The giant had the one frightful quality of a miracle;
the more he became incredible the more he became solid.
The less one could believe in him the more plainly
one could see him. It was unbearable that so
much of the sky should be occupied by one human face.
His eyes, which had stood out like bow windows, became
bigger yet, and there was no metaphor that could contain
their bigness; yet still they were human eyes.
Jack’s intellect was utterly gone under that
huge hypnotism of the face that filled the sky; his
last hope was submerged, his five wits all still with
terror.
But there stood up in him still a kind of cold chivalry,
a dignity of dead honour that would not forget the
small and futile sword in his hand. He rushed
at one of the colossal feet of this human tower, and
when he came quite close to it the ankle-bone arched
over him like a cave. Then he planted the point
of his sword against the foot and leant on it with
all his weight, till it went up to the hilt and broke
the hilt, and then snapped just under it. And
it was plain that the giant felt a sort of prick,
for he snatched up his great foot into his great hand
for an instant; and then, putting it down again, he
bent over and stared at the ground until he had seen
his enemy.
Then he picked up Jack between a big finger and thumb
and threw him away; and as Jack went through the air
he felt as if he were flying from system to system
through the universe of stars. But, as the giant
had thrown him away carelessly, he did not strike
a stone, but struck soft mire by the side of a distant
river. There he lay insensible for several hours;
but when he awoke again his horrible conqueror was
still in sight. He was striding away across
the void and wooded plain towards where it ended in
the sea; and by this time he was only much higher
than any of the hills. He grew less and less
indeed; but only as a really high mountain grows at
last less and less when we leave it in a railway train.
Half an hour afterwards he was a bright blue colour,
as are the distant hills; but his outline was still
human and still gigantic. Then the big blue figure
seemed to come to the brink of the big blue sea, and
even as it did so it altered its attitude. Jack,
stunned and bleeding, lifted himself laboriously upon
one elbow to stare. The giant once more caught
hold of his ankle, wavered twice as in a wind, and
then went over into the great sea which washes the
whole world, and which, alone of all things God has
made, was big enough to drown him.
