Snake and Sword - A Novel by Percival Christopher Wren
page 285 of 312 (91%)
page 285 of 312 (91%)
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gully which the Captain had noted as running up to the scene of the
tragedy. To and fro, in and out of the gully, winding, zig-zagging, often travelling a hundred yards to make a dozen, the sure-footed and well-trained beast made its way upward. "Coming down will be joy," observed the Colonel. "I'd sooner be on a broken aeroplane in a cyclone." "Better hop off here, I should think," said Captain Digby-Soames anon. "We can lead him a good way yet, though. Case of divided we stand, united we fall. Let him fall by himself if he wants to," and at the next reasonably level spot the camel was made to kneel, that his riders might descend. Slithering down from a standing camel is not a sport to practise on a steep hillside, if indulged in at all. Another winding, scrambling climb and the head of the nullah was reached. "Have to get the beast kneeling when we climb down to him with the casualty," opined the Colonel. "Better get him down here, I think. Doesn't seem any decent place farther on," and the camel was brought to an anchor and left to his own devices. "By Jove, the poor beggar _has_ come a purler," said Captain Digby-Soames, as the two bent over the apparently unconscious man. "Ever seen him at Kot Ghazi or Bimariabad?" inquired Colonel Decies. |
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