"I want to go down to Dresden," he said.
"'Tis a bad time of the year," one of the men replied.
"It is a bad time of the year, as far as cold is concerned; but it is a good time of the year for going down the river," he said; "for now that the frost has set in the river is low and the current gentle, whereas in the spring, when the snow is melting, it must be a raging torrent in some of the narrow defiles."
This evidence that the stranger, whoever he was, was no fool, silenced the boatmen for a minute.
"Now," Fergus went on, "what is the lowest price that one of you will take me and my horse down to Dresden for? I am disposed to pay a fair price and not more, and if you attempt to charge an exorbitant one, I shall take guides and follow the road."
"You would never get through," one of the men said.
"Well, at any rate I would try; and if I could not succeed by the road by the river, I would cross by some other pass. I have no doubt, whatever, I could get through by Graber and Zittau."
The stranger's acquaintance with the country again silenced the men. They talked for a while apart, and then one said:
"We will take you for twenty rix dollars."
"Do you suppose that I am the emperor, in disguise?" Fergus said indignantly. "'Tis but three days' journey, at most, and perhaps six for coming back against the stream."