Rollo in London

by Jacob Abbott

  CHAPTER III.

  THE RIVER.

  Mr. George and Rollo fell into the line of people that were pressingforward over the plank which led to the boat that the orange woman haddirected them to embark in; and they soon found themselves on board. Theboat was small and quite narrow. There was no saloon or enclosedapartment of any kind for the passengers, nor even an awning to shelterthem from the sun or rain. There were, however, substantial setteesplaced around the deck, some forward and others aft. Some of thesesettees were on the sides of the steamer, by the railing, and there wereothers placed back to back in the middle. There were not seats enoughfor all the passengers; and thus many were obliged to stand.

  As the boat glided along swiftly over the water, Rollo gazed with wonderand interest at the various objects and scenes which presentedthemselves to view around him. The rows of dingy-looking warehousesdimly seen through the smoke along the shores of the river; the rangesof barges, lighters, and wherries lying at the margin of the waterbelow; the bridges, stretching through the murky atmosphere across thestream, with throngs of people upon them passing incessantly to and fro;the little steamers, long and slender, and blackened by smoke, shootingswiftly in every direction over the surface of the water; and the spiresand domes of the city seen on every hand beyond the nearerbuildings,--attracted by turns the attention of our travellers, andexcited their wonder.

  In a very few minutes, however, after the boat had left its firststation, she seemed to be approaching another landing-place, and Rollowas very much amused to observe how the steamer was manoeuvred incoming up to the landing and making fast there. The pilot who had thecommand of her stood upon the wheel house on one side, and gave hisorders by means of little gestures which he made with his fingers andhand. The helmsman, who stood at the wheel in the stern, watched thesegestures, and regulated his steering by such of them as were meant forhim. There were other gestures, however, which were meant for theengineer, who had charge of the engine. This engineer, however, couldnot see the gestures of the pilot, for he was down among the machinery,beneath the deck; and so there was a boy stationed on the deck, near anopening which led down to where the engineer was standing; and this boyinterpreted the gestures as the pilot made them, calling out to theengineer the import of them with a very curious drawling intonation,which amused Rollo very much. Thus, when the steamer approached theland, the boy, watching the fingers of the pilot, called out, withintervals of a few seconds between each order, in a loud voice to theengineer below, as follows:----

  "EASE--ER-R-R!"

  Then, after two or three seconds,----

  "STOP--ER-R-R!"

  Then again,----

  "BACK--ER-R-R!"

  The engineer obeyed all these orders in succession as they were thusannounced to him; and the steamer was brought up very safely to thelanding, although the person who controlled her motions could not see atall where he was going.

  When the steamer was thus, at length, moored to the landing, a number ofthe passengers stepped off, and a great many others got on; and,immediately afterwards, the cables were cast off, and the boy calledout,----

  "START--ER-R-R!"

  The steamer then began to glide away from the landing again, and wassoon swiftly shooting over the water towards one of the arches of thenext bridge up the stream.

  "Now," said Rollo, "how are they going to get this tall smokepipethrough that bridge?"

  "You will see," said Mr. George.

  Rollo looked up to the top of the smokepipe, which seemed to beconsiderably higher than the crown of the arch that the steamer wasapproaching. How it could possibly pass was a mystery. The mystery was,however, soon solved; for, at the instant that the bows of the steamerentered under the arch, two men, taking hold of levers below, turned thewhole smokepipe back, by means of a hinge joint that had been made init, not far from the deck. The hinge was in the back side of thesmokepipe, and of course in bending the pipe back there was an openingmade in front; and through this opening the smoke, while the steamer waspassing through the bridge, came out in dense volumes. As soon, however,as the arch was cleared, the pipe was brought back into its place againby the force of great weights placed at the ends of the levers as acounterpoise. Thus the opening below was closed, and the smoke came outof the top of the pipe as before.

  SHOOTING THE BRIDGE.]

  As soon as the boat had passed the bridge, Rollo, looking forward, sawanother landing at a short distance in advance of them.

