“If you did, we didn’t hear you,” said Buster John.
Mrs. Meadows raised her hands above her head and let them fall helplessly in her lap. “I told you I didn’t know how to tell stories!” she cried. “You had fair warning. Well, well, well! And I never even told you his name!” She paused and stared at the children as if she wanted them to pity her weakness. “To think that I should forget to call his name! Everybody knew it in my day and time, and they knew about his wonderful adventures.
“His name was Valentine, because he was born on St. Valentine’s Day, and the little girl’s name was Geraldine.
“Well, the traveler asked Valentine all sorts of questions, and tried hard to persuade him to drink some of the water and eat the pomegranate-seed.
“‘I have heard,’ said the traveler, ‘that all this country around here is ruled by a cruel Conjurer, and that he has power over all except those who may chance to find this spring and this pomegranate-tree in passing, and drink of the water and eat of the fruit.’
“But Valentine shook his head. He said he would rather have milk than water any day, and as for pomegranates, he had no taste for them.
“‘Then I would advise you to go no farther,’ said the traveler. ‘If you fall into the hands of the Conjurer, you will never escape.’
“‘I have heard of this great Conjurer,’ replied Valentine, ‘and I should like nothing better than to see him.’
“He took Keen-Point from his wallet and pretended to be playing with it, letting it fall and picking it up. The knife pointed beyond the spring and the pomegranate-tree, and in a little while Valentine went on his journey. On the hill beyond the spring, he turned and looked back, but the traveler had disappeared. As there was no place where he could hide, Valentine concluded that the man he had seen was no traveler at all, but Rimrak, the Conjurer.
“But he was not afraid. He went on his way, and, after a little, came to a grove of the tallest and biggest trees he had ever seen. As he was passing through this grove, he suddenly saw two tremendous spiders running about among the trees before and behind him. Their bodies were as big as a feather bed when it is rolled up, and they were pretty much the same color. Valentine watched their antics a few minutes, and soon saw they were spinning a web among the trees and that he was in the middle of it.