"Yes," said Mr. George, "a great many of them undoubtedly do. We find,
it is true, every where, that the most intelligent and well educated men
will continue, all their lives, to believe very strange things, provided
they were taught to believe them when they were very young; and
provided, also, that their worldly interests are in any way concerned in
their continuing to believe them."

Just at this time, Rollo's attention was attracted to what seemed to be
an encampment on the roadside at a little distance before them. It was a
family of emigrants that were going down the river, and had stopped to
rest. The horses had been unharnessed, and were eating, and the wagon
was surrounded with a family consisting of men, women, and children, who
were sitting on the bank taking their suppers. Rollo wished very much
that he understood German, so as to go and talk with them. But he did
not, and so he contented himself with wishing them _guten abend_, which
means good evening, as he went by.

He went on after this, without any farther adventure, to the village,
and after attending church there, he returned with his uncle down along
the bank of the river to the hotel.

[Illustration]

CHAPTER IX.

EHRENBREITSTEIN.

The people of the Rhine have not allowed all the old castles to go to
ruin. Some have been carefully preserved from age to age, and never
allowed to go out of repair. Others that had gone to decay, or had been
destroyed in the wars, have been repaired and rebuilt in modern times,
and are now in better condition than ever.

Some of the strongholds that have thus been restored are now great
fortresses, held by the governors of the states and kingdoms that border
on the river; others of them are fitted up as summer residences for the
persons, whether princes or private people, that happen to own them.
About midway between the beginning and the end of the mountainous region
of the Rhine is a place where there are two very important works of this
kind. One of them is far the largest and most important of all on the
river. This is the Castle of Ehrenbreitstein. Ehrenbreitstein is not
only a very strong and important fortification, but it guards a very
important point.

This point is the place where the River Moselle, one of the principal
branches of the Rhine, comes in. The valley of the Moselle is a very
rich and fertile one, and in proportion to its extent is almost as
valuable as that of the Rhine. The ju