injury upon Ernis, as the emperor of the West would
certainly seize the occasion to avenge the death of his steward. So the
next day he left the city, and slowly turned his face towards England.

It was some months before he arrived there, so many adventures did he
meet with on the way. But directly he landed he hastened to York to
throw himself at the feet of Athelstan the king.

'Ah, welcome indeed, fair son,' cried he; 'the fame of your prowess has
reached us these many years past, and we have just received the news
that a fearful and horrible dragon, with wings on his feet and claws on
his ears, is laying waste our county of Northumberland. He is as black
as any coal, and as rough as any foal, and every man who has gone out to
meet him has been done to death ere he has struck a blow. Go, therefore,
with all speed and deliver us from this monster, for of dragons you
have slain many, and perchance this one is no more evil than the rest.'

The adventure was one after Sir Guy's own heart, and that very day he
rode northwards; but even _his_ well-proved courage failed somewhat at
the sight of the dragon, ten times uglier and more loathsome than any he
had ever beheld. The creature roared hideously as he drew near, and
stood up at his full length, till he seemed almost to stretch as far as
Warwick. 'Verily,' thought Sir Guy to himself, 'the fight of old with
the great Dun Cow was as the slaying of a puppy in comparison with
this!'

The dragon was covered thickly with scales all over his body, his
stomach as well as his back. They were polished and shiny and hard as
iron, and so closely planted that no sword could get in between them.

'No use to strike there,' muttered Sir Guy, 'a thrust down his throat is
my only chance.'

But if Sir Guy knew this, the dragon knew it much better, and, though
the knight managed to jump aside and avoid the swoops of his long neck
and the sudden darting of his sharp claws, he had not even tried to
strike a blow himself for fear lest his sword should break in two
against that shining horny surface. This was not the kind of warfare to
which the dragon was accustomed, and he began to grow angry, as anyone
might have seen by the lashings of his tail and the jets of smoke and
flame that poured out of his nostrils. Sir Guy felt that his chance
would soon come, and waited patiently, keeping his eye for ever fixed on
the dragon's mouth.

At length the monster gave a sudden spring forward, a