"What's the matter?" cried Davy, pushing his way through the thick grass.
"Oh, my! oh, my!" shrieked the Goblin, who was almost bursting with laughter. "Here's that literary hack again!"
Davy peered through a clump of bushes, and discovered a large red animal, with white spots on its sides, clumsily rummaging about in the tall grass and weeds. Its appearance was so formidable that he was just about whispering to the Goblin, "Let's run!" when the monster raised its head, and, after gazing about for an instant, gave a loud, triumphant whistle.
"Why, it's Ribsy!" cried Davy, running forward. "It's Ribsy, only he's grown enormously fat."
It was Ribsy, indeed, eating with all his might, and with his skin so stretched by his extreme fatness that the hair stood straight up all over it like a brush. The name on his side was twisted about beyond all hope of making it out, and his collar had quite disappeared in a deep crease about his neck. In fact, his whole appearance was so alarming that Davy anxiously inquired of him what he had been eating.
"Everything!" said Ribsy, enthusiastically,—"grass, nuts, bugs, birds, and berries! All of 'em taste good. I could eat both of you easily," he added, glaring hungrily down upon Davy and the Goblin.
"Try that fellow first," said the Goblin, pointing to a large, round insect that went flying by, humming like a top. Ribsy snapped at it, and swallowed it, and the next instant disappeared with a tremendous explosion in a great cloud of smoke.
"What was that?" said Davy, in a terrified whisper.
"A Hum Bug," said the Goblin, calmly. "When a cab-horse on a vacation talks about eating you, a Hum Bug is a pretty good thing to take the conceit out of him. They're loaded, you see, and they go booming along as innocently as you please; but if you touch 'em—why, 'There you aren't!' as the Hole-keeper says."
"The Hole-keeper isn't himself any more," said Davy, mournfully.