Night had not finished uttering her warnings, when the plucky little fellow repented his rashness. He tried in vain to shut the door which he had opened: an invincible force was pushing it from the other side, streams of blood flowed through the cracks; flames shot forth; shouts, oaths and groans mingled with the roar of cannon and the rattle of musketry. Everybody in the Palace of Night was running about in wild confusion. Bread and Sugar tried to take to flight, but could not find the way out; and they now came back to Tyltyl and put their shoulders to the door with despairing force. The Cat pretended to be anxious, while secretly rejoicing: "This may be the end of it," she said, curling her whiskers. "They won't dare to go on after this." Dear Tylo made superhuman efforts to help his little master, while Mytyl stood crying in a corner. At last, our hero gave a shout of triumph: "Hurrah! They're giving way! Victory! Victory! The door is shut!" At the same time, he dropped on the steps, utterly exhausted, dabbing his forehead with his poor little hands which shook with terror. "Well?" asked Night, harshly. "Have you had enough? Did you see them?" "Yes, yes!" replied the little fellow, sobbing. "They are hideous and awful.... I don't think they have the Blue Bird...." "You may be sure they haven't," answered Night, angrily. "If they had, they would eat him at once.... You see there is nothing to be done...." Tyltyl drew himself up proudly: "I must see everything," he declared. "Light said so...." "It's an easy thing to say," retorted Night, "when one's afraid and stays at home!" "Let us go to the next door," said Tyltyl, resolutely. "What's in here?" "This is where I keep the Shades and the Terrors!" Tyltyl reflected for a minute: "As far as Shades go," he thought, "Mrs. Night is poking fun at me. It's more than an hour since I've seen anything but shade in this house of hers; and I shall be very glad to see daylight again. As for the Terrors, if they are anything like the Ghosts, we shall have another good joke." Our friend went to the door and opened it, before his companions had time to protest. For that matter, they were all sitting on the floor, exhausted with the last fright; and they looked at one another in astonishment, glad to find themselves alive after such a scare. Meanwhile, Tyltyl threw back the door and nothing came out: "There's no one there!" he said. "Yes, there is! Yes, there is! Look out!" said Night, who was still shamming fright.