A murmur of voices from the others was all the
answer that he received. "Forward!" cried the young man again, "the boy
and those with him are not so far away but that we might yet catch up
with them."

Then one of the men spoke up in answer--a man with a seamed,
weather-beaten face and crisp grizzled hair. "Nay," said he, "our Lord
Baron is gone, and this is no quarrel of ours; here be four of us that
are wounded and three I misdoubt that are dead; why should we follow
further only to suffer more blows for no gain?" A growl of assent rose
from those that stood around, and William of Roderburg saw that nothing
more was to be done by the Trutz-Dragons that day.

XIV. How Otto Saw the Great Emperor.

Through weakness and sickness and faintness, Otto had lain in a half
swoon through all that long journey under the hot May sun. It was as in
a dreadful nightmare that he had heard on and on and on that monotonous
throbbing of galloping hoofs upon the ground; had felt that last kiss
that his father had given him upon his cheek. Then the onward ride
again, until all faded away into a dull mist and he knew no more. When
next he woke it was with the pungent smell of burned vinegar in his
nostrils and with the feeling of a cool napkin bathing his brow. He
opened his eyes and then closed them again, thinking he must have been
in a dream, for he lay in his old room at the peaceful monastery of the
White Cross on the hill; the good Father Abbot sat near by, gazing upon
his face with the old absent student look, Brother John sat in the deep
window seat also gazing at him, and Brother Theodore, the leech of the
monastery, sat beside him bathing his head. Beside these old familiar
faces were the faces of those who had been with him in that long flight;
the One-eyed Hans, old Master Nicholas his kinsman, and the others.
So he closed his eyes, thinking that maybe it was all a dream. But the
sharp throbbing of the poor stump at his wrist soon taught him that he
was still awake.

"Am I then really home in St. Michaelsburg again?" he murmured, without
unclosing his eyes.

Brother Theodore began snuffling through his nose; there was a pause.
"Yes," said the old Abbot at last, and his gentle voice trembled as
he spoke; "yes, my dear little child, thou art back again in thine own
home; thou hast not been long out in the great world, but truly thou
hast had a sharp and bitter trial of it."

"But they will not take me away again, wil