Rollo in Naples Part 14

When they reached the foot of the slope, they found the mules and donkeys there. Rollo and Josie insisted that Mr. George and the student should ride, because they had got to ascend the cone again.

"Besides," said Rollo, "if you ride you can get there quicker, and arrange the business with Mrs. Gray."

Mr. George was right in antic.i.p.ating that Mrs. Gray would give her cordial consent to have him leave the party.

"I shall miss your company," said she, "but I feel perfectly safe in going home in the carriage with Philippe and the boys. Besides, I shall want to hear an account of your adventures on the mountain in the night, and in crossing over by the ravines to-morrow. And then if you are willing," she added, "we will all come and meet you at Pompeii to-morrow."

"I should like that very much indeed," said Mr. George. "Philippe will arrange every thing for you."

This being all settled, Mrs. Gray and the children entered the carriage and set out for Naples, while Mr. George and the student turned their faces towards the mountain again.

CHAPTER VIII.

POMPEII.

On the evening of the day on which the excursion to Vesuvius was made, Rollo came into Mrs. Gray's room, wearing a somewhat disturbed countenance. He told Mrs. Gray that he had got some bad news for her.

"Ah," said Mrs. Gray, "I'm sorry to hear that. What is the bad news?"

"Philippe is engaged for to-morrow," said Rollo, "and so he cannot go with us to Pompeii."

"O, how sorry I am!" said Josie. "What shall we do?"

"How is he engaged?" asked Mrs. Gray.

"He is going with a party to Baiae."

"Where is Baiae?" asked Josie. "Is it any where near Pompeii?"

"No," said Rollo; "it is exactly in the opposite direction. It is on the sea coast to the west, and Pompeii is on the sea coast to the east."

"What is there to be seen at Baiae?" asked Mrs. Gray.

"Nothing but old ruins," said Rollo, contemptuously. "I don't see why people should want to go so far, and take away our guide, just to see old ruins. Besides, there are plenty of old ruins at Pompeii.

"But, Mrs. Gray," continued Rollo, "I don't think we need any guide at all to go to Pompeii. We can go by ourselves."

"Do you think so?" said Mrs. Gray.

"Why, you see I can engage a carriage to take us there myself," said Rollo. "I shall say 'Pompeii!' to the coachman, and point that way. And when we get to Pompeii, we shall find uncle George there, and then we shall get along well enough."

"True," said Mrs. Gray. "But then," she added, after thinking a moment, "perhaps we might miss Mr. George, after all. I don't know how large a place it is. If it is a large place, we might miss him in some of the streets."

Here Rosie opened a guide book which lay upon the table, and turned to a map of Pompeii which she recollected to have seen there. Her hope was to find that there were not many streets, and thus to show that there would not be much danger of missing Mr. George. She found, however, that the plan of the town looked quite complicated. There was a long street, called the Street of the Tombs, leading into it; and then within the walls there were a great many other streets, crossing each other, and running in all directions. So she shut the book, and did not say a word, thinking that the sight of the plan would impede, rather than promote, the acceptance of Rollo's proposal.

"I don't think there are a great many streets," said Rollo. "There were none at all at Herculaneum."

"Ah, but Herculaneum is a very different thing," said Mrs. Gray.

"Herculaneum was buried up very deep with solid lava, and only a very small portion of it has been explored, and that you go down into as you would into a cellar or a mine. Pompeii was but just covered, and that only with sand and ashes; and the sand and ashes have all been dug out and carted off from a large part of the city, so as to bring the whole out in the open day."

"Then it will be a great deal pleasanter place to visit," said Rosie.

"Yes," said Mrs. Gray; "and I don't think that there will be much danger in our going by ourselves. If we don't find Mr. George, we can walk about a while, and then come back in the carriage again."

"We might go by the railroad if we chose," said Rollo. "There is a railroad that runs along the coast, and pa.s.ses very near Pompeii."

"I think we had better take a carriage," said Mrs. Gray, "because a carriage will take us and leave us wherever we wish. There will be more changes if we go by the railroad, and we should need to speak more."

It was finally agreed that the party should go, and Rollo and Josie were to have a carriage ready at nine o'clock the next morning. They were all to breakfast at eight o'clock.

Now it happens there is no difficulty in getting a carriage at Naples.

The streets are full of them. They are very pretty carriages too, as they are seen standing in pleasant weather, with the tops turned back, showing the soft cus.h.i.+ons on the seats that look so inviting. The coachmen who drive these carriages are very eager to get customers. They watch at the doors of the hotels, and every where, indeed, along the streets, and whenever they see a lady and gentleman coming, they drive forward to meet them, and call out to offer them the carriage; and sometimes they go along for some distance by the side of the strangers, trying to induce them to get in.

Some of these carriages have two horses, and contain a front and a back seat. Others have only one horse, and only a back seat; but they all look very nice and tidy, and the price to be paid for them is quite low.

The party all breakfasted together the next morning, and they went down into the dining room for their breakfast, instead of taking it in Mrs.

Gray's room. They did this at the request of the boys, who said it was more amusing to go into the public room and see the different parties that came in for early breakfasts, and hear them talk, in various languages, of the different excursions that they are going to make that day.

At about a quarter before nine, Rollo and Josie went out to look for a carriage. Rollo stopped at the office of the hotel in going out, and inquired of the secretary how much ought to be paid for a carriage with two horses to go to Pompeii. The secretary told him three dollars.

He and Josie then went out into the street. There was a long row of carriages, some with two horses and some with one, standing in the middle of the street opposite to the hotel. The coachmen of all these carriages, as soon as they saw the boys come out, began immediately to call out to them, and crack their whips, and make other such demonstrations to attract their attention.

"Now," said Rollo to Josie, "we must walk along carelessly, and not appear to look at the carriages as if we wanted one; for if we do, they will come driving towards us in a body. We will walk along quietly till we come to a nice carriage and a first rate pair of horses, and then we'll go right up to the coachman and engage him."

This the boys did. They sauntered along with a careless air, concealing the desire they had to engage a carriage, until at last they came to one which Rollo thought would do. The instant the boys stopped before this carriage, the coachman jumped down from his box, and began to open the carriage door for them, and at the same time all the other coachmen in the line began cracking their whips, and calling out to the boys again to come and take their carriages. Rollo paid no attention to them, but addressed the coachman of the carriage which he had selected, and said in French, "To Pompeii."

"_Si, signore, si, signore,_" said the coachman, which Rollo knew very well meant "Yes, sir, yes, sir." At the same time the coachman made eager gestures for the boys to get in.

But Rollo would not get in, but waited to make his bargain about the price.

"_Quanto?_" said he. Quanto is the Italian word for _how much_. In saying _Quanto_, Rollo held up the fingers of his right hand, to denote to the coachman that he was to show him by his fingers how many piastres.

The coachman said four, speaking in Italian, and at the same time held up four fingers.

"No," said Rollo, "three." And Rollo held up three fingers.

The coachman seemed to hesitate a moment; but when he saw that the boys were ready to go away and apply for another carriage unless he would take them for the regular and proper price, he said, "_Si, signore,_"

again, and once more motioned for the boys to get in. So they got in, and the coachman drove to the hotel door.

Mrs. Gray and Rosie were all ready, and when they came to see the carriage which the boys had chosen for them, they were very much pleased with it.

"I don't see but that you can manage the business, Rollo," said Mrs.

Gray, "as well as any courier or valet de place that we could have."

"How could you make him understand what you wanted, without speaking Italian?" asked Rosie.