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The South Fork of the Platte has been passed, Laramie reached, and for a fortnight the lofty summits of the mountains which overhang the "pass" to California have been in sight; but when they strike the broad trail which would conduct them to their promised land in the valley of the Columbia, the party pause, gaze for a moment steadfastly at the mountain-summits, and then as if by a common impulse, the heads of the horses and oxen are faced to the east, and men, women, and children toss their hats and bonnets in the air, hurrahing lustily for home as the huge wagons roll down along the banks of the river Platte.
It was the mere rebellion of unspent energies that craved to be used, like the muscular vivacity of suddenly severed limbs that still toss and twitch with hot life; yet it inspired Theophil one afternoon when he had been a fortnight or so in bed, during a brief absence of his nurse, to rise and dress, and as by a miracle keep an appointment to speak at a neighbouring town, where he had been promised for a great agitation on the Home Rule Question.
"Take care not to get too far under," said Fabian, "or you may be caught in the roots and branches." "Have no fear, child; a whale may sooner remain fixed to a fishing-boat which it can toss twenty feet into the air, than I under an islet that I could break to pieces with a blow."
"Oh, Geoff, what is the matter?" she asked: though her heart had dragged her so, there was in her tone a tender exasperation too. "I can't sleep," the boy said, clinging to her, with his arms round her neck. "But you must try to sleep for my sake. Don't toss about, but lie quite still, that is far the best way."
Armstrong," said the host. "It will be my sister's turn next time, and after that Percy's." Percy gave a great laugh; and his mother said, with a slight toss of her head: "I am not so fond of being criticised myself!" "Has criticism been your occupation, Mrs. Cathcart," I said, "during our readings? If so, then indeed we have a claim on you greater than I had supposed."
"The bucks'll be on the ridges," remarked Bailey. They got their buck a big six-point just before the sun dipped below the flaming sky-line. In order to pack the meat in, one or the other would have to walk. Pete volunteered, but Bailey generously offered to toss up for the privilege of riding. He flipped a coin and won. "Suits me," said Pete, grinning.
"Come," he cried, "'tis but a toss of three ivories and the world is lighter by one of us, and purgatory the more populous. You shall toss first or last, as you please." As he spoke he shook the dice invitingly on his extended palm, and laughed as he did so. Simone answered him with a great frown and a great voice.
'Don't speak to me; don't look at me; don't even think of me for three days at least. Go and enjoy yourself, and leave us to our doom; with which tragical remark Lavinia drew her curtains, and was seen no more. Great heavens, what a week that was! Rain, wind, fog; creak, pitch, toss; noise, smells, cold.
"I invented it; it's our Scout Society Code, but I don't mind telling you, after all this, that three circles of any white cloth above one's head means 'Danger, five circles means 'Great Danger, and a toss from one hand to the other up through the air means 'Don't move. Stay where you are." "Well, I never knew that child's play would save my boys' lives," said Mr. McKenzie gratefully.
Then he recovered himself a little: 'I wished, he began; so I went on: 'Thou wishedst, and it might have gone on to the end: 'he wished, we wished' -and so forth, like the children at school at Rome, when we were learning Greek; but, Papias came to the rescue, for he ran up to Marcus and asked him to toss him up high, as he used to do on board ship.
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