A bug or twain, or toothsome frog—and thou
Beside me quacking in the wilderness,—
O, wilderness were paradise enow!"
Phyllis sighed.
"But come!" said Eustace eagerly. "Let us fly to that wilderness!"
"Yes, let us fly!"
Gathering up her feathers, she waddled with him out into the great unknown.
Before they had traveled a distance of twenty leaves, they heard an awful sound. A gigantic Being, under whose terrible feet great twig-logs snapped like straws, came crashing through the jungle. In an instant he was upon them.
Eustace, disregarding his own peril, spread out his wings to shield Phyllis. But she, lacking the valor of a drake, ducked.
O fatal flop! In less time than the twitching of a tail the awful Being pounced down, seized her by her lily-white neck, and bore her, shrieking, away; while Eustace, following frenziedly, exhausted himself in futile cries. At sight of the execution block, his honks became hysterical.