"Halloa! don't rear on your hind legs directly!" said Schwarz; "I didn't want to inquire too minutely. But, be that as it may, we can try it, at all events--if you don't like it, why, Lord bless you, you can give it up again. One takes to something else--better luck next time." Thus the matter was disposed of for the present, and five days passed away in a constant whirl of excitement, for everything that the young German saw and heard possessed the charm of novelty, and was invested with the magic of a southern climate, so that he several times hinted to Helldorf, that he felt an almost irresistible impulse to jump on board of the first ship that started, and visit the tropics. But every one dissuaded him from undertaking such a voyage, especially at that time of the year; Helldorf especially exhorted him to abandon these ideas. "For," said he, "we are destined for a temperate climate, and although we may force ourselves into the torrid zone, still, either we perish there, or become a sort of half-and-half, nondescript being, who, any one may see, is not in his right place." At last, Helldorf and Schwarz had terminated their respective businesses, and the latter allowed himself to be persuaded first of all to land in Tennessee, and visit the German settlers there. Selecting, therefore, the fastest of the nine steamers which, on that day, started up stream, viz:--the Diana--they got their things on board, and were soon flying up the river between the really garden-like banks of the Mississippi, where plantation succeeded plantation, and wide boundless fields alternated picturesquely with buildings concealed by groves of oranges and pomegranates, until now and then the dark, morassy, and primeval forest interrupted the blooming landscape once more, and stretched its waving boughs even to the strand, to which it clung with its winding creepers, as though it would not be parted from its cradle, the old Mississippi. FOOTNOTE: [20] The Levee in New Orleans, and indeed throughout Louisiana, is the dyke or dam thrown up along the Mississippi, which hinders the stream from overflowing the adjoining lands, which, when the waters are high, are on a lower level than itself. In New Orleans, it is more especially used as a landing place for steamers and a public promenade, and in general is the scene of the greatest bustle, on account of the constant arrival and departure of ships and vessels, while dealers and hawkers increase the throng and noise. CHAPTER VI. THE UNEXPECTED VISIT. And how were the settlers getting on in the meantime? Had they reconciled themselves to their new position? Had they forgiven Dame Fortune for having cast their lot out in a woody desert?