So saying, he thrust the knife back again into its sheath, then stooping and picking up the other, he flung him across his shoulder like a sack, and running down the steps as lightly as though his load was nothing at all, he carried his burden to the arched doorway whence he had come a little while before. There, having first stripped his prisoner of all his weapons, Hans sat the man up in the angle of the wall. “So, brother;” said he, “now we can talk with more ease than we could up yonder. I will tell thee frankly why I am here; it is to find where the young Baron Otto of Drachenhausen is kept. If thou canst tell me, well and good; if not, I must e’en cut thy weasand and find me one who knoweth more. Now, canst thou tell me what I would learn, brother?”
The other nodded dimly in the darkness.
“That is good,” said Hans, “then I will loose thy gag until thou hast told me; only bear in mind what I said concerning my dagger.”
Thereupon, he unbound his prisoner, and the fellow slowly rose to his feet. He shook himself and looked all about him in a heavy, bewildered fashion, as though he had just awakened from a dream.
His right hand slid furtively down to his side, but the dagger-sheath was empty.
“Come, brother!” said Hans, impatiently, “time is passing, and once lost can never be found again. Show me the way to the young Baron Otto or—.” And he whetted the shining blade of his dagger on his horny palm.
The fellow needed no further bidding; turning, he led the way, and together they were swallowed up in the yawning shadows, and again the hush of night-time lay upon the Castle of Trutz-Drachen.
XI. How Otto was Saved.
Little Otto was lying upon the hard couch in his cell, tossing in restless and feverish sleep; suddenly a heavy hand was laid upon him and a voice whispered in his ear, “Baron, Baron Otto, waken, rouse yourself; I am come to help you. I am One-eyed Hans.”