The next few days were exciting ones for the Overall Boys.
Joe said he knew that he was dreaming, and his dreams were all about
castles and kings and queens and strange languages.
Jack had to tell him very often that he was sailing up the beautiful
river Rhine toward Switzerland, that the castles and the kings and the
queens and the strange languages were really true.
"I know that the castles are really here," said Joe, "for I am counting
them. Look at that great fort on the hill!"
"Yes," said Jack, "the Captain says if we were their enemies, the
soldiers in that fort would not let our boat pass up the river."
"Well, I am glad we are not their enemies," said Joe. "I don't like the
looks of the big guns peeping through those holes in the fort walls. I
like the old castles better."
[Illustration: _A high rock above the river_]
And so the Overall Boys sailed by castles and still more castles, which
were built high on the banks above the river. Most of them were very
old, so old they were falling to pieces.
Lower down on the river banks there were large vineyards, where the
finest grapes were growing.
Their father told the boys strange stories about the people who once
lived in these old castles. He told them about a beautiful sea maiden
who used to sit on a high rock above the river combing her long, golden
hair and singing sweet songs. He told how brave young men sailed their
boats into the dangerous waters to listen to her songs, and were
drowned.
Fortunately the maiden did not sing while the Overall Boys were
passing her rock, so they went safely on their journey.
A little later Jack cried, "Come, Joe, the Captain is going to tell us
a story."
"Is he going to tell it in some dreadful, strange language?" asked Joe.
"No, sir!" said Jack. "This Captain knows how to speak English."
"Hello!" called the Captain. "Do you boys like mice? Both of you do!
Well, that is brave. I am going to tell you about a man who did not
like mice.
"Do you see that large, round tower just ahead of us? It is built on a
rock in the middle of the river. It is called the _Mouse Tower_. This
is the reason why.
"Once upon a time--I cannot tell you just how long ago, but once upon
a time--there lived a rich Bishop. He lived in a great castle up there
on the river bank. He had fine farms, and he made much money. He filled
many barns with his grain, and he kept his gold in strong boxes.
[Illustration: _The Bishop's Mouse Tower built on a rock in the river_]
"A great many poor people lived near the rich Bishop. He should have
taught them how to work and how to pray, but he did not. He did not
even give them grain when they needed it, or gold that they might buy
bread.
"One year when the people were very hungry, they begged the Bishop so
hard for bread that he could not sleep. He said they were like a pack
of hungry mice.
"At last the Bishop told the beggars to go to an empty barn near by,
and he would soon satisfy their wants. So the people hurried into the
barn, and waited for the Bishop to come. He came, but he did not bring
them food or gold.
"Oh, no! The selfish Bishop told his servants to set fire to the old
barn, and the poor people who were inside soon stopped crying for food.
"That night while the Bishop was asleep in his castle, he dreamed a
strange dream. He dreamed that some hungry mice were eating a fine
picture of himself which hung on his bedroom wall. He watched them
until they had torn it all to pieces.
"Just then a servant ran into his room and wakened him.
"'O Bishop Hatto! Bishop Hatto!' cried the servant. 'The mice are
coming. They are coming out of the hot ashes of the old barn which we
burned last night. They have followed me up to your castle. You must
run for your life.'
"So the Bishop jumped on his horse and rode down the hill as fast as he
could ride, and the mice ran after him. When he came to the river the
mice were almost upon him.
"The Bishop left his horse and jumped into a small boat. He rowed very
hard until he came to that stone tower in the middle of the river.
"'Now,' said he, 'I am safely away from those miserable mice.'
"But he was not safely away from them, for the mice could swim.
"The Bishop shut himself into the tower and closed the doors and
windows. But the mice could gnaw. They ran up the stone walls and
gnawed through the wooden doors. Then they ran down the doors on the
inside and found the wicked Bishop.
"How the Bishop wished that he had been kind to the poor, starving
people. How he wished that he had given them food and gold when they
needed it so much. Now it was too late. The hungry people had sent
their spirits back in these hungry mice to punish him as he had
punished them.
"And so the old stone tower has been called the _Mouse Tower_, or
_Bishop Hatto's Tower_, ever since. Now, what do you think of that for
a story?" asked the Captain.
"I tell you, I hope I never shall be such a mean old Bishop as he was!"
said Joe.
"And I am glad he is not living now!" said Jack.
Soon the Overall Boys had sailed as far up the beautiful river Rhine
as their big boat would take them. They had seen so many old castles,
and they had heard so many strange stories about them, the boys felt as
if they had just passed through a really, truly Fairyland--and perhaps
they had.
[Illustration]
[Illustration: THE BEAR CITY.]
[Illustration]