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Title: Rollo in Naples

Author: Jacob Abbott

Release Date: February 2, 2008 [EBook #24488]

Language: English

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 ROLLO IN NAPLES,

 BY

 JACOB ABBOTT.


 BOSTON:

 PUBLISHED BY TAGGARD AND THOMPSON.

 M DCCC LXIV.




 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1858, by

 JACOB ABBOTT,

 In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of
 Massachusetts.

 ELECTROTYPED AT THE
 BOSTON STEREOTYPE FOUNDRY.

 RIVERSIDE, CAMBRIDGE:

 PRINTED BY H. O. HOUGHTON.


 [Illustration: THE ORANGE GARDEN.--See page 218.]

 [Illustration: ROLLO'S TOUR IN EUROPE.
 TAGGARD & THOMPSON. Publishers--Boston.]




 ROLLO'S TOUR IN EUROPE.


 ORDER OF THE VOLUMES

 ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC.
 ROLLO IN PARIS.
 ROLLO IN SWITZERLAND.
 ROLLO IN LONDON.
 ROLLO ON THE RHINE.
 ROLLO IN SCOTLAND.
 ROLLO IN GENEVA.
 ROLLO IN HOLLAND.
 ROLLO IN NAPLES.
 ROLLO IN ROME.


 PRINCIPAL PERSONS OF THE STORY.

 ROLLO; twelve years of age.
 MR. and MRS. HOLIDAY; Rollo's father and mother, travelling in Europe.
 THANNY; Rollo's younger brother.
 JANE; Rollo's cousin, adopted by Mr. and Mrs. Holiday.
 MR. GEORGE; a young gentleman, Rollo's uncle.




 CONTENTS.


 CHAPTER                                           PAGE

    I.--THE VETTURINO,                              13
   II.--CONTRACTS AND AGREEMENTS,                   37
  III.--THE JOURNEY,                                57
   IV.--SITUATION OF NAPLES,                        76
    V.--PLANNING THE ASCENSION,                     91
   VI.--GOING UP,                                  106
  VII.--THE SUMMIT,                                131
 VIII.--POMPEII,                                   157
   IX.--THE MUSEUM,                                174
    X.--THE STREETS,                               188
   XI.--AN EXCURSION,                              194
  XII.--THE ORANGE GARDENS,                        213




 ENGRAVINGS.


                                                   PAGE

 THE ORANGE GARDEN,                      (Frontispiece.)
 TRAVELLING IN ITALY,                               11
 A CHURCH AT FLORENCE,                              23
 READING THE ARTICLES,                              55
 EMBLEMS ON THE CROSS,                              63
 ASCENDING THE MOUNTAINS,                           67
 SITUATION OF NAPLES,                               77
 VIEW THROUGH THE GLASS,                            87
 CALASH COMING INTO NAPLES,                        111
 THE ASCENT,                                       127
 VIEW OF THE CRATER,                               137
 COMING DOWN,                                      153
 THE MOSAIC,                                       183
 THE PUBLIC GARDENS,                               197


[Illustration: TRAVELLING IN ITALY.]




ROLLO IN NAPLES.

CHAPTER I.

THE VETTURINO.


If ever you make a journey into Italy, there is one thing that you will
like very much indeed; and that is the mode of travelling that prevails
in that country. There are very few railroads there; and though there
are stage coaches on all the principal routes, comparatively few people,
except the inhabitants of the country, travel in them. Almost all who
come from foreign lands to make journeys in Italy for pleasure, take
what is called a _vetturino_.

There is no English word for _vetturino_, because where the English
language is spoken, there is no such thing. The word comes from the
Italian word _vettura_, which means a travelling carriage, and it
denotes the man that owns the carriage, and drives it wherever the party
that employs him wishes to go. Thus there is somewhat the same relation
between the Italian words _vettura_ and _vetturino_ that there is
between the English words _chariot_ and _charioteer_.

The Italian _vetturino_, then, in the simplest English phrase that will
express it, is a _travelling carriage man_; that is, he is a man who
keeps a carriage and a team of horses, in order to take parties of
travellers with them on long journeys, wherever they wish to go. Our
word _coachman_ does not express the idea at all. A coachman is a man
employed by the owner of a carriage simply to drive it; whereas the
vetturino is the proprietor of his establishment; and though he
generally drives it himself, still the driving is only a small part of
his business. He might employ another man to go with him and drive, but
he would on that account be none the less the vetturino.

