into the middle of the one
room the cottage contained, and then stood still and looked around him.

The sights that met his gaze were enough to frighten anyone who had not
been properly warned. On the floor just before Ervic lay a great
crocodile, its red eyes gleaming wickedly and its wide open mouth
displaying rows of sharp teeth. Horned toads hopped about; each of the
four upper corners of the room was festooned with a thick cobweb, in
the center of which sat a spider as big around as a washbasin, and
armed with pincher-like claws; a red-and-green lizard was stretched at
full length on the window-sill and black rats darted in and out of the
holes they had gnawed in the floor of the cottage.

But the most startling thing was a huge gray ape which sat upon a bench
and knitted. It wore a lace cap, such as old ladies wear, and a little
apron of lace, but no other clothing. Its eyes were bright and looked
as if coals were burning in them. The ape moved as naturally as an
ordinary person might, and on Ervic's entrance stopped knitting and
raised its head to look at him.

"Get out!" cried a sharp voice, seeming to come from the ape's mouth.

Ervic saw another bench, empty, just beyond him, so he stepped over the
crocodile, sat down upon the bench and carefully placed the kettle
beside him.

"Get out!" again cried the voice.

Ervic shook his head.

"No," said he, "I'm going to stay."

The spiders left their four corners, dropped to the floor and made a
rush toward the young Skeezer, circling around his legs with their
pinchers extended. Ervic paid no attention to them. An enormous black
rat ran up Ervic's body, passed around his shoulders and uttered
piercing squeals in his ears, but he did not wince. The green-and-red
lizard, coming from the window-sill, approached Ervic and began
spitting a flaming fluid at him, but Ervic merely stared at the
creature and its flame did not touch him.

The crocodile raised its tail and, swinging around, swept Ervic off the
bench with a powerful blow. But the Skeezer managed to save the kettle
from upsetting and he got up, shook off the horned toads that were
crawling over him and resumed his seat on the bench.

All the creatures, after this first attack, remained motionless, as if
awaiting orders. The old gray ape knitted on, not looking toward Ervic
now, and the young Skeezer stolidly kept his seat. He expected
something else to happen, but nothing did. A full hour passed and