CHAPTER IX.UNCLE JOHN.
When Eric returned to Gravenhaag, whom should he see but his uncle, Mr. Van Rasseulger? And he being the last person in the world that Eric would have thought of meeting there, of course he was decidedly surprised.
“Uncle John!” he exclaimed, joyfully. “Who would have thought of seeing you here?”
“You wouldn’t, I’ll wager, young man, or you’d not have gone wild goosing it over the water at Amsterdam.”
“I’ve had a glorious time!” exclaimed Eric. “I’ve been walking upon the bottom of the Zuyder Zee.”
“It’s high time somebody arrived to look after you.”
“But, uncle John, it was perfectly safe. Mr. Lacelle is an experienced diver; and the landlord under whose care papa left me gave me permission. Besides, nothing happened—”
“How stout and healthy you have grown!” exclaimed Mr. Van Rasseulger, interrupting Eric. “If Johnny has improved as much as you have, I shall send him abroad frequently.”
“How is Johnny? He was ill when uncle Charlie wrote to me.”
“Ill!” exclaimed Johnny’s fond papa, instantly growing anxious. “What did the doctor say, Eric?”
“Only that I must wait here a day or two, until Johnny was well enough to come on.”
“And where were they when he wrote?”
“At Paris,” said Eric.
“I meant to stay with you to-night,” said his uncle; “but I believe I shall take theboat to Antwerp to-night, and catch the Express to Paris. I must look after my boy.”
“O, please take me with you,” pleaded Eric. “Mr. Lacelle is going to stay at Amsterdam, and I shall be terribly lonesome here, all alone again.”
“Well, get your things together. Can you be ready in two hours?”
“In ten minutes,” cried Eric, gayly: “mamma did all my packing before she left. I’ve only to tumble a few things into my travelling-bag, and to feed myself and Froll.”
“The little monkey? I’ve made her acquaintance. We’re quite good friends.”
“Uncle John, if you haven’t seen the doctor or Johnny, howdidyou find me?” said Eric, who had been puzzling himself with this question for some time.
“Entirely by accident,” replied his uncle. “I arrived here about two hours since, and, finding all your names on the register, supposed I had stepped right into a family party; but then I learned that your father and mother,and that bundle of mischief called Nettie, had gone home, and thatMynheerEric had gone to Amsteldamme to explore the mysteries of the bottom of the sea. I was so frightened that if there had been a chance of hitting you, I should have gone directly after you.”
“I wish you had,” said Eric, “in time to have gone down into the water.”
Mr. Van Rasseulger, for all his talk about Eric’s expedition, was heartily pleased with his brave little nephew, and was thinking to himself such an honest, energetic, courageous boy would make his way well in the world.
Eric had no idea that he was a particularly interesting boy. He was large and strong for his age, easy in his manners, and had a frank, joyous countenance, surmounted by thick, brown, curly hair. His eyes were very honest eyes indeed, often opening wide in a surprised way, when they saw anything not quite right, and blazing and flashing upon the aggressor when they witnessed wrong,cruelty, or injustice. He had been brought up upon the creed, “First of all,do right; andbe a gentleman.” And being thoughtful, careful, and obedient, he was trusted and respected as few boys of his age rarely deserve to be.
Of course he had his faults. No young lad is without them. But the difference between Eric and other boys was, that when he became conscious of a fault in his character, he immediately set about overcoming it, and therefore soon got rid of it. But he was obliged to keep a very careful watch over himself, for little faults creep into one’s character faster than the little weeds spring up in the flower garden, and, like the weeds, too, if at once removed are almost harmless, but if allowed to spread and flourish they soon spoil the entire character, as the weeds spoil the garden.
While we have been moralizing, Eric has eaten his supper, neatly packed up the few things left about, and, with Froll and histravelling-bag, starts from the Vyverberg for Paris.
A very common-looking steamboat took them to Antwerp. There is not much to relate of their journey, for Eric’s adventures had so tired him that he slept all the way, only awakening to take the cars at Antwerp, and rousing once again to know they were passing through Brussels, and to hear his uncle say that the finest altar in the world was in the cathedral there. They arrived at Paris about noon of the next day, and, after considerable trouble, found that Dr. Ward had taken rooms in a hotel in thePlace Vendôme, whither they at once repaired.
Eric wanted to give his uncle and cousin a surprise. So Mr. Van Rasseulger did not send up their names, but they stole softly up the stairs, and opened the door.
