They prepared to fire the house.
There was still a large quantity of rubbish,--the collected firewood which the locusts had not devoured.

This would enable them to carry out their purpose; and all three immediately set about hauling it up, and piling it against the door.
One might almost have fancied that the lion had fathomed their design; for, although he had been for a long while quite silent, he now commenced a fresh spell of roaring.

Perhaps the noise of the logs, striking against the door outside, had set him at it; and, finding himself thus shut up and baited, he had grown impatient.

What he had sought as a _shelter_ had been turned into a _trap_, and he was now anxious to get out of it.

This was evident by the demonstrations he began to make.