The E. Nesbit MEGAPACK ®: 26 Classic Novels and Stories. E. Nesbit
The people, who were a mixed crowd of all nations, cheered loudly.
“So now,” said Mr. Noah, “we will make him our knight.”
“Kneel,” said Mr. Noah, “in token of fealty to the Kingdom of Cities.”
Philip knelt.
“You shall now speak after me,” said Mr. Noah solemnly. “Say what I say,” he whispered, and Philip said it.
This was it. “I, Philip, claim to be the Deliverer of this great nation, and I pledge myself to carry out the seven great deeds that shall prove my claim to the Deliverership and the throne. I pledge my honour to be the champion of this city, and the enemy of its Destroyer.”
When Philip had said this, Mr. Noah drew forth a bright silver-hilted sword and held it over him.
“You must be knighted,” he said; “those among my audience who have read any history will be aware that no mere commoner can expect to conquer a dragon. We must give our would-be Deliverer every chance. So I will make him a knight.” He tapped Philip lightly on the shoulder and said, “Rise up, Sir Philip!”
This was really grand, and Philip felt new courage as Mr. Noah handed him the silver sword, and all the people cheered.
But as the cheers died down, a thin and disagreeable voice suddenly said:
“But I claim to be the Deliverer too.”
It was like a thunderbolt. Every one stopped cheering and stood with mouth open and head turned towards the person who had spoken. And the person who had spoken was the smartly dressed lady in the motor veil, whom Philip had seen among the ruins.
“A trespasser! a trespasser!” cried the crowd; “to prison with it!” and angry, threatening voices began to arise.
“I’m no more a trespasser than he is,” said the voice, “and if I say I am the Deliverer, you can’t stop me. I can kill dragons or do anything he can do.”
“Silence, trespasser,” said Mr. Noah, with cold dignity. “You should have spoken earlier. At present Sir Philip occupies the position of candidate to the post of King-Deliverer. There is no other position open to you except that of Destroyer.”
“But suppose the boy doesn’t do it?” said the voice behind the veil.
“True,” said Mr. Noah. “You may if you choose, occupy for the present the position of Pretender-in-Chief to the Claimancy of the Deliverership, an office now and here created expressly for you. The position of Claimant to the Destroyership is also,” he added reflectively, “open to you.”
“Then if he doesn’t do it,” said the veiled lady, “I can be the Deliverer.”
“You can try,” said Mr. Noah. “There are a special set of tasks to be performed if the claimant to the Deliverership be a woman.”
“What are they?” said the veiled lady.
“If Sir Philip fails you will be duly instructed in the deeds required of a Deliverer who is a woman. And now, my friends, let us retire and leave Sir Philip to deal with the dragon. We shall watch anxiously from yonder ramparts,” he added encouragingly.
“But isn’t any one to help me?” said Philip, deeply uneasy.
“It is not usual,” said Mr. Noah, “for champions to require assistance with dragons.”
“I should think not indeed,” said the veiled lady; “but you’re not going the usual way about it at all. Where’s the princess, I should like to know?”
“There isn’t any princess,” said Mr. Noah.
“Then it won’t be a proper dragon-killing,” she said, with an angry shaking of skirts; “that’s all I can say.”
“I wish it was all,” said Mr. Noah to himself.
“If there isn’t a princess it isn’t fair,” said the veiled one; “and I shall consider it’s my turn to be Deliverer.”
“Be silent, woman,” said Mr. Noah.
“Woman, indeed,” said the lady. “I ought to have a proper title.”
“Your title is the Pretender to the—”
“I know,” she interrupted; “but you forget you’re speaking to a lady. You can call me the Pretenderette.”
Mr. Noah turned coldly from her and pressed two Roman candles and a box of matches into Philip’s hand.
“When you have arranged your plans and are quite sure that you will be able to kill the dragon, light one of these. We will then have a princess in readiness, and on observing your signal will tie her to a tree, or, since this is a district where trees are rare and buildings frequent, to a pillar. She will be perfectly safe if you make your plans correctly. And in any case you must not attempt to deal with the dragon without first lighting the Roman candle.”
“And the dragon will see it and go away.”
“Exactly,” said Mr. Noah. “Or perhaps he will see it and not go away. Time alone will show. The task that is without difficulties can never really appeal to a hero. You will find weapons, cords, nets, shields and various first aids to the young dragon-catcher in the vaults below this tower. Good evening, Sir Philip,” he ended warmly. “We wish you every success.”
And with that the whole crowd began to go away.
“I know who you ought to have for princess,” the Pretenderette said as they went. And Mr. Noah said:
“Silence in court.”
“This isn’t a court,” said the Pretenderette aggravatingly.
“Wherever justice is, is a court,” said Mr. Noah, “and I accuse you of contempt of it. Guards, arrest this person and take her to prison at once.”
There was a scuffling and a shrieking and then the voices withdrew gradually, the angry voice of even the Pretenderette growing fainter and fainter till it died away altogether.
Philip was left alone.
His first act was to go up to the top of the tower and look out to see if he could see the dragon. He looked east and north and south and west, and he saw the ramparts of the fort where Mr. Noah and the others were now safely bestowed. He saw also other towers and cities in the distance, and he saw the ruins where he had met Mr. Perrin.
And among those ruins something was moving. Something long and jointed and green. It could be nothing but the dragon.
“Oh, Crikey!” said Philip to himself; “whatever shall I do? Perhaps I’d better see what weapons there are.”
So he ran down the stairs and down and down till he came to the vaults of the castle, and there he found everything a dragon-killer could possibly need, even to a little red book called the Young Dragon-Catcher’s Vade Mecum, or a Complete Guide to the Good Sport of Dragon-Slaying; and a pair of excellent field-glasses.
The top of the tower seemed the safest place. It was there that he tried to read the book. The words were very long and most difficultly spelt. But he did manage to make out that all dragons sleep for one hour after sunset. Then he heard a loud rattling sound from the ruin, and he knew it was the dragon who was making that sound, so he looked through the field-glasses, frowning with anxiety to see what the dragon was doing.
And as he looked he started and almost dropped the glasses, and the frown cleared away from his forehead and he gave a sigh that was almost a sob and almost a laugh, and then he said—
“That old thing!”
Then he looked again, and this is what he saw. An enormous green dragon, very long and fierce-looking, that rattled as it moved, going in and out among the ruins, rubbing itself against the fallen pillars. And the reason Philip laughed and sighed was that he knew that dragon very well indeed. He had