"Oh, somebody take that child off," groaned old Mr. King, accepting the
arm of the guide to help him dismount, "for I can't. Every separate and
distinct bone in my body protests against donkeys from this time forth
and forevermore. And yet I've got to go down on one," he added
ruefully.
"No, I don't want to get down," declared Phronsie, still holding fast
to the reins; "can't I sit on my donkey, Jasper, while you all walk
over on the frozen water?"
"Oh, my goodness, no!" gasped Jasper. "Why, Phronsie, you'd be tired to
death--the very idea, child!"
"No," said Phronsie, shaking her yellow hair obstinately, "I wouldn't
be tired one single bit, Jasper. And I don't want to get down from my
donkey."
"Well, if you didn't go over the _Mer de Glace_, why, we couldn't
any of us go," said Jasper, at his wits' end how to manage it without
worrying his father, already extremely tired, he could see, "and that's
what we've come up for--"
Phronsie dropped the reins. "Take me down, please, Jasper," she said,
putting out her arms.
"How are you now, father?" cried Jasper, running over to him when he
had set Phronsie on the ground.
"It's astonishing," said old Mr. King, stretching his shapely limbs,
"but all that dreadful sensation I always have after riding on one of
those atrocious animals is disappearing fast."
"That's good," cried Jasper, in delight. "Well, I suppose we are all
going to wait a bit?" he asked, and longing to begin the tramp over the
_Mer de Glace_.
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