The vetturino usually takes the entire charge of the party, and provides
for them in every respect,--that is, if they make the arrangement with
him in that way, which they generally do, inasmuch as, since they do
not, ordinarily, know the language of the country, it is much more
convenient for them to arrange with him to take care of them than to
attempt to take care of themselves. Accordingly, in making a journey of
several days, as, for example, from Genoa to Florence, from Florence to
Rome, or from Rome to Venice, or to Naples, the vetturino determines the
length of each day's journey; he chooses the hotels where to stop, both
at noon and for the night; he attends to the passports in passing the
frontiers, and also to the examination of the baggage at the custom
houses; and on arriving at the hotels he orders what the travellers
require, and settles the bill the next morning. For all this the
travellers pay him one round sum, which includes every thing. This sum
consists of a certain amount for the carriage and horses, and an
additional amount of about a dollar and a half or a dollar and three
quarters a day, as agreed upon beforehand, for hotel expenses on the
way. Thus, by this mode of travelling, the whole care is taken off from
the traveller's mind, and he has nothing to do during the daytime but to
sit in his carriage and enjoy himself, and at night to eat, drink,
sleep, and take his comfort at the hotel.

It was at Florence that Mr. George and Rollo first commenced to travel
with a vetturino. They came to Florence by steamer and railway; that is,
by steamer to Leghorn, and thence across the country by railway.
Florence is a very pretty place, with the blue and beautiful River Arno
running through the middle of it, and ancient stone bridges leading
across the river from side to side. The town is filled with magnificent
churches and palaces, built, some of them, a thousand years ago, and all
so richly adorned with sculptures, paintings, bronzes, and mosaics, that
the whole world flock there to see them. People go there chiefly in the
winter. At that season the town is crowded with strangers. A great many
people, too, go there in the winter to avoid the cold weather which
prevails at that time of the year, in all the more northerly countries
of Europe.

There is so little winter in Florence that few of the houses have any
fireplaces in them except in the kitchen. When there comes a cold day,
the people warm themselves by means of a jug or jar of earthen ware,
with a handle passing over across the top, by which they carry it about.
They fill these jars half full of hot embers, and so carry them with
them wherever they want to go. The women, when they sit down, put the
jar under their dresses on the floor or pavement beneath them, and the
men place it right before them between their feet.

You will see market women and flower girls sitting in the corners of the
streets in the winter, attending to their business, and keeping
themselves warm all the time with these little fire jars; and artists
in the palaces and picture galleries, each with one of them by his side,
or close before him, while he is at work copying the works of the great
masters, or making drawings from the antique statues.

There is another very curious use that the people of Florence make of
these jars; and that is they warm the beds with them when any body is
sick, so as to require this indulgence. You would think it very
difficult to warm a bed with an open jar filled with burning embers. The
way they do it is this: they hang the jar in the inside of a sort of
wooden cage, shaped like a bushel basket, and about as large. They turn
this cage upside down, and hang the jar up in it by means of a hook
depending inside. They turn down the bed clothes and put the cage in it,
jar of coals and all. They then put back the bed clothes, and cover the
cage all up. They leave it so for a quarter of an hour, and then,
carefully turning the clothes down again, they take the jar out, and the
bed is warmed.

But to return to Mr. George and Rollo. They engaged a vetturino for the
first time at Florence. Mr. George had gone to Florence chiefly for the
purpose of examining the immense collections of paintings and statuary
which exist there. Rollo went, not on account of the paintings or
statues,--for he did not care much about such things,--but because he
liked to go any where where he could see new places, and be entertained
by new scenes. Accordingly, while Mr. George was at work in the
galleries of Florence, studying, by the help of catalogues, the famous
specimens of ancient art, Rollo was usually rambling about the streets,
observing the manners and customs of the people, and watching the
singular and curious scenes that every where met his eye.

The reason why there are so many paintings and sculptures in Italy is
this: in the middle ages, it was the fashion, in all the central parts
of Europe, for the people to spend almost all their surplus money in
building and decorating churches. Indeed, there was then very little
else that they could do. At the present time, people invest their funds,
as fast as they accumulate them, in building ships and railroads, docks
for the storage of merchandise, houses and stores in cities, to let for
the sake of the rent, and country seats, or pretty private residences of
various kinds, for themselves. But in the middle ages very little could
be done in the way of investments like these. There were no railroads,
and there was very little use for ships. There was no profit to be
gained by building houses and stores, for there were so many wars and
commotions among the people of the different towns and kingdoms, that
nothing was stable or safe. For the same reason it was useless for men
to spend their money in building and ornamenting their own houses, for
at the first approach of an enemy, the town in which they lived was
likely to be sacked, and their houses, and all the fine furniture which
they might contain, would be burned or destroyed.

