The last day that Rollo spent in Paris, before he set out on his journey into Switzerland, he had an opportunity to acquire, by actual experience, some knowledge of the nature of the passport system.

Before commencing the narrative of the adventures which he met with, it is necessary to premise that no person can travel among the different states and kingdoms on the continent of Europe without what is called a passport.  The idea which prevails among all the governments of the continent is, that the people of each country are the subjects of the sovereign reigning there, and in some sense belong to him.  They cannot leave their country without the written permission of the government, nor can they enter any other one without showing this permission and having it approved and stamped by the proper officers of the country to which they wish to go.  There are, for example, at Paris ministers of all the different governments of Europe, residing in different parts of the city; and whoever wishes to leave France, to go into any other kingdom, must first go with his passport to the ministers of the countries which he intends to visit and get them to put their stamp upon it.  This stamp represents the permission of the government whose minister affixes it that the traveller may enter the territory under their jurisdiction.  Besides this, it is necessary to get permission from the authorities of Paris to leave the city.  Nobody can leave France without this.  This permission, too, like the others, is given by a stamp upon the passport.  To get this stamp, the traveller must carry or send his passport to the great central police office of Paris, called the prefecture of police.  Now, as the legations of the different governments and the prefecture of police are situated at very considerable distances from each other about the city, and as it usually takes some time to transact the business at each office, and especially as the inexperienced traveller often makes mistakes and goes to the wrong place, or gets at the right place at the wrong hour, it usually requires a whole day, and sometimes two days, to get his passport all right so as to allow of his setting out upon his journey.  These explanations are necessary to enable the reader to understand what I now proceed to relate in respect to Rollo.

One morning, while Rollo and Jennie were at breakfast with their father and mother, Rollo’s uncle George came in and said that he had concluded to go and make a little tour in Switzerland.  “I shall have three weeks,” said he, “if I can get away to-morrow; and that will give me time to take quite a little run among the mountains.  I have come now to see if you will let Rollo go with me.”

“Yes, sir,” said Rollo, very eagerly, and rising at once from his chair.  “Yes, sir.  Let me go with him.  That’s exactly the thing.  Yes, sir.”

“Have you any objection?” said Mr. Holiday, quietly, turning towards Rollo’s mother.

“No,” said Mrs. Holiday, speaking, however, in a very doubtful tone, ­“no; I don’t know that I have ­any great objection.”

Whatever doubt and hesitation Mrs. Holiday might have had on the subject was dispelled when she came to look at Rollo and see how eager and earnest he was in his desire to go.  So she gave her definitive consent.

“How long do you think you will be gone?” said Mr. Holiday.

“Three weeks, nearly,” replied Mr. George.  “Say twenty days.”

“And how much do you suppose it will cost you?” asked Mr. Holiday.

“I have made a calculation,” said Mr. George; “and I think it will cost me, if I go alone, about twenty-five francs a day for the whole time.  There would, however, be a considerable saving in some things if two go together.”

“Then I will allow you, Rollo,” replied Mr. Holiday, looking towards Rollo, “twenty-five francs a day for this excursion.  If you spend any more than that, you must take it out of your past savings.  If you do not spend it all, what is left when you come back is yours.”

“Yes, sir,” said Rollo.  “I think that will be a great plenty.”

“Twenty-five francs a day for twenty days,” continued Mr. Holiday, “is five hundred francs.  Bring me that bag of gold, Rollo, out of my secretary.  Here is the key.”

So Rollo brought out the gold, and Mr. Holiday took from it twenty-five Napoleons.  These he put in Rollo’s purse.

“There,” said Mr. Holiday, “that’s all I can do for you.  For the rest you must take care of yourself.”

“How long will it take you to pack your trunk?” said Mr. George.

“Five minutes,” said Rollo, promptly, standing up erect as he said it and buttoning his jacket up to his chin.

“Then put on your cap and come with me,” said Mr. George.

Rollo did so.  He followed Mr. George down stairs to the door, and they both got into a small carriage which Mr. George had waiting there and drove away together towards Mr. George’s hotel.

“Now, Rollo,” said Mr. George, “I have got a great deal to do to-day, and there are our passports to be stamped.  I wonder if you could not attend to that.”

“Yes,” said Rollo, “if you will only tell me what is to be done.”

“I don’t myself know what is to be done,” said Mr. George.  “That’s the difficulty.  And I have not time to find out.  I have got as much as I can possibly do until four o’clock; and then the office of the prefecture of police is closed.  Now, if you can take the passports and find out what is to be done, and do it, then we can go to-morrow; otherwise we must wait till next day.”

