final _bob_, and held on until assistance came, when
the poor animal, half dead with fright, was drawn from the water.

At last the steamer moved away from the wharf, and in an hour or less
the little pier at Giessbach received us. There is a tiny valley, one
hotel, and a series of pretty cascades here. But all these are reached
by a smooth road, winding back upon itself continually, and so steep
that carriages do not ascend it. You must walk, or rather climb it, for
twenty minutes, or accept the disagreeable alternative of being carried
up by two men in a chair, resting on poles. The day was warm; our arms
were weighed down with satchels, &c.; but we pressed on, while,
commenting upon our personal peculiarities in dress, gait, and general
air, as they looked down upon us from the height we almost despaired of
gaining, were the complacent, comfortable souls, who always reach these
desirable places the day before any one else, and, in the freshest
possible toilets, sit, like Mordecai, in the gates.

It may have been droll to them; it was a most serious matter to us. It
was Saturday afternoon, and each one felt and acted upon the realized
necessity of outstripping his neighbor, in order to secure rooms.
Finally the gentlemen hastened on, our ambition failing with our
strength, and we were happy in finding comfortable quarters awaiting us
when we had gained the hotel at last.

It was the most delightful little nook imaginable when we were rested
and refreshed. Until then it possessed no charms in our eyes. It is a
little valley, high above the lake, towards which it opens, but shut in
on three sides by precipitous hills. Down the face of one the cascades
fall. Back against another the hotel is built, facing the lake; its
_dependance_, and the inevitable shops for the sale of Swiss
wood-carving and crystals, being ranged along the third side. The whole
place is not larger than a flower-garden of moderate size.

We were served at our meals by pretty, red-cheeked girls, in charming
Swiss costumes; and when we had been out after dark to see the falls
illuminated in different colors, while the rustic bridges, which span
the cascades at various heights, were crossed by these picturesque
figures, I felt as if we were all part of a travelling show, for whom
this dear little level spot was the stage, and that a vast audience
waited outside, where the walls of hills opened upon the lake, for the
curtain to fall. It was like the