But the churches were safe. The people of the different countries had so
much veneration for sacred places, and for every thing connected with
religion, that they were afraid to touch or injure any thing that had
been consecrated to a religious use. To plunder a church, or a convent,
or an abbey, or to do any thing to injure or destroy the property that
they contained, was regarded as _sacrilege_; and sacrilege they deemed a
dreadful crime, abhorred by God and man. Thus, while they would burn and
destroy hundreds of dwellings without any remorse, and turn the wretched
inmates out at midnight into the streets to die of exposure, terror, and
despair, they would stop at once when they came to the church, afraid to
harm it in any way, or to touch the least thing that it contained.
Accordingly, while every thing else in a conquered town was doomed to
the most reckless destruction, all that was in the church,--the most
delicate paintings, and the most costly gold and silver images and
utensils--were as safe as if they were surrounded by impregnable castle
walls.

Of course these notions were very mistaken ones. According to the
teachings of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, it must be a greater sin
to burn down the cottage of a poor widow, and turn her out at midnight
into the streets to die, than to plunder for gain the richest altar in
the world.

From these and various other similar causes, it happened that, in the
middle ages,--that is, from five hundred to a thousand years
ago,--almost all the great expenditures of money, in all the great
cities and towns of Europe, were made for churches. Sometimes these
churches were so large that they were several hundred years in building.
One generation would begin, another would continue, and a third would
finish the work; that is, provided the finishing work was ever done.
Great numbers of them remain unfinished to the present day, and always
will remain so.

It is generally, however, the exterior which remains incomplete. Within
they are magnificent beyond description. They are so profusely adorned
with altars, chapels, crucifixes, paintings, vessels of gold and
silver, and with sculptures and monuments of every kind, that on
entering them one is quite bewildered with the magnificence of the
scene.

There are a great many different altars where divine service may be
performed, some arranged along the sides of the church, in the recesses
between the pillars, and others in the transepts, and in various little
chapels opening here and there from the transepts and the aisles; and so
extensive and vast is the interior that sometimes four or five different
congregations are engaged in worship in different parts of the church at
the same time, without at all disturbing one another.

One of the most celebrated of these great churches is the cathedral at
Florence, where Mr. George and Rollo were now staying. There is a
representation of it on the next page, which will give you some idea of
its form, though it can convey no conception of its immense magnitude.

The dome that surmounts the centre of the building is the largest in the
world. It was a hundred years after the church was commenced before the
dome was put on. The dome is about a hundred and forty feet wide from
side to side, and almost as high as it is wide. It is more than a
hundred and thirty feet high, which is enough for twelve or fifteen
stories of a good-sized house. And this is the dome alone. The whole
height of the church, from the ground to the top of the cross, is nearly
four hundred feet. You will get a better idea of how high this is, if
you ask of your father, or of some one that knows, what the height is of
some tall steeple near where you live.

When the architect who conceived the idea of finishing the church by
putting this dome upon it first proposed it, the other architects of the
town declared that it could not be done. It was impossible, they said,
to build so large a dome on the top of so lofty a building. But he
insisted that it was not impossible. He could not only build the dome at
that height, but he could first build an octagonal lantern, he said, on
the top of the church, and then build the dome upon that, which would
carry the dome up a great deal higher. At last they consented to let him
make the attempt; and he succeeded. You see the dome in the engraving,
and the octagonal lantern beneath it, on which it rests. The lantern is
the part which has the round windows.

You see to the left of the church, at the farther end, a tall, square
tower. This is the bell tower. There are six bells in it. It was
designed to have a spire upon it, but the spire has not yet been built,
and perhaps it never will be.

[Illustration: A CHURCH AT FLORENCE.]

This bell tower alone cost an enormous sum of money. It is faced on
every side, as indeed the church itself is, with different colored
marbles, and the four walls of it, on the outside, are so profusely
adorned with sculptures, statues, and other costly and elaborate
architectural decorations, that it would take a week to examine them
fully in detail.