“Well,” said Rollo, “I’ll try.”

“You will find the passports, then, on my table at the hotel.  I am going to get out at the next street and take another carriage to go in another direction.  You can keep this carriage.”

“Very well,” said Rollo.

“You may make inquiries of any body you please,” said Mr. George, “except your father and mother.  We must not trouble your father with any business of any kind till he gets entirely well; and your mother would not know any thing about it at all.  Perhaps the master of the hotel can tell you.  You had better ask him, at any rate.”

Here Mr. George pulled the string for the carriage to stop, as they had arrived at the corner of the street where he was to get out.  The coachman drew up to the sidewalk and stopped.  Mr. George opened the door and stepped out upon the curbstone, and then said, as he shut the door, ­

“Well, good by, Rollo.  I hope you will have good luck.  But, whatever happens, keep a quiet mind, and don’t allow yourself to feel perplexed or troubled.  If you don’t succeed in getting the passports ready to-day we can attend to them to-morrow and then go the next day, which will answer nearly as well.”

Then, directing the coachman to drive to the hotel, Mr. George walked rapidly away.

When Rollo reached the hotel he got the key of his uncle George’s room, at the porter’s lodge, and went immediately up to see if the passports were there.  He found them, as his uncle had said, lying on the table.

“Now,” said Rollo, “the first thing I’ll do is to find Carlos and see if he will go and help me get the passports stamped."

So, taking the passports in his hand, he went along the corridor till he came to the door leading to the apartments where Carlos lodged.  There was a bell hanging by the side of the door.  Rollo pulled this cord, and presently the courier came to the door. Rollo inquired for Carlos, and the courier said that he would go and get him.  In the mean time the courier asked Rollo to step in and take a seat.  So Rollo went in.  The room that he entered was a small one, and was used as an antechamber to the apartment; and it was very neatly and pleasantly furnished for such a purpose.  There were a sofa and several chairs, and maps and pictures on the walls, and a table with writing materials on it in the centre.  Rollo sat down upon the sofa.  In a few minutes Carlos came.

“Look here!” said Rollo, rising when Carlos came in.  “See these passports!  We’re going to get them stamped.  Will you go with me?  I have got a carriage at the door.”

Here Rollo made a sort of whirling motion with his hand, advancing it forward at the same time as it rolled, to indicate the motion of a wheel.  This was to signify to Carlos that they were going in a carriage.

All that Carlos understood was, that Rollo was going somewhere, and that he wished him, Carlos, to go too.  He seemed very much pleased with his invitation, and went eagerly back into the inner apartments.  He returned in a very few minutes with his cap in his hand, evidently all ready to go.

“Now,” said Rollo, as they went out of the antechamber together, “the first thing is to go and ask the master of the hotel what we are to do.”

There was a very pleasant little room on the lower floor, on one side of the archway which formed the entrance into the court of the hotel from the street, that served the purpose of parlor, sitting room, counting room, and office.  Thus it was used both by the master of the hotel himself and by his family.  There was a desk at one side, where the master usually sat, with his books and papers before him.  At the other side, near a window, his wife was often seated at her sewing; and there were frequently two or three little children playing about the floor with little wagons, or tops, or other toys.  Rollo went to this room, occupying himself as he descended the stairs in trying to make up a French sentence that would ask his question in the shortest and simplest manner.

He went in, and, going to the desk, held out his passports to the man who was sitting there, and said, in French, ­

“Passports.  To Switzerland.  Where to go to get them stamped?”

“Ah,” said the master of the hotel, taking the passports in his hand.  “Yes, yes, yes.  You must get them stamped.  You must go to the Swiss legation and to the prefecture of police.”

Here Rollo pointed to a piece of paper that was lying on the desk and made signs of writing.

“Ah, yes, yes, yes,” said the man.  “I will write you the address.”

So the man took a piece of paper and wrote upon the top of it the words “prefecture of police,” saying, as he wrote it, that every coachman knew where that was.  Then, underneath, he wrote the name of the street and number where the Swiss legation was; and, having done this, he gave the paper to Rollo.

Rollo took the memorandum, and, thanking the man for his information, led Carlos out to the carriage.

“Come, Carlos,” said he; “now we are ready.  I know where to go; but I don’t know at all what we are to do when we get there.  But then we shall find some other people there, I suppose, getting their passports stamped; and we can do as they do.”

Rollo had learned to place great reliance on the rule which his uncle George had given for his guidance in travelling; namely, to do as he saw other people do.  It is, in fact, a very excellent rule.

