the frame buildings hanging aloft in the air. A clear flame
burst out at the peak of the roof, but still the bell rang forth
its clamorous clangor. Presently those who watched below saw the
cluster of buildings bend and sink and sway; there was a crash
and roar, a cloud of sparks flew up as though to the very
heavens themselves, and the bell of Melchior's tower was stilled
forever. A great shout arose from the watching, upturned faces.

"Forward!" cried Baron Henry, and out from the gateway they
swept and across the drawbridge, leaving Drachenhausen behind
them a flaming furnace blazing against the gray of the early
dawning.


VIII.

In the House of the Dragon Scorner.

Tall, narrow, gloomy room; no furniture but a rude bench a bare
stone floor, cold stone walls and a gloomy ceiling of arched
stone over head; a long, narrow slit of a window high above in
the wall, through the iron bars of which Otto could see a small
patch of blue sky and now and then a darting swallow, for an
instant seen, the next instant gone. Such was the little baron's
prison in Trutz-Drachen. Fastened to a bolt and hanging against
the walls, hung a pair of heavy chains with gaping fetters at
the ends. They were thick with rust, and the red stain of the
rust streaked the wall below where they hung like a smear of
blood. Little Otto shuddered as he looked at them; can those be
meant for me, he thought.