By now the dragon realized that my father was coming to rescue him. He ran out of the bushes and jumped up and down yelling. "Here I am! I'm right here! Can you see me? Hurry, the boar is coming over on the crocodiles, too. They're all coming over! Oh, please hurry, hurry!"
The noise was simply terrific.
My father ran up to the dragon, and took out his very sharp jackknife.
"Steady, old boy, steady. We'll make it. Just stand still," he told the dragon as he began to saw through the big rope.
By this time both boars, all seven tigers, the two lions, the rhinoceros, and the gorilla, along with the countless screeching monkeys, were all on their way across the crocodiles and there was still a lot of rope to cut through.
"Oh, hurry," the dragon kept saying, and my father again told him to stand still.
"If I don't think I can make it," said my father, "we'll fly over to the other side of the river and I can finish cutting the rope there."