r; and
so, after we had waited about five minutes under an arch which led to an
old door, _two_ men came with keys to let us in. Uncle George paid them
both, because he said the second man that came looked disappointed. He
paid the girl and the boy too; so he had four persons to pay; and when
we got in, we found that it was nothing but a Protestant church, after
all. I like the Catholic churches the best. They are a great deal the
funniest.

We went to see the Catholic church afterwards. There was a monstrous old
gallery all on one side of the church, and none on the other. Then there
was an organ away up in a loft, and all sorts of old images and statues.
I never saw such an old looking place.

As we walked along the streets, or rather the pathways between the
houses, we could see the rocks and mountains away up over our heads,
almost hanging over the town. They are very pretty rocks, being all
green, with grapevines and bushes.

Close by the town too, up a long and very steep path, is a monstrous old
ruin. The name of it is Rheinfels. I can see it from the balcony of my
windows. Besides, uncle George and I went up to it this afternoon. It is
nothing but old walls, and arches, and dark dungeons, all tumbling down.
There was a little fence and a gate across the entrance, and the gate
was locked. But there was a man who asked us something in German; but we
could see it all just as well without going in; so we said _Nein_, which
means no.

They say that a great many years ago the French took this castle, and
then, to prevent its doing the enemy any good forever afterwards, they
put a great deal of gunpowder into the cellars, and blew it up. I did
not care much about the old ruins, but I should have liked very well to
have seen them blow it up.

The waiter has just come to call us to go out and hear the echo, and so
I must go. I will tell you about it afterwards.

The man played on a trumpet down on the bank of the river, and we could
hear the echo from the rocks and mountains on the other side. He also
fired a gun two or three times. After the gun was fired, for a few
minutes all was still; but then there came back a sharp crack from the
other shore, and then a long, rumbling sound from up the river and down
the river, like a peal of distant thunder.

It is a gloomy place here after all, and I shall be glad when I get out
of it; for the river is down in the bottom of such a deep gorge, that we
cannot see out any