He turned for consolation into the barber's shop, where he found himself the only customer, and no busy sound of "Next" greeted his ear.

But the barber, like all the rest, said that Niagara was not unusually empty; and he came out feeling bewildered and defrauded.

Surely the agent of the boats which descend the Rapids of the St.Lawrence must be frank, if Basil went to him and pretended that he was going to buy a ticket.

But a glance at the agent's sign showed Basil that the agent, with his brave jollity of manner and his impressive "Good-morning," had passed away from the deceits of travel, and that he was now inherited by his widow, who in turn was absent, and temporarily represented by their son.
The boy, in supplying Basil with an advertisement of the line, made a specious show of haste, as if there were a long queue of tourists waiting behind him to be served with tickets.

Perhaps there was, indeed, a spectral line there, but Basil was the only tourist present in the flesh, and he shivered in his isolation, and fled with the advertisement in his hand.