'They won't burn the house,' he said to himself. 'There is too
good a one on each side of it.'
The tumult had kept increasing every moment, and the city marshal
had been shouting, but Curdie had not listened to him. When now
they heard the blows of his mattock, there went up a great cry, and
the people taunted the soldiers that they were afraid of a dog and
his miner. The soldiers therefore made a rush at the door, and cut
its fastenings.
The moment they opened it, out leaped Lina, with a roar so
unnaturally horrible that the sword arms of the soldiers dropped by
their sides, paralysed with the terror of that cry; the crowd fled
in every direction, shrieking and yelling with mortal dismay; and
without even knocking down with her tail, not to say biting a man
of them with her pulverizing jaws, Lina vanished - no one knew
whither, for not one of the crowd had had courage to look upon her.
The moment she was gone, Curdie advanced and gave himself up. The
soldiers were so filled with fear, shame, and chagrin, that they
were ready to kill him on the spot. But he stood quietly facing
them, with his mattock on his shoulder; and the magistrate wishing
to examine him, and the people to see him made an example of, the
soldiers had to content themselves with taking him. Partly for
derision, partly to hurt him, they laid his mattock against his
back, and tied his arms to it.
Pages:
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119