STATE OF THE RIVER. 71 being a desperate character, 'for,' said he, 'look at that dangerous weapon he wears at his side,' pointing to the clasp knife that the Captain invariably wore. One of the natives, however, endeavoured to allay his fears, by assuring him that we did not appear to be at all vicious, and that he had seen us using such knives at our luncheon, which we had agreed in the morning should be sent to us from the hotel. They asked us if we at all knew the nature of our undertaking in trusting ourselves in so small a boat upon the Rhine, and they recommended us by all means to take a pilot, for there were many very large and dangerous rocks in the river, and the stream ran an incredible number of miles in the hour. But we respectfully declined doing anything of the kind, for we knew that had we listened to their advice, we should have got into trouble, everybody there being of course unaccustomed to so light a craft, however well they might know the river; more than this, we doubted if any one could have been persuaded to trust himself in the boat with us. On the return of the Professor, we loaded the small boys with knapsacks and oars, and shouldering the boat, commenced carrying her towards the Rhine, having divested ourselves of shoes and 72 TRIUMPHAL PROCESSION. stockings, and tucked up our unmentionables after the fashion of mud-larks, for we had to walk through a swamp on our way. Our hotel-keeper pluckily laid hold of the bows of the boat, and assisted us the whole of the distance, and the crowd that accompanied us having struck up 'Malbrouck s'en va t'en guerre,' away we marched, forming altogether a rather imposing procession. Our admiring companions did not seem to believe that, after they had warned us of rapids, rocks, whirlpools, and other great dangers, which they said we must inevitably encounter, we were really about to trust ourselves on the Rhine, until they saw us fairly in the boat, and then they exclaimed, 'We grieve to think what will become of you; be assured that if you persist in this your rash attempt, you will never reach Strasburg.' And one old gentleman, who had hitherto been silent, cried out, 'Ah, my dear young friends, you will never see England again.' But we pushed off, and amid hearty cheers, pulled away from them at the rate of ten miles an hour. We had not gone far, when we noticed a peculiar hissing noise in the water, which we could no ways account for, save that perhaps that was the manner in which the water nymphs of the noble STORMS NEAR BASLE. 73 river expressed their disapprobation of our conduct; at times it grew so loud, that it seemed as if the bottom boards of the boat were cracking, or rather as if the whole of the bottom of the boat was being fried in a large frying-pan. We noticed this several times afterwards, but never so particularly as on this evening. When As there were evident appearances of a thunderstorm coming on, we determined on putting in at Neumburg for the night, and accordingly ran the boat into the nearest point to the town, which is distant about a mile from the river bank. we had taken the traps out of the boat, we moored her in a small pool, and left her in charge of a ferryman, whose hut was close at hand; we then shouldered the oars and knapsacks, and made away for the town. Presently we were met by a brace of gendarmes of a most medieval cut, who, from their manner and gesticulations, must have taken us for brigands at the very least. To be sure, we had not a very prepossessing appearance, for the morning's work at the boat, and the evening's walk with the boat (through the above mentioned swamp), had the effect of imparting very varied tints to our at all times extraordinary costume; this, coupled with the wonderful implements we carried, 74 SUSPICIOUS CHARACTERS. and our extreme unwillingness to drop them even for one instant, raised suspicion and ire in the heart of the gendarmes, who insisted on taking charge of us as far as the town. In vain did the Professor expostulate, in vain did he endeavour to show that we were a harmless lot. Harmless, indeed,' said one of them; 'what do all these weapons mean? why look at this (the boat-hook), you could kill a man with this! you must have that iron spike removed before you enter Neumburg; it shall be returned to you, but it cannot be allowed to remain at the end of that spear. Yes, and those daggers, too (our clasp knives), you must give them up, you must indeed.* Fortunately, on our way, we met with an individual who understood a little English in addition to his German and French; he read and *This circumstance reminds the writer of something that occurred to him in 1846, whilst making a pedestrian tour with his brother through Northamptonshire. He had just finished making a sketch of the market cross of Irthlingborough, when going in to the bar of the hotel to order luncheon, a little dog which lay on the hearth began to bark. 'Oh!' said the landlord, 'doan't mind him, he allus barks when any suspicious-looking characters comes in.' Once, in walking through Cornwall, he was asked, 'You sell tea, do'ee ?' But the fact is that country people in England imagine that any one travelling with a knapsack must necessarily be a tramp. |