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THE OGRE’S CAPTIVE.
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hearts were almost utterly failing them and they were giving way to despair, the cause of their consternation was revealed through the agency of a woman of their tribe who came to them with a marvellous story to tell. She related that she had been with one of the missing hunting-parties and that when they had penetrated a long way into the interior of the country they were struck with horror and dismay to perceive that they had attracted the attention of a gigantic being, huge as a moving hill. This goblin was attended by ten enormous two-headed dogs whose baying filled the valleys as though with low roarings of thunder. The ogre killed all the men of the party, but spared the woman to be a pet and plaything for him in his home. He dwelt in a lofty cavern in the hills, and to this spot he removed the bodies of the slain men that he might hold a loathsome feast upon their flesh. In vain he attempted to make his new pet share his banquet with him; she shrank with horror from the spectacle of the mangled bodies of her friends. Unutterably wretched was the poor captive, and with intense desire she longed to make her escape, but this was almost impossible, as the giant kept her firmly secured by means of a rope fastened round her waist and which was occasionally