up the
Rhine?"

"Tell us anything and everything you can remember,"

"That will be said more easily than done; but I will try to tell you a
few of my experiences."

Soon the pleasant sound of merry laughter floated over the sunny water,
for the student was a good talker, and he gave most lively descriptions
of people and places. He talked about gay Paris, until the girls
wanted to go there; and of beautiful Italy and Switzerland, until their
faces glowed, and their pulses beat more quickly. He told of the
fortresses on the Rhine, of the pleasant holiday resorts, whose names
are even more familiar to us than they were to his listeners, and for a
time they almost fancied themselves sailing on other than British seas,
and about to visit places which, in reality, their feet might never
tread.

They were not sorry, however, to come back to Northumbria, and the
resorts to which they were really going.

"Our destination is Warkworth, is it not?" asked Mary, after a time,
during which the student's narrative had not been interrupted.

"Yes, we are about to enter the Coquet now."

"Where does the Coquet rise?"

"In the Cheviot hills; and it flows for forty miles through well-wooded
scenery, which is called Coquetdale, and then falls into the German
Ocean, below Alnwick Bay."

"You must have been studying a gazetteer lately."

"I have been; and can tell you something more of the Coquet which is
interesting."

"Pray, do so."

"I know a little about it. It is famous for its salmon and trout, for
which it is greatly esteemed by anglers," said one.

"Among the pebbles which it washes up, cornelians, agates, and mountain
crystals, are sometimes found," said another.

"I wonder if we shall be fortunate enough to discover any of these
treasures!"

"I do not care to look for them; for when there are old castles to be
visited, I think a few little pebbles need not expect to be noticed."

Presently they came to the bottom of the hill on which the famous
fortress of Warkworth formerly stood, and there, at the landing-place,
they fastened the boat. The hill was steep, but the young people
enjoyed the fun of climbing it all the more for that; when they reached
the top, they were well repaid for their trouble.

"What a magnificent view!" exclaimed the student.

"Do you say so," cried Grace, "who have seen the beautiful spots in so
many countries? I am myself very proud of our Northumberland, but that
you should sh