure that appeared to be
dancing with glee upon the breast