"Yes, they washed me for Trafalgar Day in some beastly solution which was most unsuitable to me. I cannot shake off the cold. Hang on!" shouted the Lion suddenly, "I am going to sneeze, and I may shake you off the pedestal." Whereupon the Lion grabbed Ridgwell gently with his paw to steady him, and after sneezing heavily, proceeded. "After washing me for Trafalgar Day, which was most unnecessary, they hung a ridiculous wreath round my neck with a large N in leaves upon it. To add to the injury, an absurd person stood staring at me and explained to her children that the N stood for Napoleon. Bah!!!" growled the Lion. "Bah!!! Ignorance!" "What did it stand for?" asked Ridgwell. "Nile," grunted the Lion. "Short for Battle of the Nile." "But I am so astonished. I did not know that you could talk, Mister Lion." "Oh, for Heaven's sake don't call me Mister Lion, call me Lal." "Why Lal?" inquired Ridgwell. "Short for Lionel," whispered the Lion. "Lionel is my proper name." "Oh, I see, but, Mister----" "There you go again," said the Lion. "Call me Lal and be friendly." "Indeed I am very friendly, Mister--I mean Lal; but there are so many things I don't understand." "Common complaint of little boys," grumbled the Lion, "and you are going to see a lot more things in a minute that you will find most amazing. For instance, would you like to see a tournament?" "Rather, Lal, I've always longed to see a tournament, but they never have such things now, do they? Aren't they all ended in England?" "On the contrary," declared the Lion, "one is about to begin." "Where?" "Here in front of your eyes, and if you like you shall stay and see it. St. George outside Westminster has challenged the Griffin at Temple Bar to fight. All the really important Statue folk will be present. King Richard I from outside the Houses of Parliament will ride up to see fair play. Charles I. will come over from Whitehall across the road; Oliver Cromwell will most likely put in an appearance, if he can only make up his mind to leave his mound outside the Commons in those big boots of his." "But, Lal," questioned Ridgwell, "surely Charles I. and Cromwell won't come to the Tournament together? Will they speak and be friendly?" "No, no," confessed the Lion, "we still have great trouble with those two, they never speak. You see Cromwell is jealous of Charles, because Charles is mounted upon a nice horse, and rides past Cromwell and never notices him at all. Now Cromwell has to go about on foot, squeaking and squelching in those big boots, so that he never gets up to Charles, which annoys Cromwell very much." "Why?" "Well, you see, Cromwell wants to shout out 'Ha!!!' at Charles, and he never gets a chance. Cromwell gets left out very much in the cold," continued the Lion, "Richard I. never notices him either." "Why is that?" asked Ridgwell.