“I hope it‘s not more lions，” thought Shasta. It was in fact not very like the lion’s roars he had heard on the night when they met Hwin and Aravis， and was really the cry of a jackal. But of course Shasta did not know this. Even if he had known， he would not have wanted very much to meet a jackal.
The cries rang out again and again. “There‘s more than one of them， whatever they are，” thought Shasta. “And they’re coming nearer.”
I suppose that if he had been an entirely sensible boy he would have gone back through the Tombs nearer tothe river where there were houses， and wild beasts would be less likely to come. But then there were （or he thought there were） the ghouls. To go back through the Tombs would mean going past those dark openings in the Tombs； and what might come out of them？ It may have been silly， but Shasta felt he would rather risk the wild beasts. Then， as the cries came nearer and nearer， he began to change his mind.