ou know.'

'I daresay you would,' said the captain; 'but people can't be deliverers
just because they'd much rather, you know.'

'And isn't any one to come up the ladder bridge except just those two?'

'We don't know; that's just it. You know what prophecies are.'

'I'm afraid I don't--exactly.'

'So vague and mixed up, I mean. The one I'm telling you about goes
something like this.

Who comes up the ladder stair?
Beware, beware,
Steely eyes and copper hair
Strife and grief and pain to bear
All come up the ladder stair.

You see we can't tell whether that means one person or a lot of people
with steely eyes and copper hair.'

'My hair's just plain boy-colour,' said Philip; 'my sister says so, and
my eyes are blue, I believe.'

'I can't see in this light;' the captain leaned his elbows on the table
and looked earnestly in the boy's eyes. 'No, I can't see. The other
prophecy goes:

From down and down and very far down
The king shall come to take his own;
He shall deliver the Magic town,
And all that he made shall be his own.
Beware, take care. Beware, prepare,
The king shall come by the ladder stair.

'How jolly,' said Philip; 'I love poetry. Do you know any more?'

'There are heaps of prophecies of course,' said the captain; 'the
astrologers must do _something_ to earn their pay. There's rather a nice
one:

Every night when the bright stars blink
The guards shall turn out, and have a drink
As the clock strikes two.
And every night when no stars are seen
The guards shall drink in their own canteen
When the clock strikes two.

To-night there aren't any stars, so we have the drinks served here. It's
less trouble than going across the square to the canteen, and the
principle's the same. Principle is the great thing with a prophecy, my
boy.'

'Yes,' said Philip. And then the far-away bell beat again. One, two. And
outside was a light patter of feet.

A soldier rose--saluted his officer and threw open the door. There was a
moment's pause; Philip expected some one to come in with a tray and
glasses, as they did at his great-uncle's when gentlemen were suddenly
thirsty at times that were not meal-times.

But instead, after a moment's pause, a dozen greyhounds stepped daintily
in on their padded cat-like feet; and round the neck of ea