CHAPTER V.
GREAT PREPARATIONS.
The day had come for the expedition to Cologne. It was a perfect day.The sky was blue and the sun shone bright. The children had a delightfultrip, and the zooelogical garden was beyond all expectation interesting.Nevertheless, when they went to bed that night, each was a littledissatisfied on looking back over the day. Each thought:--
"It was splendid! but what a shame!"
Yet each was thinking of a different disappointment.
When they went on board the steamboat in the morning, Mrs. Stanhopesaid:--
"Now, all come and sit here quietly with me; there are so manypassengers to-day that it will not do for you to be running about."
This prevented Oscar from carrying out his plan of going through thecrowd, to find as many fellow-countrymen as he could, whom he couldinvite to his great Festival.
Emma had cherished a hope that by some unexpected arrangement it wouldturn out that the boat would stop for a little while in sight of theruined castle, and she had brought pencils and paper, so as to be readyfor the fortunate moment, if it should come. She was greatlydisappointed when the boat shot swiftly by the spot, so that she hardlycaught even a glimpse of the chosen view. Fani glanced at herdespondently, with a look which said:--
"You see I was right. There's nothing to be done about it."
On entering the gardens, Mrs. Stanhope said again that they must allkeep together. No one must linger behind, nor hurry before, or theymight get lost; and they must not touch anything in the garden.
This was a blow to Fred, and took away most of his satisfaction inseeing the animals; and his martyrdom did not cease while they were inthe gardens. Here he heard great buzzing and humming in a bush, and helonged to see the wonderful insects that made it. There he sawbright-colored butterflies fluttering about the flowers; on one sidered-gold beetles were creeping in the grass before his eyes; on theother some huge lizards were sunning themselves on a rock. He must passby all these attractions; not stop a moment to examine them, not touchone of all this multitude of treasures. It was almost too much for him.He could scarcely keep his hands off.
Elsli walked silently along, scarcely able to enjoy anything she saw,for thinking:--
"They are all waiting for me; and I shall not come all day."
And so it was that all five, in spite of the enjoyments of the day, wentto bed at night with the feeling, "What a shame!"
But the next morning the thoughts of disappointment had passed away, andthey came out to their recreation in the garden with happy plans for theday.
Oscar had a great deal of business on hand. He must see the Fink boysand fix the day for the Festival. Then, Feklitus was to come to-day, andhe must be met at the station. They had put off the Festival till hisarrival, for he would be one countryman more, and that was worthcounting. Oscar had written him that there were three good hotels nearthe station; the Bunch of Grapes, the Eagle, and the Morning Star. Alittle farther on, down by the Rhine, was a magnificent house, as largeas the church and the school-house at home put together; yes, and sixdwelling-houses besides. It was called the Crown Prince. There wereRhine baths there, and many guests came for the sake of the bathing;perhaps this hotel was rather more expensive than the others.
Mr. and Mrs. Bickel immediately decided in favor of the Crown Prince, onaccount of the name, which certainly suited perfectly for their son, andalso because of the acquaintances he might make there. Of course, therewould be only the best of company there, since only those would go whocould afford to pay high prices. It was proper, too, to show peoplethat their son was a person who could afford to stay at the mostexpensive place. Oscar was therefore requested to engage a room forFeklitus at the Crown Prince.
When the time came for the children to go out and occupy themselves asthey pleased, Oscar went off like a shot. He and the Fink brothers werenow such fast friends that they could not pass one day without meeting,and had promised to remain intimate all their lives long. Oscar hadnever had such friends before. When they were together the hours flewlike minutes, for they had a thousand interests in common--their plays,their plans, their wishes for the future; they talked over everythingtogether.
When the hour came for Feklitus to arrive, they started for the stationtogether. In spite of the friendliness with which the Fink boys met thenew-comer, the greeting was rather a one-sided affair, for Feklitus wasnot accustomed to making friends with strangers. His trunks were handedover to the omnibus-driver, and the four boys proceeded to the hotel onfoot. Here he was shown to a very large room, furnished in splendidbright red satin, and with windows higher than the doors of mostBuchberg houses.
Oscar began directly to tell Feklitus the arrangements that were to bemade to-day in preparation for the great Festival to-morrow. Theflag-staff must be set in a hole in the ground, and held firm by stonesplaced close around its base, so that there would be no delay in themorning. Then he told him whom he had found to join the society and takepart in the Festival.
Feklitus' nose went up in scorn.
"A fine set of people you have collected! and all from the smallcantons, too!" he exclaimed.
"What do you mean?" cried Oscar, angrily. "Who was it that wanted toput on the banner, 'Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity'?"