Carlos got into the carriage; while Rollo, looking upon the paper in order to be sure that he understood the words right, said, “To the prefecture of police.”

The coachman said, “Yes, yes;” and Rollo got into the coach.  The coachman, without leaving his seat, reached his arm down and fastened the door and then drove away.

He drove on through various crowded streets, which seemed to lead in towards the heart of the city, until at last the carriage came to the river.  Rollo and Carlos looked out and saw the bridges, and the parapet wall which formed the river side of the street, with the book stalls, and picture stalls, and cake and fruit booths which had been established along the side of it, and the monstrous bathing houses which lay floating on the water below, all gayly painted and adorned with flags and little parterres of flowers; and the washing houses, with their long rows of windows, down close to the water, all filled with women, who were washing clothes by alternately plunging them in the water of the river and then banging them with clubs.  These and a great many other similar objects attracted their attention as they rode along.

If the reader of this book has the opportunity to look at a map of Paris, he will see that the River Seine, in passing through the town, forms two channels, which separate from each other so as to leave quite a large island between them.  This island is completely covered with streets and buildings, some of which are very ancient and venerable.  Here is the great Cathedral Church of Notre Dame; also the vast hospital called Hotel Dieu, where twelve thousand sick persons are received and taken care of every year.  Here also is the prefecture of police ­an enormous establishment, with courts, quadrangles, ranges, offices, and officers without number.  In this establishment the records are kept and the business is transacted relating to all the departments of the police of the city; so that it is of itself quite a little town.

The first indication which Rollo had that he had arrived at the place was the turning in of the coach under an arch, which opened in the middle of a very sombre and antique-looking edifice.  The carriage, after passing through the arch, came into a court, where there were many other carriages standing.  Soldiers were seen too, some coming and going and others standing guard.  The carriage passed through this court, and then, going under another arch between two ponderous iron gates, it came into another court, much larger than the first.  There were a great many carriages in this court, some moving in or out and others waiting.  Rollo’s carriage drove up to the farthest corner of the court; and there the coachman stopped and opened the door.  Rollo got out.  Carlos followed him.

“Where do you suppose we are to go, Carlos?” said he.  “Stop; I can see by the signs over the doors.  Here it is.  “Passports.”  This must be the place.  We will go in here.”

Rollo accordingly went in, Carlos timidly following him.  After crossing a sort of passage way, he opened another door, which ushered him at once into a very large hall, the aspect of which quite bewildered him.  There were a great many desks and tables about the hall, with clerks writing at them, and people coming and going with passports and permits in their hands.  Rollo stepped forward into the room, surveying the scene with great curiosity and wonder, when his attention was suddenly arrested by the voice of a soldier, who rose suddenly from his chair, and said, ­

“Your cap, young gentleman.”

Rollo immediately recollected that he had his cap on, while all the other people in the room were uncovered.  He took his cap off at once, saying to the soldier at the same time, “Pardon, sir,” which is the French mode of making an apology in such cases.  The soldier then resumed his seat, and Rollo and Carlos walked on slowly up the hall.

Nobody took any notice of them.  In fact, every one seemed busy with his own concerns, except that in one part of the room there were several benches where a number of men and women were sitting as if they were waiting for something.

Rollo advanced towards these seats, saying to Carlos, ­

“Carlos, let us sit down here a minute or two till we can think what we had better do.  We can sit here, I know.  These benches must be for any body.”

As soon as Rollo had taken his seat and began to cast his eyes about the room, he observed that among the other desks there was one with the words, “for foreigners,” upon it, in large, gilt letters.

“Carlos,” said he, pointing to it, “that must be the place for us.  We are foreigners:  let us go there.  We will give the passports to the man in that little pew.”

So Rollo rose, and, followed by Carlos, he went to the place.  There was a long desk, with two or three clerks behind it, writing.  At the end of this desk was a small enclosure, where a man sat who looked as though he had some authority.  People would give him their passports, and he would write something on them and then pass them over to the clerks.  Rollo waited a moment and then handed his passports in.  The man took them, looked over them and then gave them back to Rollo, saying something in French which Rollo did not understand, and immediately passed to the next in order.

“What did he say?” said Rollo, turning to Carlos.

“What’s the reason he won’t take your passports?” said Carlos.

Although Rollo did not understand what the official said at the time of his speaking, still the words left a trace upon his ear, and in thinking upon them he recalled the words “American legation,” and also the word “afterwards.”  While he was musing on the subject, quite perplexed, a pleasant-looking girl, who was standing there waiting for her turn, explained to him ­speaking very slow in French, for she perceived that Rollo was a foreigner ­as follows: ­

“He says that you must go first and get your passports stamped at the American legation and afterwards come here.”

