WHO FOLLOWED THE PIPER
thudding after them, waving a branch, and with its ears flapping as it came.
Baldwin made his best speed, but the creature came nearer and nearer to them. It put out a horny hand and John Ball felt his arm gripped. "Throw the water from the Well of Good Luck upon it," said Baldwin, the horse that could speak. John Ball turned, and he threw the water that was in his cup upon the creature.
The grip on his arm loosened then, and he heard the hoofs of Baldwin as the horse went on. The plunge and the thud, the thud and the plunge came no more behind them. "Where are we now, Baldwin, my horse?" said John Ball.
"We are in the Dark Forest, and miles and miles of it are before us," said Baldwin.
They went on. But now John Ball had become thirsty and there was no water in his cup. He spoke of his thirst. Baldwin went on, and sometimes he sniffed at the ground.
He brought John Ball to a well at last. He
81
