t. Those boys are all in league
with each other, Kendall included. There is a conspiracy to annoy me,
and to get rid of me; but they will find they have mistaken their man
in me, if they haven't in anybody else! Dr. Winstock, I tell you the
letter Duncan held in his hand was a fiction! I have been with students
all my life, and I know them."

"Why a fiction?"

"That Duncan, who is a very plausible young man, and a friend of
Kendall, mind, is at the bottom of all this mischief. He wrote the
Cologne letter himself. It was got up, and sent enclosed to the
postmaster at Cologne, who of course forwarded it to Rotterdam. It is a
trick to disprove the charge against Kendall."

Mr. Hamblin was very much excited, and developed his theory in full to
the surgeon, who quietly pointed out its discrepancies. He insisted that
the students of the Josephine had thorned and irritated him for the sole
purpose of getting rid of him, and that Paul was at the bottom of the
mischief.

"When Mr. Lowington has been among students as long as I have, he will
understand them better," he added, triumphantly, for he was satisfied
that he had established his position. "The Josephine is an utter
failure! The plan is absurd and ridiculous. The senior professor has no
authority; or it is divided with a boy who hates Greek!"

Dr. Winstock had heard quite enough on the subject, and it was a great
relief to him when the dinner-bell rang. At this moment three times
three rousing cheers came over the water from the Josephine. It was not
difficult to determine the occasion of this demonstration; but Mr.
Hamblin declared it was another evidence that the students in the
consort were all in league, and that the captain of her, instead of
being cheered, ought to be in the brig.

Before the dinner was finished, a Dutch steamer, which Mr. Fluxion had
engaged, came alongside the ship, and all hands were piped on board. She
then went to the Josephine, and received her company.

"This steamer does not seem to be much different from those we saw in
England," said Paul, as he seated himself with Dr. Winstock where they
could see the country on both sides of the river.

"Not very different, but it is very unlike an American boat," replied
the surgeon.

"The steering apparatus is not like anything I ever saw before," added
Paul. "The helmsman stands on a raised platform, and his wheel revolves
horizontally."

"All the Rhine steamers have that arrangement."