The part of the church which is presented to view in the engraving is
the end. The front proper is on a line with the farther side of the bell
tower. The engraving does not show us the length of the edifice at all,
except so far as we gain an idea of it by the long procession which we
see at the side. As I have already said, the length is more than five
hundred feet, which is nearly half a quarter of a mile.

The putting on of the dome was considered the greatest achievement in
the building of the church; and the architect who planned and
superintended the work gained for himself immortal honor. After his
death a statue of him was made, and placed in a niche in the wall of the
houses on one side of the square, opposite the dome. He is represented
as sitting in a chair, holding a plan of the work in his hand, and
looking up to see it as it appeared completed. We can just see this
statue in the foreground of the picture, on the left.

And now I must return to the story.

While Mr. George and Rollo were in Florence, Rollo was occupied mainly,
as I have already said, in rambling about the town, and observing the
scenes of real and active life, which every where met his view in the
streets and squares, while Mr. George spent his time chiefly in the
churches, and in the galleries of painting and sculpture, studying the
works of art. One morning after breakfast, Mr. George was going to the
great gallery in the palace of the grand duke, to spend the day there.
Rollo said that he would walk with him a little way. So they walked
together along the street which led by the bank of the river.

"Uncle George," said Rollo, "how much longer is it going to take for you
to study these paintings and statues till you are satisfied?"

"Five or ten years," said Mr. George.

"O uncle George!" exclaimed Rollo; "I have seen as much of them as _I_
want to see already."

"You have not seen one of them yet," said Mr. George.

"Not seen one of them!" repeated Rollo.

"No, not one of them," replied Mr. George.

"I don't know what you mean by that," said Rollo.

"I'll show you what I mean some time or other," said Mr. George, "when
you are in one of the galleries with me."

"I should like to have you," said Rollo; "but now I really want to know
when you are going to be ready to go on towards Naples. I'd rather see
Mount Vesuvius than all the paintings in the world, especially if there
is a good blazing eruption coming out of it, and plenty of red-hot
stones."

"The first question to be settled," said Mr. George, "is, how we shall
go."

"Are there more ways than one?" asked Rollo.

"Yes," said Mr. George; "there are three or four ways. We are here at
Florence, in the interior of the country, and Rome is also in the
interior; but there is a seaport on the coast for each city. So we can
go from here to Leghorn, which is the seaport for Florence, by the
railroad, and there we can take a steamboat and go to Civita Vecchia,
which is the seaport for Rome. There we can land and go up to Rome in
some sort of a carriage."

"I like that way," said Rollo. "I like that best of all. There are a
railroad and a steamboat both in it."

"Another way," continued Mr. George, "is, we can go by the malle
post."[A]

[Footnote A: The malle post is a sort of despatch carriage, that takes
the mails. It can take also two or three passengers. They change horses
very often with the malle post, and drive very fast.]

"I should like to go by the malle post," said Rollo; "they keep the
horses on the gallop almost all the way."

"Then again," continued Mr. George, "if we choose we can engage a
vetturino."

"Yes," said Rollo; "there are plenty of them always standing out here by
the bridge. They ask me almost, every day, when I go by, whether I want
a carriage. 'Want a carriage, sir,' they say, 'to go to Rome, to Naples,
to Venice, to Genoa?'"

Here Rollo repeated the words of the vetturini, imitating the peculiar
intonations with which they spoke, in quite a skilful manner: "To Rome!
Naples! Venice! Nice! Genoa!"

"Yes," said Mr. George, "those are the men."

"And, come to think of it," said Rollo, "I believe, after all, I would
rather go with a vetturino. We ride along so pleasantly day after day,
and go through all the towns, cracking our whip, and seeing so many
curious things all along the road side!"

"Yes," said Mr. George; "but there is one difficulty. We are only two,
and the carriages of the vetturini are usually large enough for four or
six."

"And would not they go for two?" asked Rollo.

"O, yes," said Mr. George; "they will go for two; but then the men must
have full price for their carriage and horses, and that makes it very
expensive for two."

"What do people do, then," asked Rollo, "when there are only two to go?"

"They generally find some other people that want to go," replied Mr.
George, "and make up a party, and so divide the expense."

"And can't we do that?" asked Rollo.

"We do not know any body here," said Mr. George.

Rollo did not know what to say to this, and so he was silent, and walked
along, thinking what it was best to do. Presently, after a moment's
pause, he added,--

"I mean to ask some of the vetturinos if they have not got a carriage
for two."

"_Vetturini_ is the plural of vetturino, in Italian," said Mr. George,
"and not vetturinos."

