02 Run, Little Billy! Run Run Run!

Run, Little Billy! Run Run Run! In a jiffy Little Billy had dropped silently on to the flowerbed below. In another jiffy he was out through the garden gate. And in yet another jiffy he was standing on the very edge of the great big dark Forest of Sin! He had made it! He had got there! And now the forest was all his to explore! Was he nervous? What?

Who said anything about being nervous? Hornswogglers? Vermicious Knids? What sort of rubbish was that? Little Billy hesitated. 'I'm not nervous,' he said. 'I'm not in the least bit nervous. Not me.' Very very slowly, he walked into the great forest. Giant trees were soon surrounding him on all sides and their branches made an almost solid roof high above his head, blotting out the sky. Here and there little shafts of sunlight shone through gaps in the roof. There was not a sound anywhere. It was like being among the dead men in an enormous empty green cathedral.

When he had ventured some distance into the forest, Little Billy stopped and stood quite still, listening. He could hear nothing. Nothing at all. There was absolute silence. Or was there? Hold on just one second. What was that?

Little Billy flicked his head round and stared into the everlasting gloom and doom of the forest. There it was again! There was no mistaking it this time. From far away, there came a very faint whoozing whiffling noise, like a small gusty wind blowing through the trees. Then it grew louder. Every second it was growing louder, and suddenly it was no longer a small wind, it was a fearsome swooshing whooshing whiffling snorting noise that sounded

as though some gigantic creature was breathing heavily through its nose as it galloped towards him. Little Billy turned and ran. Little Billy ran faster than he had ever run in his life before. But the swooshing whooshing whiffling snorting noise was coming after him. Worse still, it was getting louder. This meant that the thing, the maker of the noise, the galloping

creature, was getting closer. It was catching him up! Run, Little Billy! Run run run! He dodged around massive trees. He skipped over roots and brambles. He bent low to flash under boughs and bushes. He had wings on his feet he ran so fast. But still the fearsome swooshing whooshing whiffling snorting noise grew louder and louder as it came closer and closer.