scratches on his face, and several severe bites on his legs and arms.
But as he scrambled to get up, his hand fell upon his pickaxe, and
before the horrid beasts could do him any serious harm, he was laying
about with it right and left in the dark. The hideous cries which
followed gave him the satisfaction of knowing that he had punished
some
of them pretty smartly for their rudeness, and by their scampering and
their retreating howls, he perceived that he had routed them. He stood
a
little, weighing his battle-axe in his hand as if it had been the most
precious lump of metal--but indeed no lump of gold itself could have
been so precious at that time as that common tool--then untied the
end
of the string from it, put the ball in his pocket, and still stood
thinking. It was clear that the cobs' creatures had found his axe, had
between them carried it off, and had so led him he knew not where.
But
for all his thinking he could not tell what he ought to do, until
suddenly he became aware of a glimmer of light in the distance.
Without
a moment's hesitation he set out for it, as fast as the unknown and
rugged way would permit. Yet again turning a corner, led by the dim
light, he spied something quite new in his experience of the
underground
Madhuri Noah
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