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"
Give me time and I'll think of a way. You're in no hurry, are you?" asked the
great Dragon.
"No, indeed," cried Woot. "Take your time. I'd much rather you'd all go to
sleep again, and punish me when you wake up in a hundred years or so."
"Let me eat him!" pleaded the littlest Dragon.
"
He is too small," said the father. "To eat this one Green Monkey would only
serve to make you hungry for more, and there are no more."
"
Quit this chatter and let me get to sleep," protested another Dragon,
yawning in a fearful manner, for when he opened his mouth a sheet of flame
leaped forth from it and made Woot jump back to get out of its way.
In his jump he bumped against the nose of a Dragon behind him, which
opened its mouth to growl and shot another sheet of flame at him. The flame
was bright, but not very hot, yet Woot screamed with terror and sprang
forward with a great bound. This time he landed on the paw of the great
Chief Dragon, who angrily raised his other front paw and struck the Green
Monkey a fierce blow. Woot went sailing through the air and fell sprawling
upon the rocky floor far beyond the place where the Dragon Tribe was
grouped.
All the great beasts were now thoroughly wakened and aroused, and they
blamed the monkey for disturbing their quiet. The littlest Dragon darted
after Woot and the others turned their unwieldy bodies in his direction and
followed, flashing from their eyes and mouths flames which lighted up the
entire cavern. Woot almost gave himself up for lost, at that moment, but he
scrambled to his feet and dashed away to the farthest end of the cave, the
Dragons following more leisurely because they were too clumsy to move fast.
Perhaps they thought there was no need of haste, as the monkey could not
escape from the cave. But, away up at the end of the place, the cavern floor
was heaped with tumbled rocks, so Woot, with an agility born of fear,
climbed from rock to rock until he found himself crouched against the
cavern roof. There he waited, for he could go no farther, while on over the
tumbled rocks slowly crept the Dragons--the littlest one coming first
because he was hungry as well as angry.
The beasts had almost reached him when Woot, remembering his lace
apron--now sadly torn and soiled--recovered his wits and shouted: "Open!"
At the cry a hole appeared in the roof of the cavern, just over his head, and
through it the sunlight streamed full upon the Green Monkey.
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