Johnny was alone, lying upon the floor, with a very fretful, discontented expression upon his countenance.
He turned his head towards the door, andthere, upon the threshold, blushing and laughing, stood Eric; and, better still, behind him was papa. The child uttered a joyful cry, and sprang into his father’s arms, who hurried to meet him, exclaiming,—
“My boy, my Johnny-boy, what is the matter?”
“It’s only the mumps,” said Johnny, reassuringly, and holding out his hand to Eric. “O, ain’t I glad you’ve come!” he added. “It’s awful dull here, uncle Charlie is away at the hospital so much.”
“Well, how have you been, excepting the mumps?” inquired his father, relieved enough to find nothing serious the matter with his petted boy.
“Bully!” exclaimed John, very improperly. “See how strong I’m getting, papa!” and he threw out his fist suddenly, giving his father a very uncomfortable punch in the side.
“I’m glad you didn’t illustrate on me,” said Eric, laughing. “Uncle John, are you a tester?”
“I’m anattestor, certainly,” replied his uncle. “Johnny, if you demonstrate your power of strength so forcibly and practically, some one will apply oil of birch to you.”
“Then I’ll be in first-rate running order,” retorted Johnny, “and you’ll have to take me to Strasbourg.”
“Indeed,” said his father, “I think so.”
As they all sat, merrily talking, Dr. Ward returned, and was pleased and surprised enough to find his unexpected guests. His greeting was very cordial.
Eric he was particularly glad to see; he had been worried about leaving him so long, alone, at the Hague; and Johnny had been too ill to travel or to be left with strangers, and Eric was too inexperienced, his uncle thought, to go from the Hague to Paris alone. So it was quite a relief to find him safely at hand.
“And now,” he said, after talking about home affairs for quite a while, “I see my way out of a dilemma. I have been anxious to attendtwo or three medical lectures at Heidelberg, and if you will look after the boys for a day or two, I can have my desire.”
“Certainly; I will for a day or two. At the end of that time I must go home. Here’s this dutiful boy of mine, with never a word for mamma, Annie, or Adolphe.
“Well,” said Johnny, remonstrating, “you took me so by surprise, papa, that I forgot all about them.”
“Your filial affection must be strong,” said his father, laughing at him.
Johnny did not like this, and proposed to Eric to take a walk, and “see Paris.”
While they were gone, Mr. Van Rasseulger arranged with the doctor to meet them again at Heidelberg; meanwhile he would keep the boys with him for a week. They would leave Paris the next day, if John was well enough.
Dr. Ward thought he would be.
Mr. Van Rasseulger explained that he had been obliged to visit Rotterdam andHague suddenly on business, and must go to Vienna, in Austria, and start for home, within a fortnight.
“Don’t neglect to take the boy to Munich, and show him to his grandfather; and don’t forget your promise to ‘make him as hearty and strong as Eric,’” he said.
Poor little Johnny, in the interval between his own birth and that of his baby brother,—a space of seven years,—had been petted and pampered, and almost thoroughly spoiled. His temper had suffered with his constitution, and he became a delicate, sickly child. His parents, while living in New York, had lost three boys, and fearing to lose Johnny, too, had sent him to travel abroad, under Dr. Ward’s care. Mr. Van Rasseulger was a native of Germany, and thought there was no air so invigorating as that breathed in on German soil. He had great hopes of its curing John’s delicacy; and Dr. Ward thought that a strange country and traveller’s hardships would be excellent aids inrestoring the boy’s natural health and good-nature.
Meanwhile, Eric was seeing Paris under Johnny’s guidance. To be sure, he could not see much in a day; but he took a look at the war column in thePlace Vendôme, saw thePalace of the Tuileries, theJardin des Plantes, and entertained his little cousin with an account of his visit to the King of Holland, and his submarine diving, both of which Johnny thought very wonderful. Eric was not much concerned at seeing so little of Paris at the time, for he knew that the doctor intended to spend a month there, after visiting Munich. He bought a guide-book while out with Johnny, and then they returned to their rooms in time to see the doctor start for Heidelberg.
“Eric,” said Johnny, when Dr. Ward had gone, “I must show you the American railway here.”
“Why?” said Eric; “I’m sure that is the last thing I came to Paris to see.”
“Now,” said Johnny, importantly, “I suppose you think you know just what it is; but you’re quite as mistaken as if you were a donkey without ears.”
