"Good! good!" cried the big Awgwas, in a chorus, and they clapped
their hands to applaud the speech of the King.
"But what shall we do with him?" asked one of the creatures.
"I have a plan," replied the wicked King; and what his plan was you
will soon discover.
That night Claus went to bed feeling very happy, for he had completed
no less than four pretty toys during the day, and they were sure, he
thought, to make four little children happy. But while he slept the
band of invisible Awgwas surrounded his bed, bound him with stout
cords, and then flew away with him to the middle of a dark forest in
far off Ethop, where they laid him down and left him.
When morning came Claus found himself thousands of miles from any
human being, a prisoner in the wild jungle of an unknown land.
From the limb of a tree above his head swayed a huge python, one of
those reptiles that are able to crush a man's bones in their coils. A
few yards away crouched a savage panther, its glaring red eyes fixed
full on the helpless Claus. One of those monstrous spotted spiders
whose sting is death crept stealthily toward him over the matted
leaves, which shriveled and turned black at its very touch.
But Claus had been reared in Burzee, and was not afraid.
"Come to me, ye Knooks of the Forest!" he cried, and gave the low,
peculiar whistle that the Knooks know.
The panther, which was about to spring upon its victim, turned and
slunk away. The python swung itself into the tree and disappeared
among the leaves. The spider stopped short in its advance and hid
beneath a rotting log.
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