"No," replied Mrs. Gray; "I will go back to the Hermitage, and wait there until you come down. But you may go up if you wish, and if Mr. George is willing to take you."
Mr. George said that he should like to have Rosie go very much, and he promised to take special care of her. So the new bearers lifted her up upon their shoulders again, and the strapmen that Philippe had provided came with their straps to Rollo and Josie. Mr. George took a cane which one of the boys provided him with, and thus the party began the ascent of the cone.
THE ASCENT.
Rollo found, after a while, that he did not need the strapmen; so he let Josie have them both. Josie put his staff through the loops of the straps, and took hold of the ends of it, while the
men walked before him, and pulled him up the rocks.
Rollo kept ahead. He climbed faster than the rest of the train, but he stopped now and then on some projecting mass of lava to wait for them to come up. Next to Rollo came Josie, with the two strapmen pulling him up by their straps. Then the refreshment man, with his basket of provisions on his head. Last of all came the bearers of the portantina, with Rosie in the chair. Mr. George followed immediately after. He kept close to Rosie all the way, for he thought she would be afraid to be left alone with such wild and rough-looking men.
Indeed, she doubtless would have been afraid, for the men were rough and wild in their demeanor, as well as in their looks. They made a great deal of noise, shouting and scolding all the way. Every now and then they would stop to rest, and then they would clamor for buono manos, sometimes begging for the money in very earnest and noisy, but suppliant tones, and sometimes demanding it in a very loud and threatening manner. Mr. George, however, paid no heed to these requests, but steadily refused to give the men any money, saying simply that Philippe would pay. At length the men, finding that Mr. George was cool and collected, and that he did not seem to be at all intimidated by their violent and boisterous demeanor, became quiet, and performed their duty in a more steady and orderly manner.
The party went on climbing in this way for nearly an hour, and finally reached the summit.