Meantime Curdie had, with a second sharp blow from the hammer of his mattock, disabled the cook, so that he yielded the spit with a groan.

He now turned to the avengers.
'Go at them,' he said.
The whole nine-and-forty obeyed at once, each for himself, and after his own fashion.

A scene of confusion and terror followed.

The crowd scattered like a dance of flies.

The creatures had been instructed not to hurt much, but to hunt incessantly, until everyone had rushed from the house.