"Well, I say that still," answered Feklitus, stoutly. "But I'll havefraternity with those I choose, and not with every one that comes along,as you do."
"Ho, ho! that's it, is it?" cried Oscar, still more furious. "What doyou understand, then, by equality?"
"Just what you do," retorted Feklitus. "I mean that we all have equalrights to do our own way; I don't care what other people do as long asthey let me alone to act as I choose."
"Oh, you're a fine Swiss!" cried Oscar, screaming with excitement. "Muchyou must know about the history of your country! Do you know what youwould be doing now if it had not been for the brave fellows from thesmall cantons? You'd be crouching before the tyrant's hat and lickingthe dust from his shoes!"
At this point the Fink boys joined with great liveliness in the dispute,and supported Oscar's side so energetically that Feklitus became excitedin his turn, and shouted that he knew the history of Switzerland as wellas they did, and that he had always been at the head of his class inschool. The quarrel grew louder and louder, and above all Oscar's voicerose the loudest, crying angrily:--
"We will show you by and by, when we are old enough, what fraternity andequality and love of our country means. We will found a society for thewhole of Switzerland, and every year we will celebrate the Feast of theFoundation, in which all the inhabitants of all the cantons shall takepart; and at the feasts they shall sit in the order in which theyjoined the society. The first members shall sit at the head, and thenyou will see who they are!"
"Yes; then you'll see!" screamed the Finks, and Feklitus raised hisvoice still more furiously:--
"Well, you won't come anywhere near the first, you St. Gall fellows, notby a long piece!"
Just here the door was thrown wide-open by a very elegant waiter, wholooked anxiously at the windows, as if he was afraid they had beenbroken in the fray. Then he placed himself in the door-way with a verypolite air, as if to intimate that he would there await the close of theentertainment.
Oscar found it quite time to lower his voice, and to invite his friendsto go with him to the place chosen for the Festival. The politespectator waiting at the door seemed to exercise a subduing influenceupon all the young patriots; for they became suddenly silent, andfollowed Oscar readily. He stopped at Rosemount only to fetch hisbanner, and then the boys went on.
When they reached the hill where the windmill stood, the banner wasunrolled and admired. The garland of Alpine roses was beautiful with itsbright colors and green leaves. On the other side Elsli had neatly seweda large circle of paper, on which Oscar had inscribed his favoritemotto, in large, legible letters.
The afternoon sun shone brightly on the hill and on the great sails ofthe windmill. It was a fine plac
e for a festival. The Fink brothersbegan to dig a hole for the flag-staff; and Oscar directed them, andwhen they were ready he held the staff upright while they filled in theearth around it, and piled up the heavy stones. Feklitus looked on.
Just before this, the owner of the mill had decided on a walk to visithis property. He was looking about inside, when unusual noises withoutattracted his attention. Coming to a window in the upper story, helooked down on the scene below. There, directly before his astonishedeyes, floated a banner, on which these words were plainly visible:
"Freedom we shout! Freedom for all! Freedom forever and aye! We will not yield till all chains fall, And tyrants are banished or die!"
He saw, too, that the boys were working hard to fasten the staffsecurely in its place.
"Hm, hm, so, so!" he murmured; "that's to be planted on my land! We'llsee about that."
He stood still at his post of observation, and watched the fartherproceedings. When the staff was firmly fixed so that it was not swayedby the blowing of the banner above, it was carefully drawn out, thestones were buried in the hole and neatly covered with sod. Thepreparations for the Festival were now all made, and to-morrow thebanner could be easily set in place, and the celebration go on.
Oscar had long had a speech in readiness. Now he cast one long delightedglance at the beautiful platform before the windmill, so suitable for aspeaker.
"At six o'clock to-morrow evening, not before; the others could not getaway before," he said to his friends. "The meeting-place is behindRosemount, by the three oaks. From there we shall march to music."
Then the four boys went down the hill, and at the main road theyseparated, promising to meet at the appointed time and place to-morrow.
Early in the morning of this same day, Emma had begun in her busy braina new set of schemes. On the trip the day before, she had seen somethingwhich had excited her inventive powers in the highest degree. At thetable at noon a keen observer would have suspected that something was inthe wind, from the unseemly haste with which the little girl devouredher food. She was too busy with her project to remember her manners!When they arose from the table, and Mrs. Stanhope, with hernever-forgotten politeness, dismissed them with "many wishes for anagreeable afternoon," Emma slipped lightly down the stairs, like alittle weasel, and into the kitchen. The fat cook looked up withsurprise from her cup of coffee; she could not get along without hercoffee at noon, whatever happened.
"Well, now, has anything gone wrong with you, miss?" she asked.
