But smiling and pleasant though the giant was Jack did not trust him. He felt sure the monster was planning some mischief, so instead of going to bed after the giant left him, he stole to the door of the room and listened. He heard the giant striding up and down, and presently he heard him mutter to himself,
“Though here with me you lodge to-night,
You shall not see the morning light,
Because I mean to kill you quite.”
“That you shall not,” thought Jack to himself. “And if you think I am going to get into bed and lie there while you beat me with a cudgel you are mistaken.”
He began to feel about the room, and presently he found a great billet of wood. This he laid in the bed in his place, and drew the coverlet over it, and then he hid in a corner of the room.
Not long afterward the giant opened the door. He crept over to the bed very quietly and felt where the billet of wood was lying under the covers. Then he took his club and beat it until, if Jack had been lying there, he would certainly have been pounded to a jelly. After that the monster went back to his own bed well satisfied, and slept and snored.
But what was his astonishment the next morning when Jack appeared brisk and smiling and without so much as even a bruise upon him.
“Did—did you sleep well last night?” stammered the giant.
“Oh, well enough,” answered Jack, “but a rat must have run over the bed, for I thought I felt him whisk his tail in my face once or twice. I looked for him this morning, but I could not find him, so perhaps I dreamed it.”