Journeying on past Schaffhausen, where the beautiful falls of the Rhine filled him with admiration, he and his companion came to Heidelberg and explored the ruins of the stupendous castle.  Here he parted with his travelling companion, Mr. Ferguson, who went on to Frankfort, which city Morse avoided because the French Government had established a strict quarantine against it on account of some epidemic, the nature of which is not disclosed in the notes.  He was eager to get to Paris now and wished to avoid all delays.

“September 7. I engaged my passage in the diligence for Mannheim, and, for the first time since I have been in Europe, set out alone....  I learn from the gentleman in the coach that the cordon sanitaire in France is to be enforced with great rigor from the 11th of September; I hope, therefore, to get into France before that date.

“September 10, Saarbruck. We last night took our places for Metz, not knowing, however, or even thinking it probable that we should be able to get there.  It was hinted by some that a small douceur would enable us to pass the cordon, but how to be applied I knew not.

“Among our passengers who joined me yesterday was a young German officer who was the only one who could speak French.  With him I contrived to converse during the day.  We had beds in the same room and, as we were about retiring, he told me, as I understood him, that by giving the keys of my luggage to the coachman in the morning, the business of passing at the douane on the frontier would be facilitated.  I assented and told him, as he understood the language better than I, I left it to him to make any arrangements and I would share the expense with him.

“We were called sometime before day and I left my bed very reluctantly.  The morning was cloudy and dark and so far favorable to the enterprise we were about to undertake, and of the nature and plan of which I had not the slightest suspicion.  We were soon settled in the diligence and left Saarbruck for the frontier.  I composed myself to sleep and had just got into a doze when suddenly the coach stopped, and, the door opening, a man touching me said in a low voice—­’Descendez, monsieur, descendez.’ I asked the reason but got no answer.  My companion and I alighted.  There was no house near; a bright streak in the east under the heavy black clouds showed that it was just daybreak, and ahead of us in the road a great light from the windows of a long building showed us the place of the hospital of the cordon.

“Our guide, for so he proved to be, taking the knapsack of my companion and a basket of mine, in which I carry my portfolio and maps, struck off to the left into a newly ploughed field, while our carriage proceeded at a quick pace onward again.  I asked where we were going, but got no other reply than ‘Doucement, monsieur.’  It then for the first time flashed across my mind that we had undertaken an unlawful and very hazardous enterprise, that of running by the cordon.  I had now, however, no alternative; I must follow, for I knew not what other course to take.