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what use twenty dragons can be, to cover all England - " He stopped. "Lenton, surely something can be done - must be done," he said.

Lenton only shook his head briefly. "The usual remedies did some good, at the beginning," he said. "Quieted the coughing, and so forth. They could still fly, if they did not have much appetite; and colds are usually such trifling things with them. But it lingered on so long, and after a while the possets seemed to lose their effect - some began to grow worse - "

He stopped, and after a long moment added, with an effort, "Obversaria is dead."

"Good God!" Laurence cried. "Sir, I am shocked to hear it - so deeply grieved." It was a dreadful loss: she had been flying with Lenton some forty years, the flag-dragon at Dover for the last ten, and though relatively young had produced four eggs already; perhaps the finest flyer in all England, with few to even compete with her for the title.

"That was in, let me see; August," Lenton said, as if he had not heard. "After Inlacrimas, but before Minacitus. It takes some of them worse than others. The very young hold up best, and the old ones linger; it is the ones between who have been dying. Dying first, anyway; I suppose they will all go in the end."

Chapter 2

CAPTAIN," KEYNES SAID, "I am sorry; any gormless imbecile can bandage up a bullet-wound, and a gormless imbecile you are very likely to be assigned in my place. But I cannot stay with the healthiest dragon in Britain when the quarantine-coverts are full of the sick."

"I perfectly understand, Mr. Keynes, and you need say nothing more," Laurence said. "Will you not fly with us as far as Dover?"

"No; Victoriatus will not last the week, and I will wait and attend the dissection with Dr. Harrow," Keynes said, with a brutal sort of practicality that made Laurence flinch. "I have hopes we may learn something of the characteristics of the disease. Some of the couriers are still flying; one will carry me onwards."

"Well," Laurence said, and shook the surgeon's hand. "I hope we shall see you with us again soon."

"I hope you will not," Keynes said, in his usual acerbic manner. "If you do, I will otherwise be lacking for patients, which from the course of this disease will mean they are all dead."

Laurence could hardly say his spirits were lowered; they had already been reduced so far as to make little difference out of the loss. But he was sorry. Dragon-surgeons were not by and large near so incompetent as the naval breed, and despite Keynes's words Laurence did not fear his eventual successor, but to lose a good man, his courage and sense proven and his eccentricities known, was never pleasant; and Temeraire would not like it.

"He is not hurt?" Temeraire pressed. "He is not sick?"

"No, Temeraire; but he is needed elsewhere," Laurence said. "He is a senior surgeon; I am sure you would not deny his attentions to those of your comrades who are suffering from this illness."

"Well, if Maximus or Lily should need him," Temeraire said crabbily, and drew furrows in the ground. "Shall I see them again soon? I am sure they cannot be so very ill. Maximus is the biggest dragon I have ever seen, even though we have been to China; he is sure to recover quickly."

"No, my dear," Laurence said uneasily, and broke the worst of the news - "The sick have none of them recovered, and you must take the very greatest care not to go anywhere near the quarantine-grounds."

"But I do not understand," Temeraire said. "If they do not recover, then - " He paused.

Laurence only looked away. Temeraire had good excuse for not understanding at once. Dragons were hardy creatures, and many breeds might live a century and more; he might have justly expected to know Maximus and Lily for longer than a man's lifetime, if the war had not taken them from him.

At last, sounding almost bewildered, Temeraire said, "But I have so much to tell them - I came for them. So they might learn that dragons may read and write, and have property, and do things other than fight."

"I will write a letter for you, which we can send to them with your greetings, and they will be happier to know you well and safe from contagion than for your company," Laurence said. Temeraire did not answer; he was