“John!” said his father, reprovingly.
“That was only a ‘simile,’ papa,” answered Johnny, roguishly, as he led Eric out again.
Sure enough, when they reached the railway, Eric found that his idea of it had been far from correct.
“It is nothing at all but an omnibus running upon rails,” he said: “I don’t see why they call it American.”
“It isn’t anything like as nice as our street cars—is it?” answered Johnny, with a flourish of national pride quite pardonable in so young an American.
Just then the conductor, supposing the two boys wished to be passengers, saluted them politely, exclaiming, “Complete, complete!” and the omnibus rolled off along the rails.
“What did he mean?” asked Eric, quite puzzled.
“He said the coach was full,” Johnny replied. “They are never allowed to carry more passengers than there are seats for.”
“That is still less and less like an American railway,” said Eric, laughing, and thinking of the crowded cars and overstrained horses he had so often seen and pitied, wearily perambulating the streets of New York.
“Let’s have some cake and coffee,” Johnny proposed, as they were strolling towards home. “I think French coffee is hard to beat.”
“When I was your age,” remarked Eric, “mamma almost decided to live in Paris; but I am very glad she did not, for I think New York a great deal nicer.”
Johnny led the way to a café—that is, a coffee-house,—and here they regaled themselves with rolls and delicious coffee.
Eric was shocked to see Johnny appropriatea couple of cakes and two lumps of sugar, left over from their repast, and convey them to his pocket.
“Why, Johnny!” he exclaimed, in a tone of mortification.
“They all do so,” said John, laughing. “A Frenchman thinks he has a right to everything that he pays for. Watch the others.”
Eric looked around and saw several Frenchmen, who had finished their lunch, following John’s example.
“Well,” said he, “if I should do that at Millard’s, how theywouldall stare!”
Johnny was quite pleased with his own importance in being able to show Eric around the city, and proposed several places that they “ought to see.” But the afternoon was waning, and a damp, chilly breeze sprang up, which Eric knew, from experience, was not at all good for the mumps. So he very prudently hurried Johnny home, holding forth Froll’s loneliness as an additional inducement.
CHAPTER X.STRASBOURG.
“Uncle John,” said Eric, the next morning, “do you think of going through Strasbourg, when we leave for Munich?”
“No,” said his uncle; “I have business to attend to on another route.”
“But, papa,” expostulated Johnny, “we want to see the great clock in the Strasbourg Cathedral.”
“It will be impossible for me to go,” Mr. Van Rasseulger said, very decidedly; but seeing that both the boys were greatly disappointed, he added, “If you could be a sober boy, Johnny, I might trust you alone with Eric, and you might go to Switzerland bythe Strasbourg route, meeting me at Lucerne.”
“By ourselves? O, how jolly!” Johnny exclaimed, turning a somersault upon the floor.
“But the question is, my boy,CanI trust you?”
“O, papa!”
“I will consider it, John. I can trust Eric, but your inclinations are apt to be rather unsteady.”
That was certainly true, for Johnny’s inclination just then was, back parallel with the floor, heels at a right angle with his head.
“But I think I will try you,” continued his father. “I shall put you under Eric’s care, and require you to obey and refer to him. You may start to-morrow morning, which will give you time to spend a day and night at Strasbourg, and to meet me at Lucerne, on the evening of the day after to-morrow.”
“Hurrah! hurrah!” screamed Johnny,leaping to his feet, “hurrah for Strasbourg and its wonderful clock! Three cheers for—Good gracious!”
The excited boy’s exuberant spirits went up with Eric’s guide-book to the ceiling of the room, and returned in bewilderment as the unfortunate book came down in a basin of water in which he had been sailing his magnetic ship.
“An encouraging beginning that,” remarked his father, gravely.
“I didn’t mean to, Eric,” Johnny said quite meekly; “I guess ‘twill dry in the sun.”
“Then you had better put it there,” said Mr. Van Rasseulger; “you are tearing the leaves by holding the book in your wet hands.” Johnny spread the guide-book upon a sunny window-seat, listening with interest to Eric’s proposal.
“I must study the route on the map down stairs; and if you are willing, uncle John, I will go out now with Johnny and get the tickets.”
“Certainly,” said his uncle; “but my advice would be to study a dry guide-book and the map before getting the tickets; there may be a choice of routes.”
