“That,” he said, “will compel the hunters to lie down on their breasts to drink from the streams when they become thirsty. Then will come my opportunity.”
He was right in his conjecture.
Siegfried became tired and thirsty. He rode up to a stream. He threw himself on his breast to drink, exposing his back, on which was the patch, revealing the vulnerable place.
There he was stabbed by a conspirator employed by Hagen.
They bore the dead body of the hero down the Rhine, and lamented the departed champion as the barque drifted on. The scene has been portrayed in art and song, and has left its impress on the poetic associations of the river. You will have occasion to recall this story again in connection with Drachenfels.
“Our fifth night on the Rhine was passed at Mayence, at the Hôtel de Hollande, near the landing-place of the Rhine steamers. The balconies and windows of the hotel afforded fine views of the river and of the Taunus Mountains.
“Mayence is said to have arisen by magic. The sorcerer Nequam wished for a new city; he came to this point of the Rhine, spoke the word, and the city rose. It is almost as old as the Christian era. Here the Twenty-second Roman legion came, after its return from the conquest of Jerusalem, and brought Christianity with it, through some of its early converts. It was one of the grand cities of Charlemagne, who erected a palace at Lower Ingelheim, and introduced the cultivation of the vine. Here lived Bishop Hatto, of bad repute, and good Bishop Williges.
“Here rose Gutenberg, the inventor of printing, and here Thorwaldsen’s statue of the great inventor announces to the traveller what a great light of civilization appeared to the world.
“At Mayence we began the most delightful zigzag we had ever made,—a boat journey on the Rhine.
“‘If you would see the Rhine of castles and vineyards.’ said an English friend, ‘hire a boat. The most famous river scenery in the world lies between Mayence and Cologne. If you take the railroad you will merely escape it in a few hours; if a steamboat, your curiosity will be excited, but not gratified; it will all vanish like a dream: take a boat, my good American friend,—take a boat.’