"Oh, no," answered Emma; "but I have a little favor to ask of you.Drink your coffee, first; do."
"I've finished. What do you want?" asked the cook, slowly rising fromher chair.
"My shoes are very dusty; will you please wipe them for me?" asked Emma,as politely as if she could not speak in any other way.
"It's hardly worth while," answered the woman, but she lifted Emma'sfoot upon a cricket, and began to rub it.
"And I want to ask you something more," began Emma. "Where do you getthose beautiful fish that we have on the table so often?"
"They come out of the water near by," answered the cook.
"Yes, of course; but I mean, does a fisherman bring them to you, or doyou go yourself to fetch them?"
"That would be a queer thing, if I had to trot round a couple of hoursbefore I could have fish for my frying-pan! There! your shoes are allclean again." And she laid the brush away.
"Does it take a couple of hours to go to the fisherman's?" asked Emma.
"Goodness me! I can't speak always as if I were on oath; if you want toknow how far it is, you'd better go measure it yourself, miss," retortedthe displeased woman.
"That's just what I want to do! Will you please tell me the way?" askedEmma; and she thanked the cook for brushing her shoes, like a littlelady.
"You go directly down behind the house, as far as the main road; goalong the road a little way, and then turn to the left along a narrowpath, till you come to a clump of willows; there you'll find thefisherman's house."
With many thanks Emma ran off.
"She is thinking of going a-fishing herself, I'm sure," said the cook,looking after her.
Emma rushed into the garden to find Fani.
"Come along, come with me! I know something nice! We can do it now!"and, dragging the boy along with her, the impetuous girl told him thatthe day before she had seen a fisherman out in his boat on the river,and she had made an excuse to go into the kitchen to speak to the cook,because she knew that children were not allowed there unless they had anerrand to do; and she had found out where the fisherman lived, and ofcourse they could hire his boat. In that they could go out on the river,and she would keep the boat still while Fani took a sketch of the ruin.If he could not finish it the first time, they could go again and again.It wouldn't cost so much to hire the boat that they couldn't take itseveral times if necessary.
Fani was delighted. But there was one difficulty.
"Who will row us, Elsli? I don't know how, and the fisherman couldn'tleave his work so long."
"I can row myself. I took four people out in a boat once, when I wasmaking a visit, near a lake, to some friends of mamma's. I have oftenrowed about alone. You don't know how skilful I am."
Fani was quite satisfied. He never dreamed of questioning Emma'scapability. They went down to the road, and, after looking about forsome time and retracing their steps, they found at last the narrowfoot-path leading to the left, and, after walking a little way, theysaw before them the clump of willows at a short distance. It was nownearly evening, for they had been a long time finding the way. The paththey had taken was twice as long as that by the river, by which Elsliwent; but they knew nothing of that. Under the willows all was still;there was nothing to be seen beyond but more willows, and the sound ofthe rushing river came through the silence to their ears. The childrencame in among the trees till they could see the water that flowedbeyond. There lay the boat not far from them, and behind the bushes aslender thread of blue smoke rising into the air showed them where thefisherman's hut was. A man was just going down to the edge of the water,and presently he began to hammer at something in the boat. Emma rantowards him, and Fani followed.
"Are you the fisherman?" asked Emma?
The man raised his head, and stopped hammering.
"Yes, I am; at your service," he answered, politely. "Do you want to buysome fish?"
Emma explained that they only wanted to hire a boat, just for an hour ortwo; not to go far away from the shore at all. The man looked doubtful.Fani looked like a steady little fellow. He ought to manage a boat;still, it was best to be prudent, so he asked,--
"Are you young people in the habit of rowing yourselves?"
"Oh, yes, it is not our first trip, by any means," said Emma. "We cantake care of ourselves"; and Fani was no less confident.
The fisherman said it was too late to go that day; he should need theboat himself, and there was some mending to be done to it before itcould be used. If they wanted it the next day, he would have it ready;they could take it themselves, if he was not there. They ought not to gofar from shore, and the young gentleman could use the pole where theoars wouldn't serve; he would understand. Emma promised to be careful,and they promised to pay on their return; and these arrangements beingcompleted to their immense satisfaction, the children walked happilyback to Rosemount, eagerly discussing their plans on the way. At thesame time Elsli came silent and alone along the little foot-path by theriver. All three came from the same place, but they knew nothing of eachother, for Elsli had not come out of the house till after the others hadreached the road. In the garden they met, and asked each other whetherthe supper-bell had rung. As they spoke they heard it; and, running upthe stone steps, they sat down to supper without farther questions, andeach was glad that the others asked none.
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