"But I am not speaking Italian," said Rollo; "I am speaking English."

"True," said Mr. George.

At this stage of the conversation Mr. George and Rollo arrived at the
end of the bridge across the Arno, which Mr. George had to pass over in
going to his gallery. This bridge is a very ancient one, and is quite a
curiosity, as it is built massively of stone, and is lined with a row of
shops on each side, so that in passing over it you would think it was a
street instead of a bridge, were it not that the shops are so small that
you can look directly through them, and see the river through the
windows on the back side.

These shops are occupied by jewellers, who keep for sale the mosaic
pins, bracelets, and earrings, for which Florence is so famous, and
great numbers of these mosaics, as well as various other kinds of
jewelry, are exposed to view in little show cases that are arranged in a
curious manner, on small counters before the windows, so that any one
can see them all in passing along.

On reaching this bridge, Rollo concluded to stop, and look at the
mosaics, and so his uncle left him and went on alone.

As Rollo was standing at one of the little shop windows a few minutes
after his uncle had left him, a man dressed in a blue frock, and with a
sort of woollen comforter of bright colors about his neck, came up to
him, and asked him in French whether the party that he belonged to did
not want a carriage to go to Rome. Rollo perceived at once that the man
was a vetturino.

"I don't know but that we do," said he. "Have you got a carriage?"

"Yes," replied the vetturino; "I have got a large and very nice
carriage, and four excellent horses."

"Then it won't do," said Rollo, "for there are only two in our party,
and a large carriage and four horses will be more than we need."

"O, but that will make no difference," said the vetturino. "You see I'm
a return, and I will take you about as cheap as you can go in a small
carriage."

"For how much?" asked Rollo.

"Why, my price is three napoleons a day," said the vetturino, "for a
full party; but as you are only two, I will take you for less. Have you
got a great deal of baggage?"

"No; very little," said Rollo.

After some further conversation with the vetturino, Rollo concluded to
make an appointment with him to come to the hotel that evening and see
his uncle George.

"Come immediately after dinner," said Rollo.

"At what time?" asked the vetturino.

"Why, we dine at half past six," said Rollo, "and uncle George will be
through at eight."

"Then I will come at eight," said the vetturino.

One reason why Rollo concluded to make this appointment was, that he
particularly liked the vetturino's appearance. He had an open and
intelligent countenance, and his air and bearing were such as to give
Rollo the idea that he was a very good-natured and sociable, as well as
capable man. In answer to a question from Rollo, he said that his name
was Vittorio.

When Mr. George came home that evening, a short time before dinner,
Rollo told him what he had done.

"Good!" said Mr. George. "We are in luck. I should not be surprised if
we should be able to fill his carriage for him. I have found a party."

Mr. George further stated to Rollo that, in rambling through the rooms
of the gallery where he had been spending the day, he had met with a
lady of his acquaintance who was travelling with two children and a
maid, and that he had been talking with her about forming a party to
travel together to Naples.

"Are the children girls or boys?" asked Rollo.

"One of them is a girl and the other is a boy," said Mr. George; "but
the girl is sick."

"Is she?" asked Rollo.

"At least she has been sick," said Mr. George. "She has had a fever, but
now she is slowly getting well. Her name is Rosalie."

"I think that is rather a sentimental name," said Rollo.

"They call her Rosie, sometimes," said Mr. George.

"That's a little better," said Rollo, "but not much. And what is her
other name?"

"Gray," said Mr. George.

       *       *       *       *       *

Vittorio came at eight o'clock that evening, according to appointment.
The first thing that Mr. George did was to propose to go and see his
carriage. So they all went together to see it. It was in a stable near
by. Mr. George and Rollo were both well pleased with the carriage. It
had four seats inside, like an ordinary coach. Besides these there were
two good seats outside, under a sort of canopy which came forward over
them like a chaise top. In front of these, and a little lower down, was
the driver's seat.

The inside of such a coach is called the interior.[B] The place outside,
under the chaise top, is called the _coupé_.[C] Rollo generally called
it the _coop_.

[Footnote B: In French, _l'interieur_.]

[Footnote C: Pronounced _coopay_, only the last syllable is spoken
rather short.]

The chaise top in front could be turned back, so as to throw the two
seats there entirely open. In the same manner the top of the interior
could be opened, so as to make the carriage a barouche.

