"The forest trees were saplings no higher than ourselves. We plunged through them, came to the other glade. The girl was sitting up with hands pressed to her breast in terror--a tiny figure of a girl not as long as my hand. The dwarfs were so small I did not see them at first; they were standing beside her--an inch perhaps in height. The giant, with what drug acting upon him we could only guess, had dwindled until he was only about half our own present height. He had dropped his tree-bludgeon, which now was too large for him, and was stooping down to seize the girl. His leer, with the reality of motion upon it, was horrible. "Momentarily we had stopped at the edge of the glade. The figures there were aware of us. The girl screamed--a little voice, shrill with terror, an agony of sudden fear--at her assailants, and doubtless most of all at ourselves. The giant--I can no longer call him that, since we saw him as no more than three feet tall--at our appearance he straightened. Stared at us. Surprize, then fear swept his ugly hairy face. He shouted something to his tiny companions. [Illustration: "The girl screamed--a little voice, shrill with terror, an agony of sudden fear."] "Martt's hand went up; he fired his cylinder. But he was confused--and the nearness of the girl to his mark made him aim high. The bolt missed; lodged harmlessly in a tree with a ripping of its bark. I rushed forward to seize our adversary, but he eluded me, leaped over the girl. I was afraid of trampling her--I stepped backward--clutched Martt, fearful of what he might do. "It had all happened in a moment. The dwarfs had vanished; but the other man--he was now no higher than my knees--was standing by a tree behind the girl. He shouted again; and now the terror had left his face and he was grinning, I saw his hand go swiftly to his mouth. Had he taken more of his strange drug? Had he warned his two companions to do the same? I think so, for before my eyes he was swiftly diminishing in size. I knelt carefully beside the girl. Her figure--smaller than my foot and near it--was huddled into a little ball, her head against her upraised knees. She may have fainted; I did not heed her, save to be careful my movements did not strike her. With arm stretched over her I reached for the man. But he hopped away and eluded me. Still grinning. As small now as my little finger he stood half hiding behind a grass-blade. On hands and knees I pursued him. But like an insect, he was too quick for me. Smaller always until I was probing the grass with my fingers to find him--saw him momentarily like an ant in size as he leaped into a tangle of tiny grass-blades and was gone.