[Betty at Fort Blizzard by Molly Elliot Seawell]@TWC D-Link bookBetty at Fort Blizzard CHAPTER II 16/25
Broussard, amid the roar of cheers and shouts and furious handclapping and music, got the mare on her feet.
She stood trembling, frightened and ashamed; Anita patted her neck gently and rubbed her nose reassuringly.
Then Broussard, taking the girl's slender waist between his hands, swung her into her saddle, himself mounted, and, the riders falling in behind, it was as if Tragedy had not showed her awful visage for one fearful moment. All the cheering and clapping and weeping and laughing and shouting that had gone before were nothing to what followed after, while the band played "For He Is a Jolly Good Fellow," and everybody who could sing, or thought he could sing, joined in the refrain.
Colonel Fortescue, whiter than death, sat straight up in his place.
Mrs. Fortescue whispered in his ear: "Be brave,--brave as you were in battle." Colonel Fortescue had been in battle, but the screaming shells and crash of machine guns brought with them no such wild and shivering terror as when he saw Gamechick's forefeet in the air over Anita, lying on the tanbark. The procession passed once more around the hall, Anita's face flushed and smiling, Broussard outwardly calm, but the red blood showing under his dark skin.
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