"It is just exactly such a carriage as we want," said Rollo, "if Mrs.
Gray will only let you and me have the coop."

"We'll see about that," said Mr. George.

Mr. George then proceeded to discuss with Vittorio the terms and
conditions of the agreement which should be made between them, in case
the party should conclude to hire the carriage; and after ascertaining
precisely what they were, he told Vittorio that he would decide the next
morning, and he appointed ten o'clock as the time when Vittorio was to
call to get the decision. Mr. George and Rollo then went back to the
hotel.

"Why did not you engage him at once?" asked Rollo, as they walked along.
"It was such a good carriage!"

"Because I want first to see what terms and conditions I can make with
Mrs. Gray," replied Mr. George.

"Why?" asked Rollo; "don't you think she will be willing to pay her
share?"

"O, yes," said Mr. George. "She says she is willing to pay the whole, if
I will only let her go with us."

"And shall you let her pay the whole?" asked Rollo.

"No, indeed," replied Mr. George. "I shall let her pay her share, which
will be just two thirds, for she has four in her party, and we are two."

"And so her portion will be four sixths," said Rollo, "and that is the
same as two thirds."

"Exactly," said Mr. George.

"So then it is all settled," said Rollo.

"About the money it is," replied Mr. George; "but that was not what I
referred to. When two parties form a plan for travelling together in the
same carriage for many days, it is necessary to have a very precise
understanding beforehand about every thing, or else in the end they are
very sure to quarrel."

"To quarrel!" repeated Rollo.

"Yes," said Mr. George; "and generally the more intimate their
friendship for each other is before they set out, the more sure they are
to quarrel in the end."

"That's curious," said Rollo.

"They begin by being very polite to each other," continued Mr. George;
"but by and by, a thousand questions begin to come up, and there is
nobody to decide them. For a time each one professes a great readiness
to yield to the other; but before long each begins to think that the
other assumes too much of the direction. Mrs. A. thinks that Mrs. B.
keeps the carriage too much shut up, or that she always manages to have
the best seat; and Mrs. B. thinks that Mrs. A. takes the best room too
often at the hotels; or that she is never ready at the proper time; or
that she always manages to have what she likes at the hotels, without
paying enough regard to the wishes of the rest of the party."

"Is that the way they act?" asked Rollo.

"Yes," said Mr. George; "that is the way exactly. I have heard the
secret history of a great many travelling parties that began very
brightly, but ended in heart-burnings, miffs, and all sorts of troubles.
The only way to prevent this is to have a very definite and precise
understanding on all these points before we set out. And that is what I
am going to have with Mrs. Gray."

"And suppose she won't come to any agreement," said Rollo. "She'll say,
'La, it's no matter. We shall not quarrel.'"

"Then I won't go with her," said Mr. George.




CHAPTER II.

CONTRACTS AND AGREEMENTS.


In arranging for a journey in Italy with a vetturino, there are three
separate classes of expenditure to be provided for. First, the carriage
and horses; secondly, the board at the hotels by the way; and thirdly,
the _buono manos_.

As to the carriage and horses, the question, in the case of Mr. George's
party, was soon settled. Vittorio said that his regular price was three
napoleons a day for a full party. This is about twelve dollars, and
includes the keeping of the horses, and all the tolls, tariffs, and way
expenses of every kind. Mr. George had ascertained that this was about
the usual price, and he did not ask Vittorio to take any less.

For the board of the party by the way, Vittorio said that they could
themselves call for what they wanted at the hotels, and pay their own
bills, or _he_ would provide for them all the way, on their paying him a
certain sum per day for each person. This last is the usual plan adopted
when travelling in Italy, for the hotel keepers are very apt to charge
too much when the travellers call for and pay the bills themselves.
Whereas, when the vetturino pays, the hotel keepers are much more
reasonable. They are aware that the vetturino knows what the charges
ought to be, and they are afraid, if they overcharge him for his party,
that then he will take his next party to some other hotel.

"And what shall you give us," asked Mr. George, in talking with Vittorio
on this subject, "if you provide for us?"

"In the morning," replied Vittorio, "before we set out, there will be
coffee or tea, and bread and butter, with eggs. Then, when we stop at
noon, you will have a second breakfast of mutton chops, fried potatoes,
fried fish, omelets, and other such things. Then, at night, when the
day's journey is done, you will have dinner."

"Very well," said Mr. George. "I should think that that might do. And
how much must we pay you?"