This was excellent advice, as the boys soon found. There were three routes, and some time elapsed before they decided upon one.
At length they chose the shortest of all, as their time was limited and they wanted it all for Strasbourg. Their choice, therefore, fell upon the most direct route, it being straight across the country of France, and for a distance of about two hundred and fifty miles traversed by rail.
They consulted with Monsieur Richarte, the landlord, and their uncle, and decided to take an early train on the following morning. A ride of eight hours would suffice for the journey, and their early start would enable them to have a few hours for sight-seeing in the day and twilight.
But tourists should always allow for detention.For although Mr. Van Rasseulger saw them safely aboard the early train in the morning, an accident detained them at Vitry, and when they reached Strasbourg it was night—a dark, rainy, dismal night.
They rode directly to the principal hotel, a large, roomy, comfortable-looking place, and immediately after supper proceeded to their room for the night.
Before retiring, Johnny looked out from between the crimson window curtains, to see what he could of the city; but little was visible. Opposite the window was a little two-story house, with queer stagings about the chimneys. He called Eric to look at them, saying he guessed the chimneys were being rebuilt.
“No, Johnny,” said Eric. “You will find those stagings upon almost every house here. They are erected by the house-owners for the especial accommodation of storks that build in the chimneys and are the street scavengers of Strasbourg.”
“Are they?” said Johnny, sleepily; “well, let’s go to bed.” They were both very tired and sleepy boys, and prepared for a good night’s rest.
“I think I shall sleep well,” Johnny remarked.
“And I’m sure I shall,” said Eric. “I’ve travelled nearly six hundred miles since night before last.”
But they were destined to disappointment, for from the large, open fireplace in the room there issued, all night long, a continuous wailing, moaning, rustling sound, caused by the wind; added to which were the dismal groanings of the old storks and piping of the young ones.
It seemed to Eric that he had but just fallen asleep, when Johnny was shaking him and hallooing in his ear.
“Eric! Eric! it’s a splendid morning! Get up quick. I want to go out and see the sights. Hurry up!”
“Yes,” said Eric.
Johnny scampered down stairs, and before long Eric joined him in the hall, where the impatient boy was walking on his hands, with his heels in the air, by way of diversion.
“All ready?” he cried, and resumed a position more convenient and becoming for a promenade, as they started.
They had a fine, breezy walk.
Strasbourg is not far from the Rhine; and one of its tributaries, the graceful, sparklingIllRiver, which, as Johnny suggested, is a verygoodstream, washes the city’s walls and supplies it with water.
This city is famous for its immense fortifications, its Minster, or Cathedral, and the Astronomical Clock of the Three Sages.
Its form is triangular, and the entire city is enclosed by a bastioned line of ramparts and several outworks.
There are seven entrance gates, and on the east side is a strong pentagonal or five-sided tower.
There is a network of sluices, by whichthe surrounding country can be inundated. Strasbourg is one of the most important fortresses and arsenals of France, besides being its principal depot of artillery. It is pleasantly situated, but most of its streets are narrow, with lofty eaves-drooping houses.
The boys were surprised to hear its inhabitants speaking German instead of French, but learned that the town was originally German, and was ceded to France in one of the Louis XIV. wars, when it became the capital ofBas Rhin, a division of France, on the eastern frontier.
In many of the streets of Strasbourg are little wooden bridges, similar to canal bridges. These are built over the Ill, which intersects the city in all directions.
When Eric and Johnny took their stroll, it was market-day, and, even at that early hour, the streets presented a lively scene.
Carts and drays were the stalls in the open street, and people were buying and selling at a great rate.
The fish stalls were surrounded by storks; but the people seemed to mind them no more than the birds minded the people. These storks are great favorites with Germans. In Strasbourg they are as tame as our domestic hens, and it is very comical to see them strutting importantly about, as if they had as good a right to the sidewalk as the other citizens.
The boys returned to the hotel with ravenous appetites, but, hungry as they were, could not appreciate the described daintiness of a most apparently unpalatable pie, calledpâté de foie gras; so they were obliged to content themselves with other edibles and fragrant French coffee.
“Now for the minster!” said Eric, as they arose from the table.
“Theminister?” exclaimed Johnny; “what for?”
Eric laughed.
“Notminister, butminster. A minster is a cathedral church.”
“I don’t care much about the minster,then,” said Johnny, running up stairs on all fours. “I’ve seen cathedrals till I’m sick of them. But this clockiscurious, and I’m anxious to see it.”
