While I was looking down upon the rafts that morning in Heilbronn， the daredevil spirit of adventure came suddenly upon me， and I said to my comrades：
“I am going to Heidelberg on a raft. Will you venture with me？”
Their faces paled a little， but they assented with as good a grace as they could. Harris wanted to cable his mother— thought it his duty to do that， as he was all she had in this world — so， while he attended to this， I went down to the longest and f？inest raft and hailed the captain with a hearty “Ahoy， shipmate！” which put us upon pleasant terms at once， and we entered upon business. I said we were on a pedestrian tour to Heidelberg， and would like to take passage with him. I said this partly through young Z， who spoke German very well， and partly through Mr. X who spoke it peculiarly. I can understand German as well as the maniac that invented it， but I talk it best through an interpreter.