ld she-dragon, old as Time itself, was waiting for them. She had
made a fire under the huge caldron, in which she meant to boil the
milk and mix it with the blood of a lamb and the marrow from its
bones, that the liquid might have healing power. Stan saw her eyes
glistening in the darkness when they were still three gun-shots off.
But, when they reached the spot and the she-dragon perceived that her
son had brought her nothing, she was very angry. This she-dragon was
by no means lovable. She had a wrinkled face, open jaws, tangled hair,
sunken eyes, parched lips, and a breath reeking with the smell of
onions.

"Stay here," said the dragon. "I'll go and make arrangements with my
mother."

Stan would willingly have stood still further off, but he had no
choice now that he had once entered upon this evil business. So he let
the dragon go on.

"Listen, mother!" said the dragon, when he had entered the house.
"I've brought you a man to get rid of. He's a terrible fellow, who
eats pieces of rock and squeezes buttermilk out of stones." Then he
told her what had happened.

"Just leave him to me," she said, after hearing the whole story. "No
man ever slipped through _my_ fingers."

So the matter remained as it had first been settled. Stan Bolovan
became the servant of this monster and his mother. A terrible fix! I
really don't know what will come of it.

The next day, the she-dragon gave him his task. They were to give a
signal to the dragon world with a club sheathed in seven thicknesses
of iron. The dragon raised the club and hurled it three miles, then he
set off with Stan, that he might also throw it three miles, or, if
possible, further still. When Stan reached the club, he began to look
at it rather anxiously. He saw that he and all his children together
could not even lift it from the ground.

"Why are you standing there?" asked the dragon.

"Why, you see, it's such a handsome club. I'm sorry," replied Stan.

"Sorry? Why?" inquired the dragon.

"Because," answered Stan, "I'm afraid you'll never see it again in
your whole life, if I throw it; for I know my own strength."

"Don't fear. Just throw it," replied the dragon.

"If you really mean it, we'll first go and get provisions enough to
last three days; for we shall have to travel at least three days, if
not longer, to get it."

These words frightened the dragon, but he did not yet believe that it
would be so bad as Stan said. So they went home for the pr