Rollo on the Rhine Part 12

CHAPTER XII.

DINNER.

About half past three o'clock Rollo went up to his uncle's room.

"Uncle George," said he, "have not you got almost through with your writing?"

"Why," said Mr. George, "are you tired of staying here?"

"Yes," said Rollo, "I am tired of being down in the bottom of such a deep valley. I wish you would put away your writing and go on up the river till we get out where we can see, and then you may write as much as you please."

"Do you wish to go up the river to-night?" asked Mr. George.

"Yes," said Rollo, "very much."

Mr. George took out his watch.

"Go down and ask the waiter when the next steamer comes along."

Rollo went down, and presently returned with the report that the next steamer came by at five o'clock.

"There is a place up the river about two hours' sail, called Bingen,"

said Mr. George, "where the mountains end. Above that the country is open and level, and the river wide. We might go up there, I suppose; but what should we do for dinner?"

"We might have dinner on board the steamer," said Rollo.

"Very well," said Mr. George; "that's what we will do. You may go and tell the waiter to bring me the bill, and then be ready at half past four. That will give me an hour more to write."

At half past four Rollo came to tell Mr. George that the steamer was coming. The trunk had been previously carried down and put on board a small boat, for this was one of the places where the steamers were not accustomed to come up to a pier, but received and landed pa.s.sengers by means of small boats that went out to meet them in the middle of the river. Such a boat was now ready at the foot of the landing stairs, and Mr. George and Rollo got into it.

The boatman waited until the steamer came pretty near, and then he rowed out to meet it. He stopped rowing when the boat was opposite to the paddle wheel of the steamer, and the steamer stopped her engine at the same time. A man who stood on the paddle box threw a rope to the boat, and the boatman made this rope fast to a belaying pin that was set for the purpose near the bow of the boat. By means of this rope the boat was then drawn rapidly up alongside the steamer, at a place directly aft the paddle wheel, where there was a little stairway above, and a small platform below, both of which, when not in use, were drawn up out of the way, but which were always let down when pa.s.sengers were to come on board. As soon as the boat came alongside this apparatus, Rollo and Mr.

George stepped out upon the platform, and went up the little stairway, the hands on board the steamer standing there to help them. In a moment more the trunk was pa.s.sed up, the boat was pushed off, and the paddle wheels of the steamer were put in motion; and thus, almost before Rollo had time to think what was going on, he found himself comfortably seated on a camp stool under the awning, by the side of Mr. George, on the quarter deck of the steamer, and sailing swiftly along on his voyage up the river.

"What sudden transitions we pa.s.s through," said, Mr. George, "in travelling on the Rhine!"

"Yes," said Rollo, "it seems scarcely five minutes ago that I was sitting, all by myself, on the bank of a lonesome river, fishing; and now I am on board a steamer, with all this company, and dashing away through the water at a great rate."

"True," said Mr. George; "and how quickly we came on board! One minute we are creeping along slowly over the water in a little boat, and the next, as if by some sort of magic, we find ourselves on the deck of the steamer, with the boat drifting away astern."

"How high the mountains are," said Rollo, "along the sh.o.r.es here! Do the mountains end at Bingen?"

"Yes," said Mr. George, "at Bingen, or soon after that. There the country opens, and the banks of the river become level and flat. The river widens, and there are a great many islands in it. There we come to railroads again too, for where the land is level they can make railroads very easily. It would be very difficult to make a railroad here, though I believe they are going to do it."

"I should think it would be difficult," said Rollo. "But now, uncle George, about our dinner."

"Very well," said Mr. George, "about the dinner." So the two travellers held a consultation on this subject, and concluded what to have. A few minutes afterwards a waiter came by, carrying a large salver, with some coffee and bread and b.u.t.ter upon it, for a gentleman on the deck. Mr.

George beckoned to this waiter, and when he came to him, he ordered the dinner that he and Rollo had agreed upon. It consisted of sausages for Rollo, a beefsteak for Mr. George, and fried potatoes for both. After that they were to have an omelet and some coffee. The coffee on board the Rhine steamers, being made with very rich and pure milk, is delicious.

The waiter brought up a small square table to the part of the deck where Mr. George and Rollo were sitting, which was under the shady side of the awning, and set it for their dinner. In about twenty minutes the dinner was ready. The table itself was as neat and nice as possible, and the dishes which had been ordered were prepared in the most perfect manner.

I need not add, I suppose, that Mr. George and Rollo--it being now so late--were provided with excellent appet.i.tes. So they had a very good time eating their dinner. While they were eating it they could watch the changes in the scenery of the banks, as they glided swiftly along, and observe the steamers, tow boats, and other river craft, that pa.s.sed them from time to time.

While they were at dinner, Rollo asked Mr. George about the rafts, and where the timber that they were made of came from.

[Ill.u.s.tration: DINNER ON THE RHINE.]

