Rollo on the Rhine Part 7

They are walking away down to the end of the island. The walk that they are going in is bordered by a row of poplar trees.

7. A procession of pilgrims going up to Remagen. At least, the waiter says they are pilgrims. They are in two rows, one on each side of the road, so that there is room for the carriages to pa.s.s along between them. They are dressed very queerly, like peasants. The girls and women go first, and the men come afterwards. The women have baskets, with something to eat in them, I suppose. The men have nothing. There is one man at the head, who carries a crucifix, with a wreath of flowers over it, on the top of the pole. They sing as they go along, and keep step to the music. First, the women sing a few words, and then the men sing in response. It is a very strange sight.

8. A very swift steamer, with a great many gentlemen and ladies on board. It has gone down on the other side of the island.

9. I hear guns firing down the river.

10. A man is going by with a very long and queer-shaped wheelbarrow, and there is a dog harnessed to it before to draw, while he pushes it behind.

11. More guns firing down the river. A steamer is coming into view, with a great many flags and banners flying. The guns that I heard are on board that steamer.

The waiter says it is a company of students, from the university at Bonn, coming up on a frolic.

12. The steamer with the students is going by. There is a band of music on board, playing beautifully.

13. The steamer has stopped just above here, and all the students are going on sh.o.r.e.

14. The students have formed into a company on the beach, and they are marching up, with banners flying and music playing, to the terrace of a hotel, just above here.

15. The steamer has gone away up the river, and left them. There are five or six small boats on the sh.o.r.e at the landing, with boatmen standing by them, waiting to be hired. I mean to ask uncle George to let me go and take a sail in one of them on Monday.

16. I can see the students by leaning over the parapet and looking through my spy gla.s.s. They are sitting at the tables under the trees on the terrace, smoking pipes and drinking something. They have very funny looking caps on.

17. A tow boat coming up the river. It is drawn by two horses, that walk along the road. The boat has a roof over it instead of a deck, and it looks like a floating house with a family in it.

18. A steamer coming up--the _Wilhelm_. She came up the other side of the island.

19. A small boat going away from the landing. It is rowed by one man, with one oar, which he works near the bow on the starboard side. He has set the helm hard a-port, and tied it there, and that keeps his boat from being pulled round. I never thought of that way before.

There is a woman and a child in the stern of the boat.

20. There is a man eating his supper on the parapet below me, in front of the road. A girl has brought it to him in a basket. The man seems to be a boatman, and I think the girl is his daughter. She has a tin tea kettle with something to drink in it, and she pours it out into a mug as fast as the man wants it to drink. There is also some bread, which she breaks and gives him as fast as he wants it. There is a little child standing by, and the man stops now and then to play with her.

Now there is another man that has come and sat down by the side of him; and a woman has brought him his supper in a basket. I think it is his wife.

21. A long raft is coming down the river. It is very long indeed. It is made of logs and boards. There are twenty-two men on it, thirteen at the front end, and nine at the back end. They have got two monstrous great oars out; one of these oars runs out at the front end of the raft, and the other at the back end, and the men are rowing. There are six men taking hold of each of these oars and working them, trying to row the raft more into the middle of the river.

There is a small house on the middle of the raft, and a fire in a large flat box near the door of it. I should think it would set the raft on fire. This fire is for cooking, I suppose, for there is a kettle hanging over it.

22. Now the students are singing a song.

23. There is a great fleet of large boats coming up the river, with a steamboat at the head of them. They come very slowly.

24. The students have finished their drinking and smoking, and are beginning to come out into the road. They are walking about there and frolicking.

25. The great fleet of boats have come up so that I can see them. They are great ca.n.a.l boats, towed by a steamer. There are seven of them in all. The steamer has hard work to get them along against the current. It is just as much as she can do.

26. Four of the students are getting into a small boat. One of them has a flag. Now they are putting off from the sh.o.r.e. They are going out to take a sail.

27. The fleet of boats is now just opposite to the window.

28. A large open carriage, with a family in it, is riding by. There is a trunk on behind; so I suppose they are travellers, going to see the Rhine.

29. Three of the students are walking by here. One of them--the middle one--is so tipsy that he cannot walk straight, and the others are taking hold of his arms and holding him up. I suppose they are going to see if they cannot walk him sober.

They have gone off away down the road.

30. Here comes an elegant carriage and two outriders. The outriders are dressed in a sort of uniform, and they are riding on horseback a little way before the carriage. They go very fast. There is a gentleman and a lady in the carriage.

Now they have gone by.

31. Several parties of students have gone by, to take a walk down the road. Some of them are walking along very steadily, but there are several that look pretty tipsy.

Here are three or four of them coming back, riding the donkeys. They are singing and laughing, and making a great deal of fun.

32. Here is a family of poor peasants coming down the river. They look very poor. The woman has a very queer cap on. She has one child strapped across her back, and she is leading another. There is a man and a large boy. They have packs on their backs. I wonder if they are not emigrants going to America.

33. One of the students has got hurt. I can see him down the road limping. There are two other students with him, helping him.

They are going to bring him home. They have taken a cane, and are holding it across between them, and he is sitting on it and putting his arms about their necks. Each student holds one end of the cane, and so they are bringing him along.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE STUDENTS.]

The cane has broken, and let the lame student fall down.

They have got another cane, stronger, and now they are carrying him again.

Now they are stopping to rest right opposite to this house. They have changed hands, and are now carrying him again.

34. Here is a woman coming along up the river drawing a small boat. She has a band over her shoulders, and a long line attached to it, and the other end of the line is fastened to the mast of the small boat. There is a man in the boat steering. I think the man ought to come to the sh.o.r.e and draw, and let the woman stay in the boat and steer, for it seems very hard work to pull the boat along.

35. A boat with two women in it, and a man to row, is going across the river to the Nuns' Island. Now they are landing. The women are walking up towards the nunnery, under the trees, and the man is fastening his boat.

36. The students are gathering on the landing. I think that, perhaps, they are going back to Bonn in small boats. It is beginning to be dark, and time for them to go home.[10] Yes, they are crowding into two or three boats. The boats are getting very full. If they are not careful they will upset.

[Footnote 10: This Rollo wrote in the latter part of the evening, in his room.]

The boats are pushing off from the sh.o.r.e. There are three boats, with two flags flying in each. They are drifting out into the current. The students have got one or two oars out, but they are not rowing much. The current carries them down fast enough without rowing.

37. I can hear the bells ringing or tolling, away down the river, the air is so still. I think it must be the bells of Bonn.

38. The students' boats are all drifting down just opposite our windows.

They are going sidewise, and backwards, and every way, and are all entangled together. The students on board are calling out to one another, and laughing, and having a great time. Some of them are trying to sing, but the rest will not listen. If they are not very careful they will upset some of those boats before they get to Bonn.

39. Here comes a carriage driving slowly down the road, with four students in it. Two of them are hanging down their heads and holding them with their hands, as if they had dreadful headaches. They look very sick. The other two students seem pretty well. I suppose they are going in the carriage with the sick ones to take care of them.

It is getting too dark for me to see any more