"Now," he jeered at the monster, "catch me if you can."
"I don't need to catch you," replied the twenty-headed Gallopus, calmly, "the enchanted castle has caught you and that's enough, as you'll soon find out."
"Why, what do you mean?" asked the Prince, in a tone of alarm.
"Oh, nothing much," chuckled the monster, "only that in an hour you will begin to turn into a spider, that's all, but it's enough, I guess. Hee, hee!"
With another shriek the Princess fainted away, and as for Ting, he almost fainted too, at the thought of turning into anything so horrid.
"I don't believe it," he said, glaring at the Gallopus.
"Just as you please," answered the monster, "but when you're a spider you'll believe it. That castle was built to hold the Princess and nobody else. If anybody else goes in they turn into a spider unless they come out in an hour."
Well, you can imagine how Ting felt, and you can also imagine how the Princess felt when she came out of her swoon.
"I like you awfully, Ting," she said, "but really I'm afraid I could not like you as a spider."
"I should say not," replied the boy. "I couldn't like myself that way."