eaming?" Cadmus thought, "or did I really hear a
voice?" and he went away thinking he was very little wiser for having
done as the Queen had told him.

I do not know how far he had gone when just before him he saw a
brindled cow. She was lying down by the wayside, and as Cadmus came
along she got up and began to move slowly along the path, stopping now
and then to crop a mouthful of grass.

Cadmus wondered if this could be the cow he was to follow, and he
thought he would look at her more closely, so he walked a little
faster; but so did the cow. "Stop, cow," he cried, "hey brindle,
stop," and he began to run; and much to his surprise so did the cow,
and though he ran as hard as possible, he could not overtake her.

So he gave it up. "I do believe this may be the cow I was told about,"
he thought. "Any way, I may as well follow her and surely she will lie
down somewhere."

On and on they went. Cadmus thought the cow would never stop, and
other people who had heard the strange story began to follow too, and
they were all very tired and very far away from home when at last the
cow lay down. His companions were delighted and began to cut down wood
to make a fire, and some ran to a stream to get water. Cadmus lay
down to rest close beside the cow. He was wishing that his mother
and brothers and Theseus had been with him now, when suddenly he was
startled by cries and shouts and screams.

He ran towards the stream, and there he saw the head of a big serpent
or dragon, with fiery eyes and with wide open jaws which showed rows
and rows of horrible sharp teeth. Before Cadmus could reach it, the
monster had killed all his poor companions and was busy devouring
them. The stream was an enchanted one, and the dragon had been told to
guard it so that no mortal might ever touch the water, and the people
round about knew this, so that for a hundred years none of them had
ever come near the spot.

The dragon had been asleep and was very hungry, and when he saw Cadmus
he opened his huge jaws again, ready to devour him too. But Cadmus was
very angry at the death of all his companions, and drawing his sword
he rushed at the monster. With one big bound he leaped right into the
dragon's mouth, so far down that the two rows of terrible teeth could
not close on him or do him any harm. The dragon lashed with his tail
furiously, but Cadmus stabbed him again and again, and in a short time
the great monster lay dead.

"What shall I do no