A watchman on the wall, with telescope to his eye, had spied them afar off.

“Hello!” he cried.  “What is this coming down the highroad?  It seems a small caravan, creeping and writhing like a caterpillar.  The head of it seems human.  But, by my faith! the rest of it is like nothing I have seen for many years!  What ho!  Let us be on guard.  It may be an enemy of the King.”

The warders ran to arms.  And so it happened that a crowd of them were gaping at the entrance when John and his companions came up.

The lad was almost exhausted.  But when he saw the way barred by a band of frowning armed men, he doffed his cap and smiled his own peculiar smile.

“Good-evening, friends,” he said.  “We have been long in reaching your city.  We are glad to be at the gates at last.”

“Who are you?” asked the Captain gruffly, stepping forward and barring the way, while his companions gazed in amazement at the wolf and the bear who were huddled at John’s side.

“I come on an errand to the King,” said John.  “Please guide me to him quickly, for it is an urgent matter.”

“To the King!” sneered the Captain; and the warders echoed his laugh.  “No one goes to the King in such company as you bring.  You must know that.  They are outlaws, all,—­and you too, I dare say!”

“I know not.  But I must see the King, and that quickly,” said John.  “I come with these friends to heal the King’s son, if I can.”

“Ha!  More sorcery!” interrupted the Captain.  “No, you shall not enter here.  The King allows no animals in his domain.  How you have brought them so far I cannot guess!”

“Well, I bear this,” said John, drawing out the silver talisman.

The men bent forward to look at it, then fell back, staring at one another with astonished faces.

“Who is he?” they whispered among themselves.  “What shall we do?”

“Let me pass, good friends,” begged John, looking up in their faces with his simple smile.  “I will promise to do no harm.  Among friends my friends are quite harmless.  But tell me, I pray you, where I may find the good Hermit who healed the Prince’s wound?  I come at his bidding.”

At these words the guards pulled themselves together and exchanged looks.  They began to swagger.

“Ah, is it so?” growled the Captain.  “You are a friend of the wizard himself.  We must let the King know of this.  Yes, you shall enter.  Here!  Take him captive!  Off with him to the prison.”

“To prison!” cried John in amazement.  “For what ill deed, I pray?”

But already the guards were pressing forward upon him.  At the sight of their threatening looks Brutus ran in front of John and began to growl warningly, crouching ready to spring upon the first who should lay hands on the boy.  The wolf bristled and showed his fangs.  And the bear, rising on his hind legs, growled and blinked his little red eyes so terribly that the men fell back.  John was protected by powerful friends.  The other animals shrank close to him, and the raven began to scream.