round and the good meat crackling on it.  And all that night he attacked Leothric fiercely, and oft-times nearly caught him in the darkness; for his gleaming eyes of steel could see as well by night as by day.  And Leothric gave ground slowly till the dawn, and when the light came they were near the village again; yet not so near to it as they had been when they encountered, for Leothric drove Tharagavverug farther in the day than Tharagavverug had forced him back in the night.  Then Leothric drove him again with his stick till the hour came when it was the custom of the dragon-crocodile to find his man.  One third of his man he would eat at the time he found him, and the rest at noon and evening.  But when the hour came for finding his man a great fierceness came on Tharagavverug, and he grabbed rapidly at Leothric, but could not seize him, and for a long while neither of them would retire.  But at last the pain of the stick on his leaden nose overcame the hunger of the dragon-crocodile, and he turned from it howling.  From that moment Tharagavverug weakened.  All that day Leothric drove him with his stick, and at night both held their ground; and when the dawn of the third day was come the heart of Tharagavverug beat slower and fainter.  It was as though a tired man was ringing a bell.  Once Tharagavverug nearly seized a frog, but Leothric snatched it away just in time.  Towards noon the dragon-crocodile lay still for a long while, and Leothric stood near him and leaned on his trusty stick.  He was very tired and sleepless, but had more leisure now for eating his provisions.  With Tharagavverug the end was coming fast, and in the afternoon his breath came hoarsely, rasping in his throat.  It was as the sound of many huntsmen blowing blasts on horns, and towards evening his breath came faster but fainter, like the sound of a hunt going furious to the distance and dying away, and he made desperate rushes towards the village; but Leothric still leapt about him, battering his leaden nose.  Scarce audible now at all was the sound of his heart:  it was like a church bell tolling beyond hills for the death of some one unknown and far away.  Then the sun set and flamed in the village windows, and a chill went over the world, and in some small garden a woman sang; and Tharagavverug lifted up his head and starved, and his life went from his invulnerable body, and Leothric lay down beside him and slept.  And later in the starlight the villagers came out and carried Leothric, sleeping, to the village, all praising him in whispers as they went.  They laid him down upon a couch in a house, and danced outside in silence, without psaltery or cymbal.  And the next day, rejoicing, to Allathurion they hauled the dragon-crocodile.  And Leothric went with them, holding his battered staff; and a tall, broad man, who was smith of Allathurion, made a great furnace, and melted Tharagavverug away till only Sacnoth was left, gleaming among the ashes.  Then he took one of the small eyes that had been chiselled out, and filed an edge on Sacnoth, and gradually the steel eye wore away facet by facet, but ere it was quite gone it had sharpened redoubtably Sacnoth.  But the other eye they set in the butt of the hilt, and it gleamed there bluely.