“Johnny,” expostulated Eric, “walk properly. You ought to have been a monkey.—And that reminds me,” he added, “I must feed Froll and fasten her, that she may do no mischief while we’re at the cathedral.”
Little Froll received an ample breakfast, and her silver chain was securely fastened. Then the boys left her.
When they had been gone a while, and her breakfast had disappeared, Froll became lonesome, and cast her eyes about to see with what mischief she might best employ herself. But thoughtful Eric had placed every temptation out of her reach.
Meanwhile Eric and Johnny were viewing the wonders of the famous astronomical clock.
This clock is in the Strasbourg Cathedral. It was built in the cathedral, before its completion,in the year 1439, and was invented by Isaac Habrecht, a Jewish astrologer.
European clocks were first invented in the eleventh century, by the Saracens, and used principally for monasteries. They were very rude, simple affairs, and sometimes would only “go” when somebody pushed the pendulum, which was rather inconvenient than otherwise.
So wise mathematicians tried to make improvements; and some succeeded, among whom was Isaac Habrecht, who, in the fourteenth century, invented the most wonderful clock in the world, and called it the “Clock of the Three Sages,” because once in every hour the figures of the Three Kings of the Orient came out from a niche in its side, and made a reverential bow before an image of the Virgin Mary, seated just above the dial-plate, on the front of the clock.
It is built of dark wood, gilded and carved, and is sixty feet high. In shape it is somewhat similar to a church, with a tower oneither side of the entrance; and these towers of the clock are encircled by spiral staircases, which are used when repairs are necessary.
When Isaac Habrecht invented this wonderful clock, he meant it to run forever, always displaying to the good people of Strasbourg the days of the month, places of the sun and moon, and other celestial phenomena; and while he lived it worked admirably: but when he had been dead a while, the clock stopped; and as nobody else understood its machinery, it had quite a vacation.
After a while, however, the good people of Strasbourg took it in hand, and it was repaired and set going—only to stop again. Thus it went on until Napoleon’s time.
Strasbourg, originally a German town, was ceded to Louis XIV. in 1681; so the clock was French property, and Napoleon decided it must be brought to life again. Under the most skilful French and German machinists this repairing took place. It was eminentlysuccessfulthistime, and, when completed, was a great improvement on the old clock.
It will now give not only the time of Strasbourg, but of every principal city in the world; also the day of the week and month, the course of the sun and planets, and all the eclipses of the sun and moon, in their regular order.
In an alcove, above the dial, is an image of the Saviour; and every day, at noon, figures of the twelve apostles march round it and bow, while the holy image, with uplifted hands, administers a silent blessing. A cock, on the highest point of the right hand tower, flaps his wings and crows three times; and when he stops, a beautiful chime of bells rings out familiar and very musical tunes.
A figure of Time, in a niche on one side, strikes the quarter hours from twelve to one; and four figures—Childhood, Youth, Manhood, and Old Age—pass slowly before him. In a niche, on the other side is anangel turning an hour-glass. The clock is in the south transept of the cathedral.
Persons travelling abroad usually take Strasbourg on their route, to visit its cathedral,—the spire of which is the highest in the world, being four hundred and sixty feet high,—and to see its wonderful astronomical clock.
Eric and Johnny were very much pleased with the famous clock. The guide who explained and told its history to them was very good-natured, and even allowed them to ascend the tower of the cathedral, which, usually, is not allowable.
Here they had a most magnificent view, which I cannot attempt to describe, and only advise you to go and see it for yourself.
Before leaving the cathedral, they bought two photographs of the wonderful clock, intending to send them home, with a description of their visit to Strasbourg.
By the time their explorations were finished, Johnny declared that he was sohungry, he could almost eat one of those goose pies. The morning was quite gone. It would soon be time to take the train for Lucerne, and they must have dinner.
“Won’t Froll be glad to see us back!” exclaimed Johnny, as they reached their room; “she doesn’t like to be left alone.”
Eric had bought some nuts for the little creature, and went with them straightway to her cage.
The cage was just as he left it; the silver chain was there, too, fastened to one of the bars and to the tiny collar; but the collar hung dangling at the end of the chain, and Froll was nowhere to be seen.
CHAPTER XI.ERIC IN TROUBLE.
