at him , good lions , at him ! '' and , with an awful roar , two lions rushed from a neighbouring potato-patch and made for Ricardo . These were not ordinary lions , history avers , each having two heads , each being eight feet high , with four rows of teeth ; their skins as hard as nails , and bright red , like morocco . -LCB- 135 -RCB- The prince did not lose his presence of mind ; hastily he threw the cake of crocodiles ' eggs , millet-seed , and sugar-candy to the lions . This is a dainty which lions can never resist , and running greedily at it , with four tremendous snaps , they got hold of each other by their jaws , and their eight rows of teeth were locked fast in a grim and deadly struggle for existence ! The Dwarf took in the affair at a glance . `` Cursed be he who taught you this ! '' he cried , and then whistled in a shrill and vulgar manner on his very dirty fingers . At his call rushed up an enormous Spanish cat , ready saddled and bridled , and darting fire from its eyes . To leap on its back , while Ricardo sprang on his own steed , was to the active Dwarf the work of a moment . Then clapping spurs to its sides -LRB- his spurs grew naturally on his bare heels , horrible to relate , like a cock 's spurs -RRB- and taking his cat by the head , the Dwarf forced it to leap on to Ricardo 's saddle . The diamond sword which slew the king of the Golden Mines -- that invincible sword which hews iron like a reed -- was up and flashing in the air ! At this very moment King Prigio , seeing , in the magic globe , all that passed , and despairing of Ricardo 's life , was just about to wish the dwarf at Jericho , when through the open window , with a tremendous whirr , came a huge vulture , and knocked the king 's wishing cap off ! Wishing was now of no use . This odious fowl was the Fairy of the Desert , the Dwarf 's trusted ally in every sort of mischief . The vulture flew instantly out of the window ; and ah ! with what awful anxiety the king again turned his eyes on the crystal ball only a parent 's heart can know . Should he see Ricardo bleeding at the feet of the abominable dwarf ? The king scarcely dared to look ; never before had he known the nature of fear . However , look he did , and saw the dwarf un-catted , and Pepper , the gallant Dandie Dinmont , with his teeth in the throat of the monstrous Spanish cat .
No sooner had he seen the cat leap on his master 's saddle-bow than Pepper , true XXXXX the instinct of his race , sprang at its neck , just behind the head -- the usual place , -- and , with an awful and despairing mew , the cat -LRB- Peter was its name -RRB- gave up its life .
by for in like of off on through to with