mpatience to help that----"

"I tell you I had a very bad night," said Udo crossly.

"Oh, well, I shall go off and look for dragons. Coronel, the Dragon
Slayer. Good-bye."

"Only half an hour," said Udo.

"Right."

With a nod to the Prince he strolled off among the trees.

CHAPTER IX

THEY ARE AFRAID OF UDO

This is a painful chapter for me to write. Mercifully it is to be a
short one. Later on I shall become used to the situation; inclined,
even, to dwell upon its humorous side; but for the moment I cannot see
beyond the sadness of it. That to a Prince of the Royal House of
Araby, and such an estimable young man as Udo, those things should
happen. Roger Scurvilegs frankly breaks down over it. "That
abominable woman," he says (meaning, of course, Belvane), and he has
hysterics for more than a page.

Let us describe it calmly.

Coronel came back from his stroll in the same casual way in which he
had started and dropped down lazily upon the grass to wait until Udo
was ready to mount. He was not thinking of Udo. He was wondering if
Princess Hyacinth had an attendant of surpassing beauty, or a dragon
of surpassing malevolence--if, in fact, there were any adventures in
Euralia for a humble fellow like himself.

"Coronel!" said a small voice behind him.

He turned round indifferently.

"Hullo, Udo, where are you?" he said. "Isn't it time we were
starting?"

"We aren't starting," said the voice.

"What's the matter? What are you hiding in the bushes for?
Whatever's the matter, Udo?"

"I'm not very well."

"My poor Udo, what's happened?" He jumped up and made towards him.

"Stop!" shrieked the voice. "I command you!"

Coronel stopped.

"Your Royal Highness's commands," he began rather coldly----

There was an ominous sniffing from the bushes.

"Coronel," said an unhappy voice at last, "I think I'm coming out."

Wondering what it all meant, Coronel waited in silence.

"Yes, I am coming out, Coronel," said the voice. "But you mustn't be
surprised if I don't look very well. I'm--I'm--Coronel, here I am,"
said Udo pathetically and he stepped out.

Coronel didn't know whether to laugh or to cry.

Poor Prince Udo!

[Illustration: _"Coronel, here I am," said Udo pathetically, and he
stepped out_]

He had the head and the long ears of a rabbit, and in some unfortunate
way a look of the real Prince Udo in spite of it. He had the mane and
the tail of a lion. In between the tail a