Philip,' and he knew that a knight
simply _mustn't_ be afraid.

So he went out in the dusk towards the dragon.

He knew it would sleep for an hour. But all the same---- And the
twilight was growing deeper and deeper. Still there was plenty of light
to find the ruin, and also to find the dragon. There it lay--about ten
or twelve yards of solid dark dragon-flesh. Its metal claws gleamed in
the last of the daylight. Its great mouth was open, and its breathing,
as it slept, was like the sound of the sea on a rough night.

'Rise up, Sir Philip,' he said to himself, and walked along close to the
dragon till he came to the middle part where the key was sticking
out--which Mr. Perrin had thought was a piece of an old spear with which
some one had once tried to kill the monster.

Philip fastened one end of his rope very securely to the key--how
thankful he was that Helen had taught him to tie knots that were not
granny-knots. The dragon lay quite still, and went on breathing like a
stormy sea. Then the dragon-slayer fastened the other end of the rope to
the main wall of the ruin which was very strong and firm, and then he
went back to his tower as fast as he could and struck a match and
lighted his Roman candle.

You see the idea? It was really rather a clever one. When the dragon
woke it would find that it was held prisoner by the ropes. It would be
furious and try to get free. And in its struggles it would be certain to
get free, but this it could only do by detaching itself from its key.
When once the key was out the dragon would be unable to wind itself up
any more, and would be as good as dead. Of course Sir Philip could cut
off its head with the silver-hilted sword if Mr. Noah really wished it.

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.

'Th