the bottle was set down among the sacks of gold, and the junior secretary to the junior clerk of the last lord of the treasury was appointed to sit up all night with it and see if anything happened. the junior secretary had never seen a dragon, and, what was more, he did not believe the prince had ever seen a dragon either. the prince had never been a really truthful boy, and it would have been just like him to bring home a bottle with nothing in it and then to pretend that there was a dragon inside. so the junior secretary did not at all mind being left. they gave him the key, and when everyone in the town had gone back to bed he let in some of the junior secretaries from other government departments, and they had a jolly game of hide-and-seek among the sacks of gold, and played marbles with the diamonds and rubies and pearls in the big ivory chests.