The robber captain standing in the middle of the ring suddenly turned pale. He looked so frightened that the other robbers did not pick up anything, and stood and stared at him with their mouths open.
"What's the matter?" he shouted out. "They are growing heavier. I can't hold them. They are swelling! They are swelling!" and he
dropped both the lion and the tiger on the grass.
And Barty saw that they were swelling. First they swelled until they were as big as cats, then they swelled until they were as big as dogs, then they were as big as pigs, then they were as big as calves, and the next second they were as big as the hugest lion and tiger in a menagerie, and the other lions, and tigers, and leopards were as big as they were. The elephants and rhinoceroses and hippopotamuses had to go outside the hedge to swell because there
