the dragon ate up the buns, nodded rather ungraciously, and began to lick his wing again. so tom left him and went back to the town with the news, and everyone was so excited at a real live dragon's being on the island a thing that had never happened before that they all went out to look at it, instead of going to the prize-giving, and the lord chief schoolmaster went with the rest. now, he had tom's prize, the history of rotundia, in his pocket the one bound in calf, with the royal arms on the cover and it happened to drop out, and the dragon ate it, so tom never got the prize after all. but the dragon, when he had gotten it, did not like it.