Part 23 (1/2)

'He listened and looked; it was only the cat: But the bishop he grew ,near

'For they have swam over the river so deep, And they have climbed the shores so steep; And up the tower their way is bent, To do the work for which they were sent

'They are not to be told by the dozen or score; By thousands they come, and by myriads and ment had never been witnessed of yore

'Down on his knees the bishop fell, And faster and faster his beads did tell, As, louder and louder drawing near, The gnawing of their teeth he could hear

'And in at the s, and in at the door, And through the walls, helter-skelter they pour, And down froht and the left, from behind and before, From within and without, froo

'They have whetted their teeth against the stones; And now they pick the bishop's bones: They gnawed the flesh froment on him!'

”We passed ruin after ruin which the boatman said were 'robber castles'

”'And what do you mean by _robber_ castles?' asked Herman

”'The old lords of the Rhine used to collect tolls froarded as unjust, and hence the lords were themselves called robbers, and their castles robber castles'

”One of these castles, called the _Pfalzgrafenstein_, is said to resemble a stone shi+p at anchor in the river It was formerly a rock, with one little hut upon it, and it was associated with a touching incident of history

”Louis le Debonnaire, the son of Charlene, became weary of state-craft and the crown He felt that his end was near He desired to die where he could hear the waves of the Rhine He was taken to this rock, and there with the ebb of the river his troubled life ebbed away

”Most of the old castles are built on the narrows of the river These narrows are between high rocks and rocky hills They are in the Middle Rhine, or between Mayence and Bonn The Middle Rhine has some thirty conspicuous castles on its banks It is sometimes called the Castellated Rhine, and its narrows are termed the Castellated Rhine Pass

[Illustration: VIEW ON THE RHINE]

”On, on we drifted Every high rock seeateway to some new scene of beauty; wonder folloonder

”And now the water seeitated Dark rocks projected into the river; the vieas intercepted

”The boatman conversed in an anih rock with an interested expression and an incredulous smile

”He turned to us quietly and said,--

”'This is the Lorelei Pass'

”He presently added,--

”'That is the Lorelei'

[Illustration: THE LORELEI]

THE WONDERFUL STORY OF THE LORELEI