Jill got up and looked round her very carefully. There was no sign of the lion; but there were so many trees about that it might easily be quite close without her seeing it. For all she knew, there might be several lions. But her thirst was very bad now, and she plucked up her courage to go and look for that running water. She went on tiptoes, stealing cautiously from tree to tree, and stopping to peer round her at every step.
The wood was so still that it was not difficult to decide where the sound was coming from. It grew clearer every moment and, sooner than she expected, she came to anpen glade and saw the stream, bright as glass, running cross the turf a stone’s throw away from her. But although he sight of the water made her feel ten times thirstier than efore, she didn‘t rush forward and drink. She stood as still s if she had been turned into stone, with her mouth wide pen. And she had a very good reason; just on this side of he stream lay the lion.
It lay with its head raised and its two fore.paws out in ont of it, like the lions in Trafalgar Square. She knew at nce that it had seen her, for its eyes looked straight into ers for a moment and then turned away.as if it knew her uite well and didn’t think much of her.