Page:Baron Trump's marvellous underground journey.pdf/37

Rh them and their faraway homes when the time comes to turn their heads southward? Do the brown ants pause to count the hundreds of thousands of grains of sand which they must carry through their long corridors and winding passages before they have burrowed deep enough to escape the frost of midwinter?

There had been many Trumps, but never one that had thrown up his arms and cried. "I surrender!" and should I be the first to do it? "Never! Not even if it meant never to see dear old Castle Trump again!"

One morning as we went zigzagging up a particularly nasty bit of mountain road. Ivan suddenly wheeled about and without even taking off his hat, cried out,—

"Little baron, I cover the last mile of the hundred to-day. If thou wouldst go any farther north thou must hire thee another teamster; dost hear?"

"Silence!" said I sternly, for the fellow had broken in upon a very important train of thought.

Bulger, too resented the man's insolence, and growled and showed his teeth.

"But, little baron, listen to reason." he continued in a more respectful tone, removing his cap: "my people will expect me back. I promised my father — I'm a dutiful son — I —"

"Nay, nay, Ivan," I interrupted sharply, "curb that tongue of thine lest it harm thy soul. Know, then, that I spoke with thy father and he promised me that thou shouldst go a second hundred miles with me if need were, but on condition that I give thee double pay. It shall be done, and on top of that a goodly present for your golubtchika (darling)."

"Little baron, thou art a hard master," whimpered the man. "If the whim took thee thou wouldst bid me leap into the Giants' Well just to see whether it has a bottom or not. St. Nicholas, save me!"

"Nay, Ivan," said I kindly, "I know no such word as cruelty although I do confess that right seems harsh at times, but thou wert born to serve and I to command. Providence hath made