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mounting, youngster." He groaned as he swung awkwardly into the saddle. "A murrain on thy master, to send me off on this footling errand—me, who haven't sat a horse in years! Now hand me that accursed roll of hide. I thank thee, youth; here's a little for thy trouble. Run ahead and tell the gatekeeper to have his portal well open. I fear that, if this beast pull up of a sudden, I shall go flying over its head!"
     
                  A few minutes later, when they had turned a corner and were out of sight of Raspiudus' house, Eudoric said: "Now trot!"
     
                  "If I could but get out of this damned gown ... " muttered Jillo. "I can't ride decently in it."
     
                  "Wait till we're out of the city gate."
     
                  When Jillo had shed the offending garment, Eudoric said: "Now ride, man, as never before in your life!"
     
                  They pounded off on the Liptai road. Looking back, Jillo gave a screech. "There's a thing flying after us! It looks like a giant bat!"
     
                  "One of Raspiudus' sendings," said Eudoric. "I knew he'd get loose. Use your spurs! Can we but gain the bridge ... "
     
                  They fled at a mad gallop. The sending came closer and closer, until Eudoric thought he could feel the wind of its wings.
     
                  Then their hooves thundered across the bridge over the Pshora.
     
                  "Those things will not cross running water," said Eudoric, looking back. "Slow down, Jillo. These nags must bear us many a league, and we must not founder them at the outset."
     
    -
     
                  " ... so here we are," Eudoric told Doctor Baldonius. "Ye've seen your family, lad? "
     
                  " Certes. They thrive, praise the Divine Pair. Where's Lusina? "
     
                  " Well—all—ahem—the fact is that she be not here. "
     
                  " Oh? Then where?"
     
                  "Ye put me to shame, Eudoric. I promised you her hand in return for the two yards of dragon hide. Well, ye've fetched me the hide, at no small effort and risk, but I cannot fulfill my side of the bargain."
     
                  "Wherefore?"
     
                  "Alas! My undutiful daughter ran off with a strolling player last summer, whilst ye were chasing dragons, or vice versa. I'm right truly sorry ... "
     
                  Eudoric frowned silently for an instant, then said: "Fret not, esteemed Doctor. I shall recover from the wound—provided that you salve it by making up my losses in more materialistic fashion."
     
                  Baldonius raised bushy gray eyebrows. "So? Ye seem not so griefstricken as I should have expected, to judge from the lover's sighs and tears wherewith ye parted from the jade last spring. Now yell accept money instead?"
     
                  "Aye sir. I truly loved the lass and still do, albeit I confess that my insensate passion had somewhat cooled during our long separation. Was it likewise with her? What said she of me?"
     
                  "Aye, her sentiments did indeed change. I would not outrage your feelings—"
     
                  Eudoric waved a deprecatory hand. "Continue, pray. I have been somewhat toughened by the months in the rude, rough world, and I am interested."
     
                  "Well, I told her she was being foolish to the point of idiocy; that ye were a shrewd lad who, an ye survived the dragon hunt, would go far, but her words were: 'That is just the trouble, Father. He is too shrewd to be very lovable.' "
     
                  "Hmph," grunted Eudoric. "What looks to one acquaintance like a virtue appears to another as a vice. 'Tis all in the point of view. One might say: I am a man of enterprise, thou art an opportunist, he is a