A thorough search was instantly made; but neither around the room, nor behind the furniture, nor upon the gallery roof, were any traces to be found of the lost Frolic.
“It is too bad,” cried Eric, in perplexity, while Johnny looked ready to cry. “We must speak to the landlord, and ask him what we are to do.”
Eric’s German was by no means perfect; but he managed to make the good-natured landlord understand their trouble. He made inquiries of all, directly; but no one had seen the little monkey since the boys had left her. He did not think it at all likelythat she had been stolen, for no one could get to the boys’ room without being noticed by some of the servants, and he was quite sure that she would return safely to her comfortable quarters; so he advised the boys to leave the window open for her, and to go at once to the dinner he had been for some time keeping for them.
His sensible advice was unwillingly followed; but Froll took no advantage of the window left open for her benefit.
Eric and Johnny waited and watched impatiently, until it was almost time to start for the train. Then Eric left directions with the landlord, in case the monkey should be found and captured; promising to send for her. He was just going to call Johnny, when he heard his voice, crying, excitedly, “Eric, Eric!” and hoping Froll had returned, ran quickly up the stairs.
“See there, what I found on the floor,” exclaimed Johnny, as he entered the room, and held up before Eric’s astonished gaze ajewelled ring, that flashed and sparkled in the sunlight.
“Good gracious!” exclaimed Eric; “on the floor ofthisroom?”
“Yes,” answered Johnny, “on the floor, just where you’re standing. It’s a mercy we haven’t stepped on it. Don’t you think so?”
“We must find the owner at once. Isn’t it splendid!” said Eric, admiringly; “three diamonds and an emerald; it must have cost a fortune.”
Just at this juncture the door opened, and the landlord, followed by a French officer and a civilian, entered the room. The landlord exclaimed, in German,—
“I beg your pardon, young gentlemen, but a serious loss has occurred in the house, and as you are about leaving it, perhaps you will be kind enough to let us inspect—”
“Ah! mon Dieu! il y ait!”[1]screamed the French civilian, darting towards Eric and John, and, snatching the ring fromJohnny’s hand, displayed it triumphantly before the landlord and the officer.
“I found it on the floor,” said Johnny. “Is it yours?”
“A likely story!” muttered the Frenchman.
“I’m very glad you’ve got it,” said Eric, with dignity. “My cousin found it on the floor a minute ago, and we were on the point of taking it to the landlord when you came in.”
Eric spoke slowly and distinctly, and with an air of honest truth that at once convinced the landlord. But the excitable little Frenchman, who had been clasping the precious ring, and murmuring, “Ciel, ciel! ah, ciel!” in an incoherent way, now sprang at Eric, and grasping him by the collar, exclaimed, angrily, “O, you fine fellow! you wicked one! where is my—my gold?—my gold? where is it?” and he gave the boy a series of shakes.
Eric’s anger was fully aroused. Withflashing eyes, “How dare you!” he said, indignantly, and, turning upon the Frenchman, flung him with some violence against the wall.
This made the little Frenchman still more furious; he would have sprung again upon Eric, but the officer interfered. Johnny, with his eyes almost starting from his head, had terrifiedly regarded this little scene, doubling his fists to aid in Eric’s rescue.
Eric turned indignantly to the landlord,—
“What is the meaning of all this? Are two defenceless American boys, your guests, to be openly insulted in your presence without protection?”
“Count D’Orsay has been robbed of his diamond ring and a sum of money,” explained the landlord. “He insisted that no person should leave the hotel without examination. That is why we came to you. He has found the ring in your hands, which is very astonishing, and he now suspects you of having the gold.”
The landlord spoke gently, and seemed grieved to be obliged to hurt their feelings, as he knew his implied meaning must.
Poor Eric’s face flushed hotly with shame and anger, while Johnny cried, furiously, “Eric, Eric, for pity’s sake send for papa! He will teach that hateful Frenchman what it is to call us thieves.”
“Be quiet, John!” said Eric, imperiously. “Come here.”
“Now, sir,” turning to the landlord, “please to let your officer search us, and then our baggage. Do it at once, for we are to leave Strasbourg directly.”
“Indeed!” sneered Count D’Orsay. “Perhaps you will not leave Strasbourg for the present. Search them, officer.”
The officer advanced reluctantly, and, by his expression of sympathy, showed himself much more a gentleman than the titled count, whose habitual politeness had been driven away by Eric’s powerful thrust.
