"A small boy?" asked William.
"He was pretty big for his age," said the knight.
"That was my nephew Louis," said William. "I remember theincident. He is short for his age.
"Have any of you knights ever seen a dragon?" he called out.
No one answered.
"How about you, captain?" he asked.
The captain looked back at his platter and reached forhis tankard. "I do not choose to answer that question, becauseit is none of your business," he told him.
"Then no one here knows anything about dragons, and noone here will help me?"
No one answered.
"All right. Then you are all cowards, and I will go bymyself to seek a dragon." He turned away and walked out of theinn.
Chapter 4
ON THAT AFTERNOON he got his horse from the stable, put ona suit of armor, picked up his sword and shield and rode towardthe mountains.
The only one who missed him was his dowager aunt, who wasa friend of the queen. She waved a pink handkerchief from awindow of the highest tower in the castle, and he waved at heronce and then did not look back.
For three days he made his way through the mountains, buthe did not meet any dragons. On the fourth day he came to avalley. It was marked on the map he carried, and slightlybeyond it were written the words,
-HERE THERE BE DRAGONS-
He dismounted and looked around. He looked for a longwhile, but there were no dragons. Then he sat down on a rock.
After he had been sitting there for some time, he felt asif he were being stared at. He turned his head slowly. A smalllizard was watching him from beneath a bush.
"Hello," he said to the lizard. "Any dragons around?"
The lizard kept staring at him. It blinked once, slowly.
"I wonder if you could be a baby dragon?" he said. "I