He quickened his pace, until at the last he was running when he came out into the edge of the meadowy plain, with its sweetness of flowers and green grass and song of birds, and its glory of blue sky and sun.
If he had ever been afraid, Peter forgot it now.

The choking went out of his throat, his heart fell back in its place, and the fierce conviction that he had vanquished everything in the world possessed him.

He peered back into the dark cavern of evergreen out of which the streamlet gurgled, and then trotted straight away from it, growling back his defiance as he ran.

At a safe distance he stopped, and faced about.
Nothing was following him, and the importance of his achievements grew upon him.

He began to swell; his fore-legs he planted pugnaciously, he hollowed his back, and began to bark with all the puppyish ferocity that was in him.