“I’m ready,” the boy responded, and, as directed, clambered into the saddle, putting his feet on the cross-bar, and awaited the word to proceed. Michawi gave a shout, and the boy felt the great hump sway beneath him, giving him a queer feeling of insecurity.
“Look out as he gets up!” warned his uncle.
Not knowing what to expect, Perry curled his toes under the cross-bar, getting a grip as though a camel were a bucking horse. This was nearly his downfall, for Perry did not know that a camel rises on his hind-legs first. As the beast rose, it pitched the saddle at such an angle that the lad felt sure he was about to be thrown over the animal’s back. He had just time to uncurl his legs and put a foot on the cross-step to brace himself, when, after a distinct pause, the camel gave a muscular jerk and came up on its fore-legs also, and the boy settled back into his seat. The beast stood still for a moment, and then began to move.
“Is—is this camel double-jointed, Uncle George?” asked Perry, the words being jolted out of his mouth, as he ranged up beside the professor, who meanwhile had mounted his animal nonchalantly.
“I don’t suppose so,” was the answer. “Why?”
“The way he walks,” replied the boy. “It feels as though his nigh and his off sides had become unhitched, somehow.”
The leader of the expedition laughed at the description, although realizing that it did give an idea of the loose, racking gait of the camel.
“They all walk like that,” he said. “You get used to it, after a time.”
“It’s sure queer,” said Perry, “but it’s rather fun.”
