"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 leagues, and we must not founder them at the start."
"... so here we are," Eudoric told Doctor Baldonius. "Ye've seen your family, lad?"
"Certes. They thrive, praise to the Divine Pair. Where's Lusina?"
"Well—ah—ahem—the fact is, she is 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 perchance 'twas the other way round. 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 is, that you salve it by making up my losses in more materialistic fashion."
Baldonius raised bushy gray brows. "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 ye'll accept money instead?"
"Aye, sir. I admit that my passion had somewhat cooled during our long separation. Was it likewise with her? What said she of me?"
"Aye, her sentiments did indeed change. She said you were too much an opportunist altogether to please her. I would not wound your feelings ..."
Eudoric waved a deprecatory hand. "Continue, pray. I have been somewhat toughened by my months in the rude, rough world, and I am interested."
"Well, I told her she was being foolish; 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. "As one might say: I am a man of enterprise, thou art an opportunist, he is a conniving scoundrel. 'Tis all in the point of view. Well, if she prefers the fools of this world, I wish her joy of them. As a man of honor, I would have wedded Lusina had she wished. As things stand, trouble is saved all around."
"To you, belike, though I misdoubt my headstrong lass'll find the life of an actor's wife a bed of violets:
But enough of that. What sum had ye in mind?"
"Enough to cover the cost of my good destrier Morgrim and my panoply of plate, together with lance and sword, plus a few other chattels and incidental expenses of travel. Fifteen hundred marks should cover the lot."
"Fif-teen hundred! Whew! I could ne'er afford-nor are these moldy patches of dragon hide worth a fraction of the sum."
Eudoric sighed and rose. "You know what you can afford, good my sage." He picked up the roll of dragon hide. "Your colleague Doctor Calporio, wizard to the Count of Treveria, expressed a keen interest in this material. In fact, he offered me more than I have asked of you, but I thought it only honorable to give you the first chance."
"What!" cried Baldonius. "That mountebank, charlatan, that faker? Misusing the hide and not deriving a tenth of the magical benefits from it that I should? Sit down, Eudoric; we will discuss these things."
An hour's haggling got Eudoric his fifteen hundred marks. Baldonius said, "Well, praise the Divine Couple that's over. And now, beloved pupil, what are your plans?"
"Would ye believe it, Doctor Baldonius," said Jillo, "that my poor, deluded master is about to disgrace his lineage and betray his class by a base commercial enterprise?"
"Forsooth, Jillo? What's this?"
"He means my proposed coach line," said Eudoric.
"Good Heaven, what's that?"
"My plan to run a carriage on a weekly schedule from Zurgau to Kromnitch, taking all who can pay the fare, as they do in Pathenia. We can't let the heathen Easterlings get ahead of us."
"What an extraordinary idea! Need ye a partner?"
"Thanks, but nay. Baron Emmerhard has already thrown in with me. He's promised me my knighthood in exchange for the partnership."
"There is no nobility anymore," said Jillo.
Eudoric grinned. "Emmerhard said much the same sort of thing, but I convinced him that anything to do with horses is a proper pursuit for a gentleman. Jillo, you can spell me at driving the coach, which will make you a gentleman, too!"
Jillo sighed. "Alas! The true spirit of knighthood is dying in this degenerate age. Woe is me that I should live to see the end of chivalry! How much did ye think of paying me, sir?"
"THE LITTLE GREEN MEN"
AUTHOR'S AFTERWORD
WHEN PEOPLE ask me how I came to be a writer, I tell them: I lost my job.
It was in 1938 when I was working in New York as editor on a trade journal. The publisher decided to cut costs by firing the two most junior editors.
I had done some writing. I had been active on my college paper, The California Tech, serving one year as editor. As an employee of the International Correspondence Schools of Scranton, I had coauthored (with the late AIf K. Berle) a textbook on inventions and patents. I was trained as an engineer; but, graduating in the early thirties when the great Depression was on and engineers were being fired everywhere, I had to make do with jobs in technical editing and education.