Perhaps he, too, had been
hoping for a leader! Something very proud and happy stole upon his
perspiring face of ochre. He moved a step nearer. "Did you notice it
this morning?" he asked in a whisper, "the dawn, I mean? Never saw
anything like it in me life before. Thought I was in the Himalayas or
the Caucasus again. Astonishin', upon me word--the beauty of it! And
the birds! Did you hear 'em? Expect you usually do, though," he added
with a touch of unmistakable envy and admiration in his tone.
"Uncommon," agreed the Tramp, "and no mistake about it. _They_ knew,
you see." They no longer called each other "Sir" and "General"; they
had come to an understanding apparently.
"Umph!" said Stumper, and looked round shyly at the others.
Stumper was evidently under the stress of some divine emotion he was
half ashamed of. An unwonted passion stirred him. He seemed a prey to
an unusual and irrepressible curiosity. Only the obvious fact that his
listeners shared the same feelings with him loosened his sticky tongue
and stole self-consciousness away. He had expected to be laughed at.
Instead the group admired him. The Tramp--his manner proved it--
thought of him very highly indeed.
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