"It used to be eight francs a day," said Vittorio; "but the price of
every thing is raised, and now we cannot do it well for less than nine
francs. I will do it for nine francs apiece all round."

"But there are two boys," said Mr. George. "Don't you charge any thing
extra for boys?"

"No, sir," said Vittorio, smiling. He thought at first that Mr. George
was going to ask for some abatement on account of a portion of the party
being young. "No, sir; we don't charge any thing extra for them."

"You _would_ charge extra for them, I think," said Mr. George, "if you
only knew how much they can eat."

Vittorio smiled and said that if the party would pay nine francs apiece
all round, he should be satisfied, without asking for any thing extra on
account of the boys.

The third item of expense in an Italian journey consists of the _buono
manos_. In Italy, and indeed generally in Europe, though especially in
Italy, nobody, in rendering you a service, is satisfied with receiving
merely what you agreed to pay for the service. Every one expects
something over at the end, as a token of your satisfaction with him. If
you employ a guide in a town to show you about to the places and things
that are curious there, under an agreement that he is to have a dollar a
day, he is not satisfied at night if you pay him merely a dollar. He
expects twenty cents or a quarter of a dollar over, as a _buono mano_,
as it is called. This is the understanding on which the bargain is made.

In the same manner, when you pay your bill at the hotel, the waiter
expects you to give him a _buono mano_. If any body renders the
vetturino a service along the road, it is the vetturino who pays them,
because it is in the agreement that he is to pay the way expenses; but
then, after getting their pay from him, and also his _buono mano_, they
generally come to the carriage and ask for another _buono mano_ from the
party of travellers. Some travellers get vexed and out of patience with
this system, and always give, if they give at all, with scowling looks
and moody mutterings. Others, seeing how poor all the people are, and
how hard it is for them to get their living, are very willing to pay,
especially as it is generally only a few cents in each case that is
required. Still, unless the traveller understands the system, and
prepares himself beforehand with a stock of small change, the _buono
mano_ business gives him a good deal of trouble. If he does so provide
himself, and if he falls into the custom good naturedly, as one of the
established usages of the country, which is moreover not without its
advantages, it becomes a source of pleasure to him to pay the poor
fellows their expected fees.

"Rollo," said Mr. George, "I am going to put the whole business of the
_buono manos_ into your hands."

"Good!" said Rollo. "I'll take the business if you will only give me the
money."

"How much will it require, Vittorio, for each day, to do the thing up
handsomely?" asked Mr. George.

Vittorio immediately began to make a calculation. He reckoned in
_pauls_, the money which is used most in the central parts of Italy. The
substance of his calculation was, that for the whole party about half a
dollar would be a proper sum to pay to the domestic at the hotel where
they stopped for the night, and a quarter of a dollar or less at noon.
Then there were chambermaids, ostlers, and drivers of extra horses or
oxen to help up the long hills, all of whom would like a small _buono
mano_. This would bring the amount up to about six francs, or a dollar
and a quarter a day, on the plan of doing the thing up handsomely, as
Mr. George had proposed.

"You mean to be generous with them, uncle George," said Rollo.

"Yes," said Mr. George. "In travelling in Italy, pay out liberally to
every body that renders you any service, but not a sou to beggars.
That's my rule."

"Besides," he continued, "it is good policy for us to be generous in
this case, for Mrs. Gray will pay two thirds of the money. So that you
and I, sitting in the coop, as you call it, will have all the pleasure
of the generosity, with only one third of the expense of it."

While Mr. George was saying this, he took his wallet out of his pocket,
and opened to the compartment of it which contained napoleons.

"Let us see," said he; "we shall be ten days on the way in going to
Naples, and Sunday makes eleven. Six francs a day for eleven days makes
sixty-six francs."

So saying, he took out three gold napoleons, for the sixty francs, and
six francs in silver, and handing the whole to Rollo, said, "There's the
money."

"But, uncle George," said Rollo, "I can't pay the _buono manos_ in
gold."

"No," said Mr. George; "you must get the money changed, of course."

"And what shall I get it changed into?" asked Rollo.

"I don't know, I'm sure," said Mr. George. "That's for you to find out.
We have three different kinds of currency between here and Naples. We
are now in Tuscany. After we get through Tuscany we come into the Roman
states, and after we get through the Roman states we shall come into the
kingdom of the two Sicilies, where Naples is. You will require
different money in all these countries, and you must look out and not
have any left over, or at least very little, when you cross the
frontiers."

