Stories Oct, 2013 | Page 247

creature coming toward the mouth. The spot was too narrow for two of almost any size or shape, and besides Curdie had no wish to let the creature pass. Not being able to use his pickaxe, however, he had a severe struggle with him, and it was only after receiving many bites, some of them bad, that he succeeded in killing him with his pocket knife. Having dragged him out, he made haste to get in again before another should stop up the way. I need not follow him farther in this night's adventures. He returned to his breakfast, satisfied that the goblins were mining in the direction of the palace--on so low a level that their intention must, he thought, be to burrow under the walls of the king's house, and rise up inside it--in order, he fully believed, to lay hands on the little princess, and carry her off for a wife to their horrid Harelip. CHAPTER XXIV IRENE BEHAVES LIKE A PRINCESS Madhuri Noah C:\Users\MNoah\Documents\The Princess and the Goblin1.docx Page 246 of 634