a row, in a very calm and peaceful manner. At length they
reached the landing stairs, which were built curiously within the pier,
among the piles and timbers, and there they all safely disembarked.

On reaching the top of the stairs, Rollo found Mr. George waiting for
him.

"Uncle George," said Rollo, "here I am."

"Have you had a good time?" asked Mr. George.

"Yes," said Rollo, "excellent."

"And what became of Mr. and Mrs. Parkman?"

"I don't know," said Rollo; "I left them on board the steamer. She
declared that she would not come in a small boat."

"You and I," said Mr. George, "will go off to-morrow morning by the
first train, and go straight to Holland as fast as we can, so as to get
out of their way."

"Well," said Rollo. "Though I don't care much about it either way."

Mr. George, however, carried his plan into effect. The next day they
went to Antwerp; and on the day following they crossed the Belgian
frontier, and entered Holland.

[Illustration]

CHAPTER IV.

ENTERING HOLLAND.

Rollo and Mr. George went into Holland by the railway. It was a long
time before Rollo learned that in travelling from one European country
to another, he was not to expect any visible line of demarcation to show
the frontier. Boys at school, in studying the shape and conformation of
different countries on the map, and seeing them marked by distinct
colored boundaries, are very apt to imagine that they will see
something, when travelling from one country to another, to show them by
visible signs when they pass the frontier.

But there is nothing of the kind. The green fields, the groves, the
farmhouse, the succession of villages continues unchanged as you travel,
so that, as you whirl along in the railway carriage, there is nothing to
warn you of the change, except the custom house stations, where the
passports of travellers are called for, and the baggage is examined.

"Uncle George," said Rollo, after looking out of the window at a place
where the train stopped, twenty or thirty miles from Antwerp, "I think
we are coming to the frontier."

"Why so?" asked Mr. George.

"Because the Belgian custom house is at this station, and the next will
be the Dutch custom house."

Rollo knew that this was the Belgian custom house by seeing the word
DOUANE over one of the doors of the station, and under it the words
VISITE DES BAGAGES, which means _examination of baggage_. There were
besides a great many soldiers s