and, as was natural enough, his appetite had
grown to be enormous, and was not half satisfied
by the poor people whom he had just eaten up.
When he caught sight of Cadmus, therefore, he
set up another abominable hiss, and flung back
his immense jaws, until his mouth looked like
a great red cavern, at the farther end of which
were seen the legs of his last victim, whom he
had hardly had time to swallow.

But Cadmus was so enraged at the destruc-
tion of his friends, that he cared neither for the
size of the dragon's jaws nor for his hundreds
of sharp teeth. Drawing his sword, he rushed
at the monster, and flung himself right into his
cavernous mouth. This bold method of attack-
ing him took the dragon by surprise; for, in fact,
Cadmus had leaped so fai down into his throat,
that the rows of terrible teeth could not close
upon him, nor do him the least harm in the
world. Thus, though the struggle was a tre-
mendous one, and though the dragon shattered
the tuft of trees into small splinters by the lash-
ing of his tail, yet, as Cadmus was all the while
slashing and stabbing at his very vitals, it was
not long before the scaly wretch bethought

[[148]]

p147 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p148w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p149

v?