Eddie’s grandmother throws Eddie a ninth birthday party in their backyard.  The theme is knights.  A man dressed in a knight costume comes to deliver a present from Eddie’s grandmother.  The present is piano lessons and Eddie is not thrilled.  All the kids end up taking lessons from Mr. Lance E. Lott whom they see galloping across the Bailey School playground on a black horse.  Strange things happen and Eddie tells his friends that Lance is up to no good-that he’s planning a full-scale war.