'We must go far away from the Black Mountains until we have got together a big army of beasts with good natures. Then we will come back,' said Baby Jane, who was brave enough now that the sun was shining and no enemy in sight, 'and if the Black Mountain creatures won't be good, well, we shall have to make them.'
Whistling 'Lochaber No More.'
On they tramped, without speaking, all the morning, with their bundles on their heads, and the Light-Horse did not make matters more cheerful by whistling 'Lochaber No More,' breaking the sad tune now and then with a stifled sob.
It must be here remarked that this animal was now addressed as 'Mary Carmichael,' after the tragic part she had taken in the tableaux vivants, for to call such a dark and heavy-minded creature a 'Light' horse was absurd.
Later in the morning they were suddenly startled by a strange apparition that came up over a hillock towards them. They all made a rampart of their bundles and prepared for the worst, but it was nothing more terrible than a small costermonger driving a donkey in a barrow, piled full of bits of glittering rock. The donkey kicked violently after every two or three steps, and at every kick the barrow-load of stones rattled fearfully, and the small coster brought down a flat piece of wood on the donkey's back, and abused it in the rudest way.
'What ho, there!' squeaked the driver on his approach after the manner of the olden times. 'Where's the tent for the circus?'
'We're not a circus,' said Baby Jane indignantly, 'and you are much more odd-looking than we. What are you doing here?'
'Well, you see,' said he, 'the geranium business at home is overcrowded, and so Edouardo and I—his name in full is Edouardo de Frisky, because of his voice; there is a singer named that or something like it—have come out here and gone into the gold-mine business. There's a little gold-mine in the cart now; we gave one-and-tenpence for it, and we are going to sell it—all except the good parts—for sixpence a piece. I tell you it is better even than the strawberry business, with eight strawberries on the top and all the rest leaves. And what game are you playing?'
Baby Jane said she was not playing any game, and rather shyly explained her mission, expecting the little coster to jeer; but, though he was only moderately honest and very ill-mannered, he was a good-hearted little fellow.