After some hesitation the boys agreed to both these terms, and so it was decided that they were to go down the river. The steamer which they were to take was to sail at nine o'clock, and so they ordered breakfast at eight. Mr. George said that he would go down with them in the morning to the Broomielaw, and see them sail. CHAPTER V. DOWN THE CLYDE. The boys returned in safety from their excursion about three o'clock in the afternoon. In fulfilment of their promise they immediately went to their room, and wrote their several accounts of the expedition. They agreed together that, in order to avoid repetitions, Waldron should dwell most upon the first part of the trip, and Rollo upon the last part. The following is the account that Waldron wrote:-- "ACCOUNT OF OUR TRIP. "First, there was a man standing by the plank, that asked us if we had got our tickets. We told him no. Then he showed us where to go and get them. It was at a little office on the pier. The price of the tickets was a shilling. "The steamboat was not very large. There was no saloon on deck, and no awning, but only seats on deck, and many people sitting on them. "There was a boy among them who had a kilt on. It was the first kilt I ever saw.[C] [C] It would have been better if Waldron had described the kilt; but I suppose he thought he could not describe it very well. It is a garment peculiar to the Scotch. It consists of a sort of sack or jacket, with a skirt attached to it below, which comes down just below the knees. The skirt is plaited upon the lower edge of the jacket, and hangs pretty full. "We soon began to go down the river. The sides of the river were walled up, to form piers, all along, and there were a great many ships and steamers moored to them. I saw several American vessels among them. "By and by, when we got below the town, the river grew wider, and the banks were sloping, but they were paved all the way with large stones. This was to prevent their being washed away by the swell of the steamers. There were a great many steamers going up and down, which kept the water all the time a-swashing against the banks. "I went up on the bridge where the captain stood. There were good steps to go up, on the side of the paddle box. Rollo would not go. I had a fine lookout from the bridge. The captain was there. He told me a good many things about the river. He said that the river used to be only five feet deep, and now it was almost twenty, all the way from the sea. They dug it out with dredging machines. "I asked him what they did with the mud. He said they hauled it away, and spread it on the land in the country. They made a railroad, he said, on purpose to take the mud away to where it was wanted. "Presently we began to come to the ship yards. There was an immense number of iron ships on the stocks, building. The workmen made a great noise with their hammers, heading the rivets. There seemed to be thousands of hammers going at a time.