Part 10 (2/2)

”I want breakfast for two,” said Rollo, ”my uncle and myself. What have you got for us?”

The waiter repeated a long list of very nice things that he could give Rollo and his uncle for breakfast. From among these Rollo chose a beef steak, some hot rolls and b.u.t.ter, some honey, and some coffee. The waiter went out to prepare them.

In about ten minutes Mr. George came down. He took his seat by the side of Rollo; and very soon afterwards the waiter brought in what had been ordered. Rollo liked the breakfast very much, especially the honey.

It is very customary to have honey for breakfast in Switzerland.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 5: The zenith is the point in the heavens that is directly over our heads.]

[Footnote 6: p.r.o.nounced _Yoongfrow_.]

[Footnote 7: p.r.o.nounced _shamwawh_.]

CHAPTER VIII.

LAUTERBRUNNEN.

”Come, uncle George,” said Rollo, ”make haste. We are all ready.”

Rollo was sitting in a char a banc when he said this, at the door of the hotel. He and his uncle were going to make an excursion up the valley of the Lutschine to Lauterbrunnen, and thence to ascend the Wengern Alp, in order to see the avalanches of the Jungfrau; and Rollo was in haste to set out.

”Come, uncle George,” said he, ”make haste.”

Mr. George was coming out of the hotel slowly, talking with the landlord.

”The guide will take you to Lauterbrunnen,” said the landlord, ”in the char a banc; and then he will send the char a banc back down the valley to the fork, and thence up to Grindelwald to wait for you there. You will go up to the Wengern Alp from Lauterbrunnen; and then, after staying there as long as you please, you will keep on and come down to Grindelwald on the other side, where you will find the carriage ready for you.[8] But it seems to me that you had better take another horse.”

”No,” said Mr. George. ”One will do very well.”

Mr. George had a carpet bag in his hand. It contained nightdresses, to be used in case he and Rollo should conclude to spend the night on the mountain. He put the carpet bag into the carriage, and then got in himself. The landlord shut the door, and the coachman drove away. Thus they set out on their excursion.

This excursion to the Wengern Alp was only one of many similar expeditions which Rollo and Mr. George made together while they were in Switzerland. As, however, it is manifestly impossible to describe the whole of Switzerland in so small a volume as this, I shall give a narrative of the ascent of the Wengern Alp as a sort of specimen of these excursions. I think it better that I should give a minute and particular account of one than a more vague and general, and so less satisfactory, account of several of them.

Rollo had taken the precaution to have the curtains of the char a banc rolled up, so that he and Mr. George could see out freely on all sides of them as they rode along.

The view which was first presented to their observation was that of the lawns and gardens in the midst of which the hotels were situated. These grounds were connected together by walks--some straight, others winding--which pa.s.sed through bowers and gateways from one enclosure to the other. In these walks various parties were strolling; some were gathering flowers, others were gazing at the mountains around, and others still were moving quietly along, going from one hotel to another for the purpose of taking a pleasant morning walk or to make visits to their friends. The whole scene was a bright and very animated one; but Rollo had not time to observe it long; for the char a banc, after moving by a graceful sweep around a copse of shrubbery, pa.s.sed out through a great gateway in the road, and the hotels and all that pertained to them were soon hidden from view by the great trees which grew along the roadside before them.

The coachman, or rather the guide,--for the man who was driving the char a banc was the one who was to act as guide up the mountain when they reached Lauterbrunnen,--turned soon into a road which led off towards the gap, or opening, in the nearer mountains which Mr. George and Rollo had seen from the windows of the hotel. The road was very smooth and level, and the two travellers, as they rode along, had a fine view of the fields, the hamlets, and the scattered cottages which bordered the road on the side to which their faces were turned.

”This char a banc,” said Rollo, ”is an excellent carriage for seeing the prospect on _one_ side of the road.”

”Yes,” said Mr. George; ”but there might be the most astonis.h.i.+ng spectacle in Switzerland on the other side without our knowing any thing about it unless we turned round expressly to see.”

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