For
some time the children had been hearing the sound of music, at first
faint and far-away, now growing louder and louder. The sergeant
pulled them hastily to the side of the road, and bade them in a gruff
voice, "Keep quiet, or he'd settle 'em!" Then he, too, stiffened all
over just as Captain Jinks had done, and both of them presented arms.
The head of a procession was coming in sight.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
CHAPTER X
MEETING A QUEEN
First came a large company of soldiers almost exactly like Captain
Jinks and the sergeant, except that their uniforms were a little
shabbier-looking, and their arms a little less brightly polished. They
held themselves stiffly and marched very well, in spite of the fact
that many of them had suffered severe injuries, such as the loss of a
leg or an arm at the least, in some former campaign, and all of them
were rather the worse for wear. After the soldiers came the band,
playing shrilly on their tiny instruments, and next, to the children's
delight and astonishment, rolled a number of little carriages drawn by
mechanical horses. Rudolf was so keenly interested in the working of
these mechanical horses, that he hardly noticed the fine ladies who
sat stiffly on the cushioned seats of the carriages, very grandly
dressed, and holding beautiful pink and blue parasols over their
curled heads.
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