Having ordered my supper from the landlord, with a certain air of reserve, sufficient to prevent even an Alsace host from obtruding any questions upon me, I took my opportunity to stroll from the inn down to the river side.

There lay the broad, rapid Rhine, separating me, by how narrow a gulph, from that land, where, if I once arrived, my safety was certain.

Never did that great boundary of nations strike me so forcibly, as now when my own petty interests and fortunes were at stake.
Night was fast settling upon the low flat banks of the stream, and nothing stirred, save the ceaseless ripple of the river.

One fishing barque alone was on the water.

I hailed the solitary tenant of it, and after some little parley, induced him to ferry me over.