or like the shawl in which gipsy women carry their children.
North Wind put her hands to her back, felt all about the nest,
and finding it safe, said--

"Are you comfortable, Diamond?"

"Yes, indeed," answered Diamond.

The next moment he was rising in the air. North Wind grew towering
up to the place of the clouds. Her hair went streaming out from her,
till it spread like a mist over the stars. She flung herself abroad
in space.

Diamond held on by two of the twisted ropes which, parted and interwoven,
formed his shelter, for he could not help being a little afraid.
As soon as he had come to himself, he peeped through the woven meshes,
for he did not dare to look over the top of the nest. The earth
was rushing past like a river or a sea below him. Trees and water
and green grass hurried away beneath. A great roar of wild animals
rose as they rushed over the Zoological Gardens, mixed with a
chattering of monkeys and a screaming of birds; but it died away
in a moment behind them. And now there was nothing but the roofs
of houses, sweeping along like a great torrent of stones and rocks.
Chimney-pots fell, and tiles flew from the roofs; but it looked
to him as if they were left behind by the roofs and the chimneys
as they scudded away. There was a great roaring, for the wind was
dashing against London like a sea; but at North Wind's back Diamond,
of course, felt nothing of it all. He was in a perfect calm.
He could hear the sound of it, that was all.