But now, while the stars
above were as numerous and as brilliant as before, the lights below
had vanished. As the sergeant looked, the highest ones expired in
the rising fog. The Island Rock appeared to be sinking in a
waveless sea of milk.
A startled exclamation from the sergeant brought other men out on
the terrace to see it. The senior officer withheld the pass in his
hand, and scouted the idea of the sergeant's going down into the
city. As the drum began to beat the tattoo and the bugle to rise on
a crescendo of lovely notes, soldiers swarmed toward the barracks.
Those who had been out in the town came running up the roadway into
the Castle, talking loudly of adventures they had had in the fog.
The sergeant looked down at anxious Bobby, who stood agitated and
straining as at a leash, and said that he preferred to go.
"Impossible! A foolish risk, Sergeant, that I am unwilling you
should take. Edinburgh is too full of pitfalls for a man to be
going about on such a night. Our guests will sleep in the Castle,
and it will be safer for the little dog to remain until morning."
Bobby did not quite understand this good English, but the excited
talk and the delay made him uneasy. He whimpered piteously. He lay
across the sergeant's feet, and through his boots the man could
feel the little creature's heart beat. Then he rose and uttered his
pleading cry. The sergeant stooped and patted the shaggy head
consolingly, and tried to explain matters.
Pages:
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213