She had been too proud to cry out; but she
was nearly beside herself with fright. Alessandro halted so
suddenly that Baba, whose nose was nearly on his shoulder, came
to so sharp a stop that Ramona uttered a cry. She thought he had
lost his footing.
Alessandro looked at her in dismay. To dismount on that perilous
trail was impossible; moreover, to walk there would take more
nerve than to ride. Yet she looked as if she could not much longer
keep her seat.
"Carita," he cried, "I was stupid not to have told you how narrow
the way is; but it is safe. I can run in it. I ran all this way with the
ferns on my back I brought for you."
"Oh, did you?" gasped Ramona, diverted, for the moment, from
her contemplation of the abyss, and more reassured by that change
of her thoughts than she could have been by anything else. "Did
you? It is frightful, Alessandro. I never heard of such a trail. I feel
as if I were on a rope in the air. If I could get down and go on my
hands and knees, I think I would like it better. Could I?"
"I would not dare to have you get off, just here, Majella," answered
Alessandro, sorrowfully.
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