Some time later, we find our heroes seated on a hard, wooden bench in the entryway of the residence of the Right Honorable Jasper P. McCrown, Mayor for life of Criminy. The title of Mayor had been handed down from father to son in the McCrown family since Jasper's great-great grandfather, Phinias McCrown, had first settled Criminy. Legend has it that on the day Phinias first entered this valley, he had looked around at the lush beauty before him and decided to build his village right on the spot where the current residence now stood. In deciding on a name for the new settlement, Phinias had been lost in thought when he noticed that he was standing in a large pile of extremely fresh bear dung. Seeing that his new boots were utterly ruined, he raised both hands over his head and shouted, "Oh, CRIMINY!" And the name stuck. Regardless of whether the story is true or not, it does seem to answer the age-old rhetorical question, 'Does a bear do it in the woods?'

Smudge and Bodkin sat nervously on the bench until a page came out and led them down the hall to the mayor's office. Once inside, Mayor McCrown rose from behind his desk and came around to greet the terrified pair.

"Greetings, boys," he said loudly, taking each of their hands in turn and pumping them furiously, up and down for a few moments. "Sit down, sit down. Relax for a spell," he ordered, indicating a pair of chairs pulled up in front of his desk. The boys reluctantly sat, looking around themselves apprehensively, fully expecting to see the Watch Commander standing somewhere in the shadows of the room. The mayor resumed his place behind the desk and leaned forward, clapping his hands together, which startled both of them.

The mayor was a large, round man, who always 'appeared' jovial, but his permanently fixed smile seemed somehow sinister--as if whatever he was smiling about was at someone else's expense. He smiled down at Smudge and Bodkin now and they knew that they were in trouble.

"Well, I'm glad to finally meet the Mighty Dragon Hunters that everyone has been talking about," the mayor told them, beaming his wide smile.

Oh, he had heard of their dragon exploits. That caused the boys to relax, just a bit. Maybe they weren't in as much trouble as they had first thought.

"Oh, and 'tis a right honor to meet yer...'Honor', as it were," Bodkin managed to mumble.

"Er, aye, yer lordship. Sir," Smudge added, weakly, still not sure that being here at all was such a good idea.