We, too, sought out our waiting carriage, and rolled away in the summer
twilight, down the beautiful road, wide and smooth enough to lead to
more dreadful places than the pleasant valley of Interlaken, where, for
a day at least, was our home.
The next afternoon, instead of spending the Sabbath here, we decided to
go on to Giessbach, on the Lake of Brienz, to visit the celebrated
falls. We had rested comfortably in the hope of a quiet day in the
little _châlet_, where more permanent arrangements had been made for our
disposal. But the enterprising member of the party, to whom we owed not
a little, in a happy moment of leisure, gave herself to the study of the
guide-book, the result of which was--Giessbach. We gathered our personal
effects together, under the pressure of great excitement and limited
time, reached the little steamer, fairly breathless, and then sat and
waited half an hour for it to move. It was not, however, a tedious time;
for there occurred an incident which engaged our attention.
"What do you suppose they're going to do with that calf?" asked the boy
of the party, who, like all boys, was of an inquiring turn of mind.
"They've got him into the water, and are poking him with sticks."
Upon this we all became immensely interested. A calf had fallen into the
water, between the pier and the steamer; but the fruitless efforts made
by everybody, interested or disinterested, were to rescue, not drown,
the creature, as a bystander would have inferred. Suddenly, as his own
struggles carried him away from the wharf and he was about to sink, a
white, delicate hand, bound with rings, and an arm daintily draped, were
thrust out from one of the cabin windows, seized upon the head
disappearing in a final _bob_, and held on until assistance came, when
the poor animal, half dead with fright, was drawn from the water.
At last the steamer moved away from the wharf, and in an hour or less
the little pier at Giessbach received us. There is a tiny valley, one
hotel, and a series of pretty cascades here. But all these are reached
by a smooth road, winding back upon itself continually, and so steep
that carriages do not ascend it. You must walk, or rather climb it, for
twenty minutes, or accept the disagreeable alternative of being carried
up by two men in a chair, resting on poles. The day was warm; our arms
were weighed down with satchels, &c.; but we pressed on, while,
commenting upon our personal peculiarities in dress, gait, and general
air, as they looked down upon us from the height we almost despaired of
gaining, were the complacent, comfortable souls, who always reach these
desirable places the day before any one else, and, in the freshest
possible toilets, sit, like Mordecai, in the gates.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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