"'Let's meet him, and fight him,' said one.
"'Let's upset his boat,' said another.
"'How?'
"'By pelting him with stones when he comes near enough.'
"'Good!' cried they all; and they began gathering all the bits of rock
and pebbles they could find.
"Now came a roar of ogreish rage from the boat as it neared them.
"'I'll have ye again!' screamed the ogre.
"Then began the attack--a volley of small stones, nuts, fruits, anything
they had in their pockets.
"One of the ogre's eyes was closed, so certain had been the aim of the
tall boy who acted as leader.
"But the boat came nearer, and they were very much afraid the ogre
would leap from it, when one of the boys whispered, 'I'll go out to
tempt him. Once get him in the water, and he's a goner. He'll be
bewitched.'
"So he off with his jacket, and out he waded, while the others looked on
in breathless admiration.
"The ogre looked with his one eye in eager derision; then forgetting his
danger, and regarding the boy much as he might do an unwary fish that he
would gobble up, he sprang from his boat into the shallow water,
preparing not only to snatch the one boy, but to seize them all in a
great seine he dragged after him, when suddenly the waves from the
centre of the lake began hissing and seething, a tremendous swell set in
towards the shore, driving the brave little fellow who had gone out to
tempt the enemy completely off his legs, and obliging him to swim to the
land, which he had no sooner reached than a great shout from all the
boys made him look back, when, lo and behold! there was no ogre, only a
great shark, with open jaws and a shining row of teeth, floundering
about, and dashing himself in angry transports against the sides of the
ogre boat, which he vainly attempted to board.
Pages:
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118