“Then the little girl smiled because she knew something nice that the man didn’t know yet; but he was going to.

“So they journeyed along and journeyed along through pleasant places, and while they walked, Purity told the man about the great King—­how loving He was and everything like that, and the man had hold of her hand and listened just as hard as he could, for he felt sure she was telling the truth; and it made him glad, and his heart that had been wizzled up just like a fig, had grown to be as big as—­oh, as big as a watermelon, and it was full of nice feelings.

“‘I’m happy, Purity,’ he said to the little girl.

“I’m glad,’ she answered, and she squeezed his hand back again, because she loved him now as much as if he was her grandpa.

“Well, they went along, and along, and at last they came to some woods and a narrow path through them.  The man was beginning to think they might need the squirrels again, when suddenly”—­Jewel paused and looked around on her auditors whose faces she could barely see in the gathering dusk,—­“suddenly the man thought he saw the dragon he had heard so much about; and he shivered and hung back, but Purity walked along and wondered what was the matter with him.

“‘There’s the dragon!’ he said, in the most afraid voice, and he hung back on the girl’s hand so hard that she couldn’t move.

“When she saw how he looked, she patted him.  ‘I don’t see anything,’ she said, ‘only just lovely woods.’

“‘Oh, Purity, come back, come back, we can’t go any farther!’ said the man, and his eyes kept staring at something among the trees, close by.

“‘What do you see?’ asked the little girl.

“‘A great red dragon with seven heads and ten horns!’ answered the man, and he pulled on her again, to go back with him.

“‘Dear me,’ said Purity, ’is that old make-believe thing ground here, trying to cheat you?  I’ve heard about it.’

“‘It would make anybody afraid,’ said the man.  ’It has seven heads and it could eat us up with any one of them.’

“‘Yes, it could, if it was there,’ said Purity, ’but there isn’t any such thing, to be there.  The King of the country is all-powerful and He knows we’re coming, and He wants us to come.  Hasn’t He taken care of us all the way and helped us over every hard place?  Shouldn’t you think you’d know by this time that we’re being taken care of?’

“‘Oh, dear!’ said the man, ’I shall never see the Heavenly Country, nor the castle, nor know what true delight is; for no one could get by that dragon!’

“Purity felt bad because his face was the sorriest that you ever saw, and his voice sounded full of crying.  So she put her arms around him.  ’Now don’t you feel that way;’ she said, ’everything is just as happy as it was before.  There isn’t any dragon there.  Tell me where you see him.’

“So the man pointed to the foot of a great tree close by.