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"Coon rider," said Barnabas Greenbloom, "I’ll take you to Guinevere before your head bursts with all this wisdom And I’ll come back for you when breakfast is over"

"What do you think Sorrel and I should do, Professor?" asked Firedrake, putting his ently over thewith anything you want, Firedrake," replied Professor Greenbloo? No one will disturb you -- in fact they’ll say so many prayers for you that you’ll be sure to find the Rim of Heaven"

"And what about me?" asked Sorrel "What do I do while Firedrake’s asleep and the rest of you are drinking buttered tea? I don’t like tea and I don’t like butter, so I’ to like tea with butter in it"

"I’ll leave you with Guinevere, too," said the professor "There’s a nice soft bed in our rooht some biscuits that I expect you will like"

Then he led the two of the respectfully in the courtyard, and over to a s

As for Firedrake, he followed the la the columns, and slept a deep, sound sleep while theall the good fortune of earth and sky to descend upon the dragon’s scales

39 The Rat’s Report

Sorrel enjoyed Guinevere’s breakfast so much that she ate almost half of it all by herself Ben didn’t ry, anyway All the exciteht of what still lay ahead had taken away his appetite He never felt hungry when he was excited

When Sorrel, having eaten to her heart’s content, curled up in a ball on Guinevere’s bed and started snoring loudly, Ben and Guinevere tiptoed out of the room, perched on one of the lowto the mountainside, but as the sun rose over the snowy peaks the cold air sloarmed

"It’s lovely here, isn’t it?" said Guinevere

Ben nodded Twigleg was sitting on his knee, dozing off People orking in the green fields down in the valley They looked no bigger than beetles from up here

"Where’s your ry Gods," Guinevere told hi to the left of the Dhu-Khang "Everynext to it is the Teods are considered particularly useful because they look so terrifying that they keep evil spirits away The mountains around here are said to be full of evil spirits"

"Goodness!" Ben looked adirl "You know a lot"

"Oh, well," said Guinevere dis with parents likethe pictures on the temple walls at the moment When we’re back hoive money to have the pictures restored The , and the pictures are already very old, you see"

"Goodness!" said Ben again, covering the sleeping Twigleg with his jacket "You’re lucky to have parents like that"

Guinevere cast hilance "Dad says you don’t have any parents yourself"