“Where is the American legation?” said Rollo.

“I don’t know,” said the girl.

“Then I’ll make the coachman find it for me,” said Rollo.  “Come, Carlos; we must go back.”

So saying, he thanked the girl for her kindness, and the two boys went out.  As he was going out Rollo made up a French sentence to say to the coachman that he must drive to the American legation, and that he must find out where it was himself.  He succeeded in communicating these directions to the coachman, and then he and Carlos got into the carriage and drove away.

The coachman had some difficulty in learning where the American legation was, which occasioned some delay.  Besides, the distance was considerable.  It was nearly two miles to the place from the prefecture of police; so that it was some time before the carriage arrived there.  In fact, Rollo had a very narrow escape in this stage of the affair; for he arrived at the American legation only about five minutes before the office was to be closed for the day.  When he went to the porter’s lodge to ask if that was the place where the office of the American legation was held, the woman who kept the lodge, and who was standing just outside the door at the time, instead of answering, went in to look at the clock.

“Ah,” said she, “you are just in time.  I thought you were too late.  Second story, right-hand door.”

“There’s one thing good about the American legation, Carlos,” said Rollo; “and that is, that they can talk English, I suppose.”

This was, indeed, a great advantage.  Rollo found, when he went into the office of the legation, that the secretary not only could talk English, but that he was a very kindhearted and agreeable man.  He talked with Rollo in English and with Carlos in Spanish.  Both the boys were very much pleased with the reception they met with.  The necessary stamps were promptly affixed to the passports; and then the boys, giving the secretary both an English and a Spanish good by, went down stairs to the carriage again.  They directed the coachman to drive as quick as possible to the Swiss legation, showing him the address which Rollo’s uncle had given them.  They then got into the carriage, and the coachman drove away.

“Now, Carlos,” said Rollo, “we are all right; that is, if we only get to the Swiss legation before it is shut up.”

“He said he had been in Madrid,” rejoined Carlos.  “He was there three months.”

“I believe,” added Rollo, “that uncle George said it did not close till three; and it is only two now.”

“And he knew the street my father lived in very well,” said Carlos.

Very soon the carriage stopped at the place which the coachman said was the Swiss legation.  Rollo got out and went to the porter’s lodge with the passports in his hand.  The woman in charge knew at once what he wanted, and, without waiting to hear him finish the question which he began to ask, directed him “to the second story on the right.”

Rollo went up the staircase till he came to the door, and there pulled the cord.

A clerk opened the door.  Rollo held out the passports.

“Enter there,” said the clerk, in French, pointing to an inner door.

Rollo went in and found there a very pleasant little room, with cases of books and papers around it, and maps and plans of Switzerland and of Swiss towns upon the wall.  The clerk took the passports and asked the boys to sit down.  In a few minutes the proper stamps were affixed to them both and the proper signatures added.  The clerk then said that there was the sum of six francs to pay.  Rollo paid the money, and then he and Carlos went down stairs.

They now returned to the prefecture of police.  They went in as they had done before, and gave the passports to the man who was seated in the little enclosure in the foreigner’s part of the room.  He took them, examined the new stamps which had been put upon them, and then said, “Very well.  Take a seat a little minute.”

Rollo and Carlos sat down upon one of the benches to wait; but the little minute proved to be nearly half an hour.  They were not tired of waiting, however, there was so much to amuse and interest them going on in the room.

“I am going to watch and see what the foreigners do to get their passports,” said Rollo, in an undertone, to Carlos; “for we must do the same.”

In thus watching, Rollo observed that from time to time a name was called by one of the clerks behind the desk, and then some of the persons waiting on the seats would rise and go to the place.  After stopping there a few minutes, he would take his passport and carry it into an inner room to another desk, where something was done to it.  Then he would bring it out to another place, where it was stamped once or twice by a man who seemed to have nothing else to do but to stamp every body’s passport when they came out.  By watching this process in the case of the others, Rollo knew exactly what to do when his name was called; so that, in about half an hour from the time that he went into the office, he had the satisfaction of coming out and getting into his carriage with the passports all in order for the journey to Switzerland.

When he got home and showed them to Mr. George, his uncle looked them over carefully; and, when he found that the stamp of the police was duly affixed to them both, ­knowing, as he did, that those would not be put on till all the others were right, ­he said, ­

“Well, Rollo, you’ve done it, I declare.  I did not think you were so much of a man.”