"I can tell you how!" It was Walter MacWhirlie who spoke, one of the chosen escort.
"Come to the front, then," said the King, "and say your say."
Every eye was at once fixed on the bold speaker. But MacWhirlie, nothing abashed, leaped from the heather stalk on which he stood, and making a double somersault above the whole company, landed erect upon the edge of a leaf whereon sat the King and lords.
Fig. 11.—Brownie MacWhirlie Comes to the Front by a Double Somersault.
"Ugh!" said the monarch, starting back; for MacWhirlie had well nigh alighted on his toes.
"Queak!" cried the Queen; and "queak, queak!" screamed the Princesses, tumbling over one another in their fright.
"You rude beast!" growled the Lord Keeper, laying his hand upon his broadsword.