ANOTHER HANDY TO FALL ON TO.
“They did,” interrupted the Knight gloomily; “they appeared in strength at places that weren’t even marked on the ordinary maps. But how do you think they got there?”
He paused and fixed his gentle eyes upon Alice as she walked beside him, and then continued in a hollow voice—
“They rode. Rode and carried rifles. They were no mortal foes—they were Mounted Infantry.”
The Knight swayed about so with the violence of his emotion that it was inevitable that he should lose his seat, and Alice was relieved to notice that there was another horse with an empty saddle ready for him to scramble on to. There was a frightful dust, of course, but Alice saw him gathering the reins of his new mount into a bunch, and smiling down upon her with increased amiability.
“It’s not an easy animal to manage,” he called out to her, “but if I pat it and speak to it in French it will probably understand where I want it to go. And,” he added hopefully, “it may go there. A knowledge of French and an amiable disposition will see one out of most things.”
“Well,” thought Alice as she watched him settling down uneasily into the saddle, “it ought not to take long to see him out of that.”
ALICE AT LAMBETH
There was so much noise inside that Alice thought she might as well go in without knocking.