y," said John.
"I come with these friends to heal the King's son, if I can."

"Ha! More sorcery!" interrupted the Captain. "No, you shall not enter
here. The King allows no animals in his domain. How you have brought
them so far I cannot guess!"

"Well, I bear this," said John, drawing out the silver talisman.

The men bent forward to look at it, then fell back, staring at one
another with astonished faces.

"Who is he?" they whispered among themselves. "What shall we do?"

"Let me pass, good friends," begged John, looking up in their faces
with his simple smile. "I will promise to do no harm. Among friends
my friends are quite harmless. But tell me, I pray you, where I may
find the good Hermit who healed the Prince's wound? I come at his
bidding."

At these words the guards pulled themselves together and exchanged
looks. They began to swagger.

"Ah, is it so?" growled the Captain. "You are a friend of the wizard
himself. We must let the King know of this. Yes, you shall enter.
Here! Take him captive! Off with him to the prison."

"To prison!" cried John in amazement. "For what ill deed, I pray?"

But already the guards were pressing forward upon him. At the sight of
their threatening looks Brutus ran in front of John and began to growl
warningly, crouching ready to spring upon the first who should lay
hands on the boy. The wolf bristled and showed his fangs. And the
bear, rising on his hind legs, growled and blinked his little red eyes
so terribly that the men fell back. John was protected by powerful
friends. The other animals shrank close to him, and the raven began to
scream.

[Illustration: John was protected by powerful friends.]

"Have a care!" warned John. "My friends are armed with sharp teeth and
claws, and they will not readily let a stranger touch me."

"He is a wizard!" muttered the soldiers; but they shrank back, afraid
to touch him.

"Why do you treat me thus?" asked John wistfully.

"Because you say you are a friend to that vile magician of the woods,
by whose arts the Prince was wounded, they say, and who yet holds him
at death's door." So spoke the Captain of the guards. "The Prince
still lives. But when he passes, the King has decreed that the wizard
shall die the death. You come in time to share it, if you be his
pupil!"

"Oh, hasten, hasten!" cried John, clasping his hands. "Please take me
to him! Perhaps I may yet save the good old man. If it is not