He lost no time in running on, until he found himself on a broad white road which seemed to stretch for miles and miles ahead as far as he could see. He stood still for a moment, thinking of the best plan for travelling such a long distance. Suddenly he heard a Jingle, jingle! Trot, trot! and there, coming toward him out of another part of the wood, was a knight on horseback.
George knew he was a knight, because he had often seen pictures of knights in the olden days, clad in armour, with long plumes flowing from their helmets.
This knight might have stepped out of a picture-book. He wore a great sword at his side, and carried a long spear with a sharp point. When he saw George he pulled up his horse and spoke in a kindly voice: "Well, my young squire, and whither are you bound?"
George took off his cap. "If you please, I am going to the Castle of a Thousand Towers. Can you tell me if it is very far away?"
The knight looked down at him and smiled. "How many miles to Babylon?" he asked.
"Why, that's in the nursery-rhyme book!" cried George.
"Ah!" replied the knight. "It's sure to be true, then. Nothing like a good rhyme, is there? I'm bound in the same direction, so you had better get up behind me and we can travel together."
He bent down and lifted George into the saddle, and off they went.
"I suppose this is a real war-horse—what the books call a charger, isn't it?" asked George, holding on tight.