Rollo on the Rhine Part 13

"Six miles," said Rollo.

"Now, it takes her _four_ hours to go up," said Mr. George. "How much would she be kept back then by the current?"

"Why, two miles an hour for _four_ hours," said Rollo, "which would make eight miles."

"Thus in the double voyage," said Mr. George, "the boat would be helped _six_ miles and hindered _eight_, so that the current would on the whole be a serious disadvantage. For a steamer, therefore, which is to be navigated equally both ways, the current is an evil.

"But for that sort of navigation which goes only one way, it is a great advantage. For instance, the rafts have to come down, but they never have to go back again; and so they have the whole advantage of the current in bringing them down, without any disadvantage to balance it.

"On the whole," said Mr. George, "I do not see but that the currents of great rivers are an advantage, for there is always a much greater quant.i.ty to come down than to go up. The heavy products that grow on the borders of the rivers are to come down, while comparatively little in quant.i.ty goes up. So the benefit, on the whole, which is produced by the flow of the water, may be greater than the injury."

"What do they do with the rafts," said Rollo, "when they get them down the river?"

"They break them up," said Mr. George, "and sell the timber in the countries near the mouth of the river, where but little timber grows."

By this time, Mr. George and Rollo had finished eating the meats which they had ordered for their dinner, and so the waiter came and took away the plates, and brought the omelet and the coffee. With the coffee the waiter brought two small plates and knives, and some very nice rolls and b.u.t.ter. He also brought a plate containing several slices of a kind of cake, _toasted_. This cake was very nice.

While Rollo was eating it he asked his uncle George whether, in case he had gone down the river to Boppard, and had not got back until dark, he should not have been anxious about him.

"No," said Mr. George, "not much. I took precautions against that."

"What precautions?" asked Rollo.

"Why, I sent a man with you to take care of you," said Mr. George.

"You sent a man with me?" repeated Rollo, very much surprised.

"Yes," said Mr. George, quietly. "As soon as you had gone out of my room, to go on board the raft, I called the waiter, and asked him to send a commissioner with you, to see that you did not get into any difficulty, and to take care of you in case there should be any occasion."

"Now, uncle George," said Rollo, in a mournful and complaining tone, "that was not fair."

"Why not?" asked Mr. George.

"Because," said Rollo, "I wanted to take care of myself."

"Well," said Mr. George, "you _did_ take care of yourself--didn't you?

My plan did not interfere with yours at all--did it?"

Rollo did not answer, but he looked as if he were not convinced.

"I gave the man special charge," said Mr. George, "not to interfere with you in any way, and not even to let you know that I had said any thing about you to him, so that you should be left entirely to your own resources. And you _were_ so left. You acted in the whole affair just as you thought proper, and took care of yourself admirably well. I think especially that you were very wise in leaving the raft when you did, instead of remaining on board three or four hours longer. But however this may be, you acted for yourself throughout. I did not interfere with you at all."

"Well," said Rollo, after a moment's pause, "what you say is very true.

But it seems to me it was a little artful in you to do that; and you always tell me that I must not be artful, but must be perfectly honest and open in all that I do. Don't you think you deceived me a little?"

"I do not see that I did," said Mr. George. "When we deceive a person, we do it by saying or doing something to give him a false impression, or to make him suppose that something is true which is not true. Now, what did I do or say to give you any false impression?"

"Why, nothing, I suppose," said Rollo, "except sending that man to take care of me without letting me know it."

"That was _concealing_ something from you," said Mr. George, "not deceiving you. There are a thousand occasions when it is right to conceal things from the people around us. That is very different from deceiving them. This was a case in which I thought it best to conceal what I did, for a time, though I intended to tell you in the end. You see, I should not have done my duty, as a guardian intrusted with the care of a boy by his father, if I had allowed you to go away from me on such a doubtful expedition without some precautions. So I thought it best to send the commissioner; but I knew you wished to take care of yourself, and so I charged the commissioner to allow you to do so, and on no account to interpose, unless some accident, or unforeseen emergency, should occur. I told him not even to let you know that he was there, so that you might not be embarra.s.sed or restricted at all by his presence, or even relieved of any portion of your solicitude. But I determined to tell you all about it as soon as it was over, and I was fondly imagining that you would praise me for my sagacity in managing the business as I did, and also especially for my openness and honesty in explaining all to you at last. But instead of that, it seems you think I did wrong; so that where I expected compliments and praise, I get only censure and condemnation; and I do not know what I shall do."

