Oh, good, that gives Howard enough time to kick the goblin off him and run, although this time he does the less instinctive thing and runs in the opposite direction of the goblins. He hopes very much that they're distracted enough with the talking cow and the guy with the sword and gun to notice a teenager breaking through their ranks like a salmon going upstream, but he also speculates that they won't much be looking behind them if he can get past them.