'll eat you last. There!"

"I don't want to be eaten last, sir," said John.

"Well then, I'll eat you first," said the dragon.

"I don't want that, sir, either," said John.

"Go on with you, you silly man," said the dragon, "you don't know your
own silly mind. Come, set to work."

"I don't like the job, sir," said John, "and that's the truth. I know
how easily accidents happen. It's all fair and smooth, and 'Please rivet
me, and I'll eat you last'--and then you get to work and you give a
gentleman a bit of a nip or a dig under his rivets--and then it's fire
and smoke, and no apologies will meet the case."

"Upon my word of honor as a dragon," said the other.

"I know you wouldn't do it on purpose, sir," said John, "but any
gentleman will give a jump and a sniff if he's nipped, and one of your
sniffs would be enough for me. Now, if you'd just let me fasten you up?"

"It would be so undignified," objected the dragon.

"We always fasten a horse up," said John, "and he's the 'noble animal.'"

"It's all very well," said the dragon, "but how do I know you'd untie me
again when you'd riveted me? Give me something in pledge. What do you
value most?"

"My hammer," said John. "A blacksmith is nothing without a hammer."

"But you'd want that for riveting me. You must think of something else,
and at once, or I'll eat you first."

At this moment the baby in the room above began to scream. Its mother
had been so quiet that it thought she had settled down for the night,
and that it was time to begin.

"Whatever's that?" said the dragon, starting so that every plate on his
body rattled.

"It's only the baby," said John.

"What's that?" asked the dragon. "Something you value?"

"Well, yes, sir, rather," said the blacksmith.

"Then bring it here," said the dragon, "and I'll take care of it till
you've done riveting me, and you shall tie me up."

"All right, sir," said John, "but I ought to warn you. Babies are poison
to dragons, so I don't deceive you. It's all right to touch--but don't
you go putting it into your mouth. I shouldn't like to see any harm come
to a nice-looking gentleman like you."

The dragon purred at this compliment and said: "All right, I'll be
careful. Now go and fetch the thing, whatever it is."

So John ran up the steps as quickly as he could, for he knew that if the
dragon got impatient before it was fastened, it could heave up the roof
of the dungeon with one heave of its back, and kill th