everal
places for shooting at a mark with little spring guns, which were loaded
with peas instead of bullets. There were figures of bears, lions,
tigers, ducks, deer, and other animals at a little distance, which were
kept moving along all the time by machinery, for the children to shoot
at with the peas. If they hit any of them they drew a prize, consisting
of cake or gingerbread, or of some sort of plaything or toy, of which
great numbers were hanging up about the shooting place. All these, and a
great many other similar contrivances for amusing people, Rollo and Jane
saw, as they passed along; but they did not stop to look at them,
excepting when the gentleman and lady stopped whom they were following.
This was seldom, however; and so they went, on the whole, very steadily
forward, up the long and gentle ascent, until, at length, they reached
the great Triumphal Arch at the Neuilly Barrier.

CHAPTER VI.

A GREAT MISTAKE.

As they approached the arch, the children gazed upon it with
astonishment, being greatly impressed with its magnitude and height.
There were a great many men on the top of it. Their heads and shoulders
were visible from below, as they stood leaning over the parapet. They,
however, looked exceedingly small.

Rollo and Jennie would have liked to stop and look longer at the arch;
but they did not wish to separate from Adrienne and Antoine, who kept
walking steadily on all the time with their father and mother. Rollo
supposed, as has been said before, that this party were going to some
church; but they were not. They were going to a place called the
Hippodrome.

The Hippodrome, far from being a church, is a place of amusement. It is
used for equestrian performances, and feats of strength and agility, and
balloon ascension, and all similar entertainments.

The Hippodrome is a long, oval enclosure, with eight or ten ranges of
seats extending all around it, and rising one above another, like the
seats of the Coliseum at Rome. There is a roof extending all around over
the seats; but the area within is so large that it could not well be
covered with a roof. Besides, if there were a roof over it, how could
the balloons go up?

Then, moreover, the spectacles which are exhibited in the Hippodrome
appear to much better advantage when seen in the open light of day than
if they were under the cover of a roof, so long as the spectators
themselves are protected from the sun and from any sudden showe