The landlord, although deeply sympathetic,and convinced of their honesty, was powerless to resist Count D’Orsay. He was a German innholder, and the count a wealthy, influential French nobleman, with a proper warrant for searching his house. So he could in no way protect the boys from the indignity put upon them. But he hailed with joy Johnny’s suggestion to send for his father, deciding to do so at once, if they should be detained.
Of course no gold was found upon either of them, except that given to Eric for tickets and hotel expenses, and none was found in their baggage.
But just as they were preparing to leave the place, having been released by the officer, Count D’Orsay uttered an exclamation, and pointed to afauteuil—an easy chair—by the window.
“Celui-là!”
The officer stepped to the chair, and found, tucked between the cushion and the arm, a silk purse, full of gold pieces.
Eric and Johnny were horror-stricken, and the good landlord was dumb with astonishment.
The French count held up the purse triumphantly, and jingled the gold before Eric’s eyes, exclaiming, tauntingly,—
“It is mine, and I have it. Theprisonis yours, and you shall have it.”
“Eric, Eric,” cried Johnny, in agony of terror, “theycan’tsend us to prison. We haven’t done anything. We didn’t know the money was there, or the ring. O, what shall we do? Send for papa!”
Eric’s face was very white, and his hand trembled visibly, as he wrote his uncle’s address on a card, and requested the landlord to send for him.
Count D’Orsay wished them to be at once conducted to prison: but this the landlord would not allow, and the officer declared was unnecessarily severe. They might remain in their room, with a guard, and the landlord would be responsible for their remaining.
As soon as the detestable Frenchman had gone, Johnny threw himself at full length upon the floor, crying violently. Eric could not comfort him, but sat at the window, with a proud, defiant face and swelling heart.
Presently the kind landlord came again to them.
He had sent word by telegraph to Johnny’s father, and received a return message. Mr. Van Rasseulger would be with them by night.
This was comforting. And gradually the boys thought less and less of their trouble, and became quite interested in making conjectures with the landlord as to when and how the money and jewels came into their room, and if Froll’s disappearance could be owing to the same cause, or in any way connected with it, and if she would probably return at night.
“It’s an ill wind that blows nobody good,” said Eric; “and perhaps, by being detained here, we shall find her.”
Eric and the French Count.—Page 143.
Eric and the French Count.—Page 143.
“I don’t care what they do when papa gets here,” said Johnny, whose faith in his father’s power was limitless. “He’ll justfixthat Count D’Orsay.”
Meanwhile Mr. Van Rasseulger was whizzing rapidly towards them in the afternoon train, and another powerful friend was coming from an opposite direction.
[1]O Heaven! he has it!
O Heaven! he has it!
CHAPTER XII.“A FRIEND IN NEED IS A FRIEND INDEED.”
One, two, three, four, five, six, sounded a deep-throated bell upon the evening air, and then a chime of bells played Luther’s Chant.
“O, dear!” groaned Johnny; “that’s the wonderful clock; I wish we had let it alone.”
“Hark!” exclaimed Eric.
His quick ear had caught the sound of footsteps upon the stairway leading to their room, and he fancied them to be his uncle’s. He was right. The door opened presently, and Mr. Van Rasseulger was with them.
“Well, what is all this nonsense?” he exclaimed, grasping Eric’s hand, and drawing Johnny into his lap. “A good-naturedguardian lets you off for a good time, and you get into trouble the first thing.”
Eric related all that had occurred, a little embarrassed at Johnny’s admiring remark,—
“You ought to have seen him spin that little dancing Frenchman against the wall, papa. I wish I’d been big enough! I’d have thrashed him!”
“Hush, Johnny,” said his father. “Go on, Eric. You say he found the money in the fauteuil. How in the world did the things get into this room?”
“That is just what puzzles everybody,” answered Eric, earnestly. “Uncle John, howcouldit have got there? and the ring, too?”
“Where did you find the ring, Johnny?”
“Right here, sir, upon the floor, by Froll’s cage;” answered Johnny, getting up and standing in the place.
“It is very mysterious, certainly,” Mr. Van Rasseulger said, “and the strange circumstances give the man strong grounds for suspicion against you. Of course, it isabsurd to think that two little boys would have committed such a robbery; yet the ring was found in your hands, and the money concealed in your room, and therefore you are accused.”
“But, papa, can’t you take us away? We didn’t do it.”
