time that they put their money in, the party that Minnie
belonged to came by, and the gentleman put in a silver coin called a
thaler, which is worth about seventy-five cents; so that Rollo had the
satisfaction of seeing that one of the four millions of dollars was
raised on the spot.

[Illustration]

CHAPTER IV.

TRAVELLING ON THE RHINE.

The steamboats and hotels, and all the arrangements made for the
accommodation of travellers on the Rhine, are entirely different from
those of any American river, partly for the reason that so very large a
portion of the travelling there is pleasure travelling. The boats are
smaller, and they go more frequently. The company is more select. They
sit upon the deck, under the awnings, all the day, looking at their
guide books, and maps, and panoramas of the river, and studying out the
names and history of the villages, and castles, and ruined towers, which
they pass on the way. The hotels are large and very elegant. They are
built on the banks of the river, or wherever there is the finest view,
and the dining room is always placed in the best part of the house, the
windows from it commanding views of the mountains, or overlooking the
water, so that in sitting at table to eat your breakfast, or your
dinner, you have before you all the time some charming view. Then there
is usually connected with the dining room, and opening from it, some
garden or terrace, raised above the road and the river, with seats and
little tables there, shaded by trees, or sheltered by bowers, where
ladies and gentlemen can sit, when the weather is pleasant, and read, or
drink their tea or coffee, or explore, with an opera glass, or a spy
glass, the scenery around. They can see the towers and castles across
the river, and follow the little paths leading in zigzag lines up among
the vineyards to the watchtowers, and pavilions, and belvideres, that
are built on the pinnacles of the rocks, or on the summits of the lower
mountains.

The hotels and inns, even in the smallest villages, are very nice and
elegant in all their interior arrangements. These small villages consist
usually of a crowded collection of the most quaint and queer-looking
houses, or rather huts, of stone, with an antique and venerable-looking
church in the midst of them, looking still more quaint and queer than
the houses. The hotels, however, in these villages, or rather on the
borders of them,--for the hotels are often built on the