Stampede stretched himself, groaned, and stood up.

He was a little man, and his fiercely bristling red whiskers, wet with dew, were luxuriant enough for a giant.

His head of tawny hair, bristling like his whiskers, added to the piratical effect of him above the neck, but below that part of his anatomy there was little to strike fear into the hearts of humanity.

Some people smiled when they looked at him.

Others, not knowing their man, laughed outright.