Johnny scampered down stairs, and before long Eric joined him in the hall, where the impatient boy was walking on his hands, with his heels in the air, by way of diversion.
“All ready?” he cried, and resumed a position more convenient and becoming for a promenade, as they started.
They had a fine, breezy walk.
Strasbourg is not far from the Rhine; and one of its tributaries, the graceful, sparkling Ill River, which, as Johnny suggested, is a very good stream, washes the city’s walls and supplies it with water.
This city is famous for its immense fortifications, its Minster, or Cathedral, and the Astronomical Clock of the Three Sages.
Its form is triangular, and the entire city is enclosed by a bastioned line of ramparts and several outworks.
There are seven entrance gates, and on the east side is a strong pentagonal or five-sided tower.
There is a network of sluices, by which the surrounding country can be inundated. Strasbourg is one of the most important fortresses and arsenals of France, besides being its principal depot of artillery. It is pleasantly situated, but most of its streets are narrow, with lofty eaves-drooping houses.
The boys were surprised to hear its inhabitants speaking German instead of French, but learned that the town was originally German, and was ceded to France in one of the Louis XIV. wars, when it became the capital of Bas Rhin, a division of France, on the eastern frontier.
In many of the streets of Strasbourg are little wooden bridges, similar to canal bridges. These are built over the Ill, which intersects the city in all directions.