"Why, you see," said Mr. George, "the River Rhine, in the upper portions of it, has a great many branches which come down from among the mountains, where nothing will grow well but timber. So they reserve these places for forests, and as fast as the timber gets grown, they cut it down, and slide it down the slopes to the nearest stream, and then float it along till they come to great streams; and there they form it into rafts, and send it down the river to Holland and Belgium, where timber does not grow."

"Would not timber grow in Belgium and Holland?" asked Rollo.

"Yes," said Mr. George, "it would grow very well, but the land is too valuable to appropriate it to such a purpose. The whole country below Cologne, where we came to the river, is smooth and level, and free from stones, so that it is easily ploughed and tilled; and thus grain, and flax, and other very valuable crops can be raised upon it. They raise a few trees in that part of the country, but not many."

"I never heard of raising trees before," said Rollo, "except apple trees, or something like that."

"True," said Mr. George, "because in America, as that is a new country, there is an abundance of native forests, where the trees grow wild. But you must remember that every foot of land in Europe has been in the possession of man, and occupied by him, for two thousand years. There is not a field or a hill, or even a rocky steep on the mountain side, which has not had sixty or seventy generations of owners, who have all been watching it, and taking care of it, and improving it more or less all that time; each one carefully considering what his land can produce most profitably, and taking care of it and managing it especially with reference to that production. If his land is smooth and level, he ploughs it, and cultivates it for gra.s.s, or grain, or other plants requiring special tillage. If it is in steep slopes, with a warm exposure, he terraces it up, and makes vineyards of it. If it is in steep slopes, with a cold exposure, then it will do for timber, provided there are streams near it, so that he can float the timber away. If there are no streams near it, he can use it as pasture ground for sheep or cattle; for the wool, or the b.u.t.ter and cheese, which he obtains from this kind of farming, can be transported without streams; or, at least, such commodities will bear transporting farther before coming to a stream than wood or timber. Thus, you see, whatever the land is fit for, it has been appropriated to for a great many centuries; and it has all been cropped over and over again, even where the crop is a forest of trees. If we allow the trees even a hundred years to grow, before they are large enough to cut, that would give, in two thousand years, time to cut them off and let them grow up again twenty times."

"Here comes a steamer," said Rollo.

Just then the bow of a steamer came shooting into view, down the river.

On the forward part of the deck were several soldiers and laborers, with women and children that looked like emigrants, and also a huge pile of trunks and merchandise covered with a tarpauling. Then came the paddle wheels, and then the quarter deck, with a large company of tourists, most of whom were looking about very eagerly at the scenery, with guide books and gla.s.ses in their hands. These were tourists that had been travelling in Switzerland, and were coming home by way of the Rhine; and as they were now just entering the part of the river where the grand and imposing scenery was to be seen,--though Mr. George and Rollo were just leaving it,--they were full of wonder and admiration at the various objects which appeared around them on every side. Rollo had but a very brief opportunity to look at these strangers, for the steamer which conveyed them pa.s.sed by very swiftly, and in a moment they were gone.

"How swift!" said Rollo.

"Yes," said Mr. George, "they go down the stream much faster than they go up; for in going down they have the current to help them, but we have it to hinder us in going up."

"And does it help just as much as it hinders?" asked Rollo.

"Yes," said Mr. George, "for any given time. If the current flows two miles an hour, it will carry forward a boat that is going _with_ it just two miles faster than it would go in still water. And if the boat is going _against_ it, it will go just two miles an hour slower.

"Thus, you see," continued Mr. George, "if a steamer had an engine capable of driving her twelve miles an hour through the water, in navigating a stream that flows _two_ miles an hour, she would go _fourteen_ miles an hour in going down, and _ten_ miles an hour in going up."

"Then," said Rollo, "it seems that the _help_ of a current is just as much as the _hinderance_ of it, and that a river running fast is just as good for navigation as if the water were still. Because, you see," he added, "that though they lose some headway in going up, they gain it just the same in coming down."

"That reasoning seems plausible," replied Mr. George, "but it is not sound."

"What do you mean by _plausible_?" asked Rollo.

"Why, it _appears_ to be good, when it really is not so. Reasoning very often appears to be good, while there is all the time some latent flaw in it which makes the conclusion wrong. Very often something is left out of the account which ought to be taken in and calculated for, and that is the case here. The truth is, that the current helps the steamer in going down just as much as it r.e.t.a.r.ds her in coming up _for any given time_; as for instance, for an hour, or for six hours. But we are to consider that in accomplishing any given _distance_, the steamer is longer in coming up than she is in going down, and so is exposed to the r.e.t.a.r.ding effect of the current longer than she has the benefit of its cooperation.

"For example," continued Mr. George, "suppose the distance from one place to another, on a river flowing two miles an hour, is such that it takes a steamer three hours to go down and four hours to come up. In going down she would be aided how much?"

"Two miles an hour," said Rollo.

"And that makes how much for the whole time going down?" asked Mr.

George.