  "Here comes another landing," said Rollo. "Is this the Westminsterlanding, do you think?"

  "No," said Mr. George.

  "How do you know?" asked Rollo.

  "We have not come far enough yet for the Westminster landing," said Mr.George.

  "How shall you know when we get there?" asked Rollo.

  "I shall inquire," said Mr. George. "Besides, the Westminster landingmust be at Westminster Bridge, and Westminster Bridge is aboveHungerford Bridge; and I shall know Hungerford Bridge when I see it, forit is an iron suspension bridge, without arches. It is straight andslender, being supported from above by monstrous chains; and it is verynarrow, being only intended for foot passengers."

  "Well," said Rollo, "I will look out for it."

  "I meant to have asked you," said Mr. George, "while we were on LondonBridge, whether it would be best for us to take lodgings in the city orat the West End. Which do you think?"

  "I don't know," said Rollo. "Which do you think would be best?"

  "It is more _genteel_ to be at the West End," said Mr. George.

  "I don't care any thing about that," said Rollo.

  "Nor do I much," said Mr. George.

  "I want to go," said Rollo, "where we can have the best time."

  "Yes," said Mr. George.

  "And see the most to amuse us," said Rollo.

  "I think," said Mr. George, "on the whole, that the West End will be thebest for us. There are a few great things in the city to be seen; butthe every-day walks, and little excursions, and street sights arealtogether more interesting at the West End. So we had better take ourlodgings there, and go to the city when we wish to by the omnibuses thatgo down the Strand."

  "Or by these boats on the river," said Rollo.

  "Yes," said Mr. George, "or by these boats."

  Not long after this, the steamboat came to Hungerford Bridge. Rollo knewthe bridge at once, as soon as it came into view, it was of so light andslender a construction. Instead of being supported, like the otherbridges, upon arches built up from below, it was suspended from immensechains that were stretched across the river above. The ends of thesechains passed over the tops of lofty piers, which were built for thepurpose of supporting them, one on each side, near the shore. Thesteamer glided swiftly under this bridge, and immediately afterwards theWestminster Bridge came into view.

  "Now," said Rollo, "we are coming to our landing."

  When the steamer at length made the landing, Rollo and Mr. George gotout and went up to the shore. They came out in a street called BridgeStreet, which led them up to another street called Whitehall.

  "Whitehall," said Mr. George, reading the name on the corner. "This mustbe the street where King Charles I. was beheaded. Let me stop and see."

  So Mr. George stopped on the sidewalk, and, taking a little London guidebook out of his pocket, he looked at the index to find Whitehall. Thenhe turned to the part of the book referred to, and there he found a longstatement in respect to King Charles's execution, which ended by saying,"There cannot be a doubt, therefore, that he was executed in front ofthe building which stands opposite the Horse Guards."

  "I'll inquire where the Horse Guards is," said Mr. George.

  "Where the horse guards _are_," said Rollo, correcting what he supposedmust be an error in his uncle's grammar.

  "No," rejoined Mr. George, "The Horse Guards is the name of a building."

  "Then this must be it," said Rollo, pointing to a building not farbefore them; "for here are two horse guards standing sentry at th
e doorsof it."

  Mr. George looked and saw a very splendid edifice, having a finearchitectural front that extended for a considerable distance along thestreet, though a little way back from it. There was a great gateway inthe centre; and near the two ends of the building there were two porcheson the street, with a splendidly-dressed horseman, completely armed, andmounted on an elegant black charger, in each of them. The horse of eachof these sentries was caparisoned with the most magnificent militarytrappings; and, as the horseman sat silent and motionless in the saddle,with his sword by his side, his pistols at the holster, and his brightsteel helmet, surmounted with a white plume, on his head, Rollo thoughtthat he was the finest-looking soldier he had ever seen.

  "I should like to see a whole troop of such soldiers as that," said he.

  "That building must be the Horse Guards," said Mr. George; "but I willbe sure. I will ask this policeman."