Then Louis and his mother were presented and described, and received an equally warm welcome. But the prince decided to receive the rest of the party at the palace, and they were requested to mount the elephants. The ladies were timid about it; but Louis told his mother that she must get up into the howdah as though she had been riding elephants all her life, and she did so, the others following her example. Louis assisted his mother first, and then Miss Blanche.
They were all seated on the huge beasts, and the procession started, the Italian band following the native, and playing when they ceased to do so.
CHAPTER XXV
FELIX MCGAVONTY BRINGS DOWN SOME SNAKES
"Well, what do you think of this?" asked Captain Ringgold, turning to Mrs. Belgrave, as the elephant moved off.
"I don't feel quite at home up here," she replied, holding on with both hands at the side of the howdah.
"I think it is nice," added Miss Blanche. "It seems very much like riding on a camel, only there is more motion."
"It is a good place to see everything there is to be seen," suggested Louis, as he looked about him. "The king is taking us to his palace in high style. If he meant to astonish us, he has hit the nail on the head."
"But where are Lord Tremlyn and Sir Modava?" asked Miss Blanche.
"They are mounted on a couple of as handsome horses as I ever saw in my life," replied the commander. "One of them is on each side of the Guicowar, at the head of the cavalry troop. In England and America the escort goes ahead of the persons thus honored; but here, as a rule, the king cannot ride behind anybody. You remember that when we saw the Sultan going to the mosque in Constantinople he rode at the head of the procession, and all the great officers of state went behind him; and that seems to be the fashion here."