The Danube from the Black Forest to the Black Sea — John Shaqi
The Danube from the Black Forest to the Black SeaMillet, Francis Davis
Philosophy
The Danube from the Black Forest to the Black Sea
Millet, Francis Davis
Canoes and canoeing; Danube River; Danube River Valley -- Description and travel; Europe -- Description and travel
had spread far and wide, and it was the hour of leisure, so the
Tuttlingers had assembled by thousands along the banks and on the
bridges to see the mad strangers come to grief in the cataract on the
great weir. The sight of the black masses of people stimulated us almost
to rashness, and, without mutual consultation, we steered straight for
some snags which had caught on the angle of the weir, and jumping out
into the knee-deep water, each of us shot his canoe over at the end of
the painter fastened to the stern and, holding the line, scrambled down
the incline where the water was shallowest, jumped into his canoe and
swept away under the second bridge. All this was done in very little
longer time than it takes to tell about it. When the three canoes
appeared almost simultaneously in the smooth water below the second
bridge, shouts of “Hip! Hip!” and “Glückliche Reise!” echoed from the
hill-sides to the towers of Honberg Castle. We replied in chorus
“Schneckenburger soll hoch leben!” and dramatically disappeared in the
gathering darkness. A half-dozen youths, ambitious to discover where and
how we were going to pass the night, followed us along the bank, and we
were loath to make our first camp until we had gotten rid of them. We
accordingly paddled on and on, scarcely able to see the banks, and at
last found an apparently secluded spot and landed. We hauled up the
canoes into the dew-drenched meadow, made our simple preparations for
the night, and lay down in the snug, warm cockpits. The first night in
camp is never a very restful one, and the unaccustomed and somewhat
cramped berth with all sorts of sharp projecting corners and the hardest
of floors, did not assist our slumbers. Nor did the visit of a bevy of
peasant girls who had ventured out from a neighboring farm-house, which
we had not noticed in the darkness, help us to lose consciousness as
they stood for a long time in the moonlight chattering in soft voices
and repeating the story of our exploit at the great weir, which had
evidently been related to them by the youths whom we had successfully
dodged when we landed. The heavy dew obliged us to cover up our berths
in some way, and we tried the rubber blanket as the proper article for
such a purpose. This was far too hot. Then we tried the deck hatches,
which shut down so closely that they left no room for us to turn over
and, besides, were as hot as the rubber blanket. So we passed the night
between fitful naps and impatient struggles with temporary roofs. The
sun had not begun to dissipate the river fog before we had taken our
plunge and were ready for breakfast. By general understanding, the
experienced cruiser, or Admiral of the fleet, was expected to do the
cooking, and he had made elaborate preparations for this duty. The other
two hungry members of the expedition watched the operation of preparing
this first breakfast with eager interest, listening meanwhile to the
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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