It was not a roar, nor a clank, nor a boom, nor a clap, nor a crash, nor a thud, but if you have ever heard a noise combining all those elements, with a small percentage of screech to enliven them, that comes as near it as I can contrive to tell.

We know from Holy Scripture that there used to be such creatures as dragons, though we have never seen them; but I seemed to be hearing one as I stood there.

It was just the sort of groan you might have expected from a dragon, who had swallowed something highly indigestible." "My dear! And he might have swallowed you, if you had stopped.

How could you help running away, my Joshua?
I should have insisted immediately upon it.

But you are so terribly intrepid!" "Far from it, Maria.