Then we gripped the spears in our right hands and the knives in our left, and waited.
The dogs had seen us now and came on, growling and baying fearfully.
With a rush they came, and I am not ashamed to own that I felt terribly afraid, for the brutes seemed the size of lions and more fierce.

One, it was the smallest of them, outstripped the others, and, leaping up the little rise, sprang straight at my throat.
Why or how I do not know, but on the impulse of the moment I too sprang to meet it, so that its whole weight came upon the point of my spear, which was backed by my weight.

The spear entered between its forelegs and such was the shock that I was knocked backwards.

But when I regained my feet I saw the dog rolling on the ground before me and gnashing at the spear shaft, which had been twisted from my hand.
The other two had jumped at Leo, but failed to get hold, though one of them tore away a large fragment from his tunic.

Foolishly enough, he hurled his spear at it but missed, for the steel passed just under its belly and buried itself deep in the ground.