Mr. George said this with a perfectly grave face, and with such a tone of mock meekness and despondency, that Rollo burst into a loud laugh.

"If you could think of any suitable punishment for me," continued Mr.

George, in the same penitent tone, "I would submit to it very contentedly; though I do not see myself any suitable way by which I can be punished, except perhaps by a fine."

"Yes," said Rollo, "a fine; you shall be fined, uncle George. There is a woman out here that has got some raspberries, in little paper baskets.

You shall be fined a paper of raspberries."

Mr. George acceded to this proposal. The raspberries were two groschen a basket. Mr. George gave Rollo the money, and Rollo, going forward with it, bought the raspberries, and he and Mr. George ate them up together.

They served the double purpose of a punishment for the offence, and of a dessert for the dinner.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

CHAPTER XIII.

BINGEN.

At some places on the Rhine the pa.s.sengers go on board the steamers and land from them in a small boat, as Mr. George and Rollo did at St. Goar.

At others there is a regular pier for a landing. At all the large towns there is a pier,--in some there are two or three,--which belong severally to the different companies which own the lines of steamers.

These piers are constructed in a very peculiar manner. They are made by means of a large and heavy boat, which is anch.o.r.ed at a short distance from the sh.o.r.e, and then a ma.s.sive platform is built, extending from the quay to this boat. The boat, being afloat, rises and falls with the river; and thus the end of the platform which rests upon it is kept always at the proper level for the landing of the pa.s.sengers, so that, whatever may be the state of the water, they go over on a level plank.

This is a very convenient arrangement for such a river as the Rhine, which rises and falls considerably at different seasons, on account of the variation in the quant.i.ty of rain, and in the melting of the snows, on the mountains in Switzerland.

Bingen is one of the towns where there is a floating pier of this kind, and Mr. George and Rollo were safely landed upon it about eight o'clock.

It was a very pleasant evening. As they approached the town, before they landed, they both walked forward towards the bows of the vessel, to see what sort of a place it was where they were going to spend the night.

"It is just like Coblenz," said Mr. George, "only on a small scale."

It was indeed very much like Coblenz in its situation, for it was built on a point of land formed between the Rhine and the Nahe, a branch which came in here from the westward, just as Coblenz was at the junction of the Rhine and the Moselle. There was a bridge across the Moselle, you recollect, just at the mouth of it, on the lower side of the town, which bridge was made to accommodate the travellers going up and down the Rhine on that side. There was just such a bridge across the mouth of the Nahe. So that the situation of the town was in all respects very similar to that of Coblenz.

Just below the town there was a small green island covered with shrubbery, and on the upper end of the island was a high, square tower, standing alone.

"That's must be Bishop Hatto's Tower," said Mr. George.

"Who was he?" asked Rollo.

"He was a man that was eaten up by the rats," said Mr. George, "because he called the poor people rats, and burned up a great many of them in his barn. The story is in the guide book. I will read it to you when we get to the hotel."

By this time the boat had glided by the island, and the tower was out of view; and very soon afterwards Mr. George and Rollo were landed on the floating pier, as I have already said. There were very few people to land, and the boat seemed merely to touch the pier and then to glide away again.

There were several porters standing by, and they immediately took up the pa.s.sengers' baggage, and carried it away to the hotels, which were all very near the river. Rollo and Mr. George were soon comfortably established in a room with two beds in it, one in each corner, and a large round table near one of the windows. Outside of the other window was a balcony, and Rollo immediately went out there, to look at the view.

"We have not got quite _out_ yet, uncle George," said he.

Rollo was right, for the bank of the river opposite Bingen was very steep and high, and was terraced from top to bottom for vineyards. In fact, this part of the river is more celebrated, perhaps, than any other for the excellent quality of the grapes which it produces. It is here that are situated the famous vineyards of Rudesheim and Johannisberg. In fact, the whole country, for miles in extent, is one vast vineyard. The separate fields are divided from one another by the terrace walls, which run parallel to the river, and by paths formed sometimes by steps, and sometimes by zigzags, which ascend and descend from the crest of the hills above to the line of the sh.o.r.e. The only buildings to be seen among all this vast expanse of walls and terraces are the little watchtowers that are erected here and there at commanding points to enable the vinegrowers to watch the fruit, when it comes to the time of ripening. The laborers who till the fields, and dress the vines, and gather the grapes in the season, live all of them in compact villages, built at intervals along the sh.o.r.e.