y
Yankees as were fussing over it would have had it all distributed to the
owners inside of ten minutes. Then the holders of the first three or four
numbers were let into the baggage-room, and when they were disposed of as
many more were let in, and so on. Each, as soon as he had secured his
baggage, was hustled into an omnibus destined for the boat. I was among
the first to get seated, but ours was the last omnibus to start, and when
the attempt was made, the carriage was overloaded and wouldn't start! At
last it was set in motion, but stopped twice or thrice to let off
passengers and baggage at hotels, then to collect fare, and at last, when
we had got within a few rods of the landing, we were cheered with the
information that "_Le bateau est parti!_" The French may have been better
than this, but its purport was unmistakable--the boat was gone, and we
were done. I had of course seen this trick played before, but never so
clumsily. There was no help for us, however, and the amount of useless
execration emitted was rather moderate than otherwise. Our charioteers
had taken good care to obtain their pay for carrying us some time before,
and we suffered ourselves to be taken to our predestined hotel in a frame
of mind approaching Christian resignation. In fact, when I had been shown
up to a nice bed-room, with clean sheets and (for France) a fair supply
of water, and had taken time to reflect that there is no accommodation
for sleeping on any of these European river-boats, I was rather glad we
had been swindled than otherwise. So I am still. But you may travel the
same route in a hurry; so look out!

We rose at 4 and made for the boat, determined not to be caught twice in
the same town. At five we bade good-bye to Chalons-sur-Saone (a pleasant
town of 13,000 people), under a lowering sky which soon blessed the
earth with rain--a dubious blessing to a hundred people on a steamboat
with no deck above the guards and scarcely room enough below for the
female passengers. However, the rain soon ceased and the sky gradually
cleared, so that since 9 o'clock the day has been sunny and delightful.

The distance from Chalons to Lyons by the Saone is some 90 miles. The
river is about the size of the Connecticut from Greenfield to Hartford,
but is sluggish throughout, with very low banks until the last ten or
fifteen miles. After an intervale of half a mile to two miles, the land
rises gently on the right to an altitude of some two to