“You silly boy, Iknowyou did not do it. But would you not rather stay and prove satisfactorily to all that you did not? I should not wish to take you from here while the faintest shadow of a suspicion lingered that you were guilty.”
“Nor would I wish to go,” said Eric, proudly.
“Well, then we’ll stay,” said Johnny, dolefully; “but I think it is dreadfully unjust to spoil all our good time. We Americans wouldn’t do so to a Frenchman.”
“I’m afraid we would, under such suspicious evidences,” said his uncle. “But you needn’t worry about it, boys; every cloud has a silver lining.”
“It isn’t pleasant to know we can’t go out of our room,” said Eric.
“No: I must arrange about that,” Mr. Van Rasseulger answered. “I will write a note to the American consul, and get you released.”
Eric started suddenly to his feet.
“I am sure I heard Mr. Lacelle’s voice,” he said.
“You couldn’t have,” said Johnny. “You left him at Amsterdam.”
“I did, I know I did!” persisted Eric. “There it is again: that is he! O, Uncle John, go out and tell him about it.”
His uncle left them, and before long returned, actually bringing Mr. Lacelle with him.
The diver was surprised beyond measure to find his favorite Eric in Strasbourg, and highly indignant at the circumstance which detained him.
“You are the most honest boy that ever lived,” he cried, and told Mr. VanRasseulger about the box of sovereigns. “But come, tell me all about this,” he added.
Eric again related the incident, beginning with his discovery of Froll’s disappearance, and ending with the charge of theft and threat of prison.
Johnny, who despite his dislike of Frenchmen in general, cordially liked Mr. Lacelle, was surprised to see his gradually increasing excitement as Eric’s story progressed. At its termination, he started to his feet, and rapidly pacing the floor, exclaimed, joyfully,—
“Ha! a bon chat, bon rat!”[2]
“What have cats and rats to do with it?” thought Eric.
“He is crazy!” thought Johnny.
“Ah!” thought Mr. Van Rasseulger, “can he see through the millstone?”
“Eric, your good name shall be cleared of all suspicion. Give me your hand!” exclaimed Mr. Lacelle. “I congratulate you, lad! I know who did the mischief.”
“Do you?” exclaimed the astonished boy.
“Yes, my friend,” answered the Frenchman, and darted from the room.
“Here’s a go!” cried Johnny, thrusting his hands into his pockets and striking an attitude; “he knows, and he hasn’t told us what he knows, and I thinkhisnose ought to be pulled.”
“Do be still, Johnny,” said Eric, “it’s no time for jokes. Uncle John, what could he have meant?”
“I am totally in the dark,” replied his uncle.
“I wish Froll would come back,” murmured Johnny.
“I have it!” cried Eric, suddenly, rushing from the room, by the guard at the door, and after Mr. Lacelle.
“Well,” said Johnny, “I wish I had!”
Count D’Orsay’s conscience was not quite easy in regard to the manner in which hehad persecuted the two friendless American boys. His suspicions had been aroused merely by the fact that they were about to leave Strasbourg; and the discovery of the missing articles in their possession had seemed at the time to prove their guilt conclusively. But upon reflection, the honest surprise expressed in little Johnny’s eyes, and Eric’s look of proud, indignant disdain, haunted him with suggestions of their innocence.
Might it not have been just possible that they did find the ring upon the floor, and did not know of the money’s concealment? But, then—how could it be so? How could the ring and money have happened in their room, and for what purposes? Yet, again, if they did intend to steal, they had given up everything. He had lost nothing; and the French government would not thank him for quarrelling with an American just at that time. He would send word to the landlord to dismiss the policeman and let the boys have their liberty.
Just as this conclusion was reached, there came a tap at the door, and the waiter entered with Mr. Lacelle’s card, followed closely by Mr. Lacelle.
Count D’Orsay expressed great pleasure at the unexpected visit; but Mr. Lacelle, waiving all ceremony, explained that he had come to clear his dear American friends from the disgraceful charge against them.
He then spoke rapidly, in French, to the count, who appeared at first surprised, then credulous, then convinced.
With sincere regret, he asked to be allowed to apologize at once, and begged Mr. Lacelle to tell him of some way in which he could make some amends for his unjust accusation.
“I wish you to be thoroughly convinced,” said Mr. Lacelle. “Place the articles upon the table, open the window, and conceal yourself behind the curtain.”
Mr. Lacelle did so.