Rollo in Switzerland | Page 6

one of the benches to wait; but the little minute proved to be nearly half an hour. They were not tired of waiting, however, there was so much to amuse and interest them going on in the room.
"I am going to watch and see what the foreigners do to get their passports," said Rollo, in an undertone, to Carlos; "for we must do the same."
In thus watching, Rollo observed that from time to time a name was called by one of the clerks behind the desk, and then some of the persons waiting on the seats would rise and go to the place. After stopping there a few minutes, he would take his passport and carry it into an inner room to another desk, where something was done to it. Then he would bring it out to another place, where it was stamped once or twice by a man who seemed to have nothing else to do but to stamp every body's passport when they came out. By watching this process in the case of the others, Rollo knew exactly what to do when his name was called; so that, in about half an hour from the time that he went into the office, he had the satisfaction of coming out and getting into his carriage with the passports all in order for the journey to Switzerland.
When he got home and showed them to Mr. George, his uncle looked them over carefully; and, when he found that the stamp of the police was duly affixed to them both,--knowing, as he did, that those would not be put on till all the others were right,--he said,--
"Well, Rollo, you've done it, I declare. I did not think you were so much of a man."
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 1: Carlos was a Spanish boy, who was residing at this time at the same hotel with Mr. George. The manner in which Rollo became acquainted with him is related in Rollo in Paris. Carlos did not understand English, nor Rollo Spanish; but when they were together they usually kept talking all the time, each in his own way.]
[Footnote 2: A courier is a travelling servant and guide.]
CHAPTER II.
CROSSING THE FRONTIER.
On the morning when Mr. George and Rollo were about setting out for Switzerland, Rollo, having got every thing ready himself half an hour before the time, took out his map of Europe and asked his uncle George what route they were going to take. Mr. George was busy at that time putting the last things into his trunk and making ready to lock it up and strap it; so he could not come to Rollo to show him the route, but was obliged to describe it.
"Have you found Paris?" said he.
"Yes," said Rollo; "I have got my finger on it."
"In the first place, then," said Mr. George, "there is a railway that goes east from Paris a hundred miles across France to Strasbourg on the Rhine. See if you can find Strasbourg on the Rhine."
"Yes," said Rollo; "here it is."
"Then," said Mr. George, "we take another railway and go south, up the Rhine, towards Switzerland."
"Down the Rhine," said Rollo, correcting his uncle; "it is down."
"No," rejoined Mr. George. "It is down on the map; that is, it is down the page; but it is really up the river. The Rhine flows to the north. It collects the waters of a hundred glaciers in Switzerland and carries them north into the North Sea."
"Well," said Rollo.
"This railway," continued Mr. George, "will take us up from Strasbourg, along the bank of the Rhine, to Basle, which is in Switzerland, just across the frontier. It is there, I suppose, that we shall have to show our passports; and then we shall know if you got them stamped right."
"I did get them stamped right, I am very sure," said Rollo.
"Boys are generally very sure that what they do is done right," rejoined Mr. George.
Soon after this Mr. George and Rollo took their seats in the carriage, which had been for some time standing ready for them in the court yard of the inn, and drove to the Strasbourg station.
Rollo was greatly interested and excited, when he arrived at the Strasbourg station, to see how extensive and magnificent it was. The carriage entered, with a train of other carriages, through a great iron gate and drew up at the front of a very spacious and grand-looking building. Porters, dressed in a sort of uniform, which gave them in some degree the appearance of soldiers, were ready to take the two trunks and carry them in. The young gentlemen followed the porters, and they soon found themselves ushered into an immense hall, very neatly and prettily arranged, with great maps of the various railways painted on the walls between the windows on the front