peril.

Then Mase, again putting his ear to the ground, cried, "Up! up! to
arms! to arms! For see here is the ogre coming at such a rate that he
is actually flying." But Micco was ready with his little stick, and in
an instant he caused a terrible wood to rise up, so thick that it was
quite impenetrable. When the ogre came to this difficult pass he laid
hold of a Carrara knife which he wore at his side, and began to cut
down the poplars and oaks and pine trees and chestnut trees, right and
left; so that with four or five strokes he had the whole forest on the
ground and got clear of it. Presently, Mase who kept his ears on the
alert like a hare, again raised his voice and cried, "Now we must be
off, for the ogre is coming like the wind and here he is at our heels."
As soon as Petrullo heard this he took water from a little fountain,
sprinkled it on the ground, and in an twinkling of an eye a large river
rose up on the spot. When the ogre saw this new obstacle, and that he
could not make holes so fast as they found bungs to stop them, he
stripped himself stark naked and swam across to the other side of the
river with his clothes upon his head.

Mase, who put his ear to every chink, heard the ogre coming and
exclaimed, "Alas! matters go ill with us now. I already hear the
clatter of the ogre's heels. We must be on our guard and ready to meet
the storm or else we are done for." "Never fear," said Ascaddeo, "I
will soon settle this ugly ragamuffin." So saying, he flung a pebble on
the ground and instantly up rose a tower in which they all took refuge
without delay, and barred the door. But when the ogre came up and saw
that they had got into so safe a place he ran home, got a
vine-dresser's ladder, and carried it back on his shoulder to the tower.

Now Mase, who kept his ears hanging down, heard at a distance the
approach of the ogre and cried, "We are now at the butt end of the
Candle of Hope. Ceccone is our last resource, for the ogre is coming
back in a terrible fury. Alas! how my heart beats, for I foresee an
evil day." "You coward," answered Ceccone, "trust to me and I will hit
him with a ball."

As Ceccone was speaking the ogre came, planted his ladder and began to
climb up; but Ceccone, taking aim at him, shot out one of his eyes and
laid him at full length on the ground, like a pear dropped from a tree.
Then he went out of the tower and cut off the ogre's head with a big
knife he carried about with him, just as