Page:Historic Girls.djvu/222

204 I should rather say that should be"

Just what should be she never declared, for, as the envoy of Holland turned upon her a face on which Greek learning and anxious horsemanship struggled with one another, Christina slyly touched black Hannibal lightly with her riding-whip.

Light as the touch was, however, it was enough. The unruly horse reared and plunged. The startled scholar, with a cry of terror, flung up his hands, and then clutched black Hannibal around the neck. Thus, in the manner of John Gilpin, His horse, who never in that way
 * Had handled been before,

What thing upon his back had got
 * Did wonder more and more.

Away went Gilpin, neck or nought;
 * Away went hat and wig;

He never dreamt when he set out,
 * Of running such a rig."

Minus hat and wig, too, the poor envoy dashed up the Maelar highway, while Christina, laughing loudly, galloped after him in a mad race, followed by all her hunting-party.

The catastrophe was not far away. The black