It was, as you see, an excellent plan, as far as it went. Philip sat on the top of his tower quite free from anxiety, and ate a few hairy red gooseberries that happened to be loose in his pocket. Within three minutes of his lighting his Roman candle a shower of golden rain went up in the south, some immense Catherine-wheels appeared in the east, and in the north a long line of rockets presented almost the appearance of an aurora borealis. Red fire, green fire, then rockets again. The whole of the plain was lit by more fireworks than Philip had ever seen, even at the Crystal Palace. By their light he saw a procession come out of the fort, cross to a pillar that stood solitary on the plain, and tie to it a white figure.
"The Princess, I suppose," said Philip; "well, _she"s_ all right anyway."
Then the procession went back to the fort, and then the dragon awoke.
Philip could see the great creature stretching itself and shaking its vast head as a dog does when it comes out of the water.
"I expect it doesn"t like the fireworks," said Philip. And he was quite right.
And now the dragon saw the Princess who had been placed at a convenient spot about half-way between the ruins and Philip"s tower.
It threw up its snout and uttered a devastating howl, and Philip felt with a thrill of horror that, clockwork or no clockwork, the brute was alive, and desperately dangerous.
And now it had perceived that it was bound. With great heavings and throes, with snortings and bellowings, with scratchings and tearings of its great claws and lashings of its terrible tail, it writhed and fought to be free, and the light of thousands of fireworks illuminated the gigantic struggle.
Then what Philip had known would happen, did happen. The great wall held fast, the rope held fast, the dragon held fast. It was the key that gave way. With an echoing grinding rusty sound like a goods train shunting on a siding, the key was drawn from the keyhole in the dragon"s side and left still fast to its rope like an anchor to a cable.
_Left._ For now that happened which Philip had not foreseen. He had forgotten that before it fell asleep the dragon had partly wound itself up. And its struggles had not used up all the winding. There was go in the dragon yet. And with a yell of fury it set off across the plain, wriggling its green rattling length towards--the Princess.
And now there was no time to think whether one was afraid or not. Philip went down those tower stairs more quickly than he had ever gone down stairs in his life, and he was not bad at stairs even at ordinary times.
He put his sword over his shoulder as you do a gun, and ran. Like the dragon he made straight for the Princess. And now it was a race between him and the dragon. Philip ran and ran. His heart thumped, his feet had that leaden feeling that comes in nightmares. He felt as if he were dying.
Keep on, keep on, faster, faster, you mustn"t stop. Ah! that"s better.
He has got his second wind. He is going faster. And the dragon, or is it fancy? is going not quite so fast.
How he did it Philip never knew. But with a last spurt he reached the pillar where the Princess stood bound. And the dragon was twenty yards away, coming on and on and on.
Philip stood quite still, recovering his breath. And more and more slowly, but with no sign of stopping, the dragon came on. Behind him, where the pillar was, Philip heard some one crying softly.
Then the dragon was quite near. Philip took three steps forward, took aim with his sword, shut his eyes and hit as hard as he could. Then something hard and heavy knocked him over, and for a time he knew no more.
When he came to himself again, Mr. Noah was giving him something nasty to drink out of a medicine gla.s.s, Mr. Perrin was patting him on the back, all the people were shouting like mad, and more fireworks than ever were being let off. Beside him lay the dragon, lifeless and still.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Then something hard and heavy knocked him over.]
"Oh!" said Philip, "did I really do it?"
"You did indeed," said Mr. Noah; "however you may succeed with the other deeds, you are the hero of this one. And now, if you feel well enough, prepare to receive the reward of Valour and Chivalry."
"Oh!" said Philip, brightening, "I didn"t know there was to be a reward."
"Only the usual one," said Mr Noah. "The Princess, you know."
Philip became aware that a figure in a white veil was standing quite near him; round its feet lay lengths of cut rope.
"The Princess is yours," said Mr. Noah, with generous affability.
"But I don"t want her," said Philip, adding by an afterthought, "thank you."
"You should have thought of that before," said Mr. Noah. "You can"t go doing deeds of valour, you know, and then shirking the reward. Take her.
She is yours."
"Any one who likes may have her," said Philip desperately. "If she"s mine, I can give her away, can"t I? You must see yourself I can"t be bothered with princesses if I"ve got all those other deeds to do."
"That"s not my affair," said Mr. Noah. "Perhaps you might arrange to board her out while you"re doing your deeds. But at present she is waiting for you to take her by the hand and raise her veil."
"Must I?" said Philip miserably. "Well, here goes."
He took a small cold hand in one of his and with the other lifted, very gingerly, a corner of the veil. The other hand of the Princess drew back the veil, and the Dragon-Slayer and the Princess were face to face.
"Why!" cried Philip, between relief and disgust, "it"s only Lucy!"
CHAPTER V
ON THE CARPET
The Princess was just Lucy.
"It"s too bad," said Philip. "I do think." Then he stopped short and just looked cross.
"The Princess and the Champion will now have their teas," said Mr. Noah.
"Right about face, everybody, please, and quick march."
Philip and Lucy found themselves marching side by side through the night made yellow with continuous fireworks.
You must picture them marching across a great plain of gra.s.s where many coloured flowers grew. You see a good many of Philip"s buildings had been made on the drawing-room carpet at home, which was green with pink and blue and yellow and white flowers. And this carpet had turned into gra.s.s and growing flowers, following that strange law which caused things to change into other things, like themselves, but larger and really belonging to a living world.
No one spoke. Philip said nothing because he was in a bad temper. And if you are in a bad temper, nothing is a good thing to say. To circ.u.mvent a dragon and then kill it, and to have such an adventure end in tea with Lucy, was too much. And he had other reasons for silence too. And Lucy was silent because she had so much to say that she didn"t know where to begin; and besides, she could feel how cross Philip was. The crowd did not talk because it was not etiquette to talk when taking part in processions. Mr. Noah did not talk because it made him out of breath to walk and talk at the same time, two things neither of which he had been designed to do.
So that it was quite a silent party which at last pa.s.sed through the gateway of the town and up its streets.
Philip wondered where the tea would be--not in the prison of course. It was very late for tea, too, quite the middle of the night it seemed. But all the streets were brilliantly lighted, and flags and festoons of flowers hung from all the windows and across all the streets.
It was in the front of a big building in one of the great squares of the city that an extra display of coloured lamps disclosed open doors and red-carpeted steps. Mr. Noah hurried up them, and turned to receive Philip and Lucy.
"The City of Polistopolis," he said, "whose unworthy representative I am, greets in my person the most n.o.ble Sir Philip, Knight and Slayer of the Dragon. Also the Princess whom he has rescued. Be pleased to enter."
They went up the red-cloth covered steps and into a hall, very splendid with silver and ivory. Mr. Noah stooped to a confidential question.
"You"d like a wash, perhaps?" he said, "and your Princess too. And perhaps you"d like to dress up a little? Before the banquet, you know."
"Banquet?" said Philip. "I thought it was tea."