"But how shall I manage that?" asked Rollo.

"_I_ don't know," said Mr. George, "any more than you do. If I had it to
do, I should try to find out. But that is your affair, not mine. You
said that if I would give you the money you would take the whole
business of the _buono manos_ off my hands. I must go now and see about
my arrangement with Mrs. Gray."

"Well," said Rollo, "I'll find out what to do."

Thus the _buono mano_ question was disposed of.

As to the board, Mr. George made a verbal agreement with Vittorio that
he would pay fifty-four francs a day for the whole party, and that, in
consideration of that sum, Vittorio was to provide board and lodging for
them all, at the best hotels, and in the best style. He paid for five
days in advance. At the end of that time, the party were to be at
liberty either to continue the system at the same rate, or to abandon
it, and pay the bills at the hotels themselves.

In respect to the carriage and horses, Vittorio brought him an
agreement, filled up from a printed form, which he and Vittorio signed
in duplicate. It was as follows. There was a picture of a carriage and
horses at the head of it. I give you the document in the original
French. If you are studying French yourself, you can read it. If not,
you must ask some one to translate it for you, if you wish to know what
it all means.

VITTORIO GONSALVI, VOITURIER.

[Illustration]

FLORENCE, le 22 Mars, 1857.

     Par la présente écriture, faite à double original, pour valoir et
     pour être strictement observée, comme de droit, par les parties
     contractantes, a été fixe, et convenu ce qui suit.

     Le propriétaire de voiture, Gonsalvi, domicilié à Rome, promet et
     s'oblige de servir Monsieur George Holiday et sa suite dans le
     voyage qu'il veut entreprendre de Florence à Napoli, par la voie de
     Arezzo, Perugia, Rome, et Terracina, et être conduit par un bon
     voiturier, pour le prix convenu de trois cents francs, pour la
     voiture et les quatre chevaux.

     Moyennant ce paiement, qui s'effectuera moitié avant de partir,
     moitié à Napoli, le propriétaire de voiture, ou son conducteur
     délégué, est tenu des obligations ci-après designées.

     Tous les frais occasionnés pour le passage des fleuves, rivières,
     ponts, et montagnes, ainsi que ceux des barrières, seront à la
     charge du voiturier conducteur.

     L'étrenne d'usage à donner au voiturier conducteur sera selon son
     bon service.

     Le dit voyage sera fait dans dix jours complets.

     Le depart de Florence est fixé dans le journée du 23 courant, a
     onze heures matin.

     Pour tous les jours en sus, qu'il plairait à dit Monsieur Holiday
     de s'arrêter dans une ville, ou qu'il y fut forcé par des
     imprévues, il est convenu qu'il payera cinq francs par jour par
     cheval pour la nourriture des chevaux.

     Le voiturier devra constamment descendre dans de bonnes auberges,
     et partira tous les matins de bonne heure, pour arriver tous les
     soirs avant la nuit à l'auberge ou l'on devra coucher.

     Et pour l'observance des conditions ci-dessus mentionnées, les
     parties interessées l'ont volontairement signée.

               GEORGE HOLIDAY,
               VITTORIO GONSALVI.

The agreement which Mr. George made with Mrs. Gray was not so difficult
to understand. Mrs. Gray did not, as Rollo had predicted, appear
unwilling to make a definite arrangement in respect to the respective
privileges and rights of the various members of the party in the
carriage and at the hotels. She was a very sensible woman, and she saw
the propriety of Mr. George's suggestion at once. Mr. George attributed
the necessity of it, in part, to there being so many children in the
party.

"When there are children," said he, "we must have system and a routine."

"That is very true," said Mrs. Gray.

"And the more formal and precise the arrangement is, the better," said
Mr. George. "It amuses them, and occupies their minds, to watch the
operation of it."

"Yes," said Mrs. Gray; "I have no doubt of it."

"Then," said Mr. George, "I will draw up some articles of agreement,
and if you approve of them, Rosie shall make a copy of them. Rosie shall
keep the copy, too, after she has made it, and shall see that the rules
are all observed."

"But what shall I do," said Rosie, "if any body breaks any of the
rules?"

"Then they must be punished," said Mr. George. "You shall determine what
the punishment shall be, and I will see that it is inflicted."

So Mr. George drew up a set of rules; but before proposing them to Mrs.
Gray and her children, he read them to Rollo. He read as follows:--

     I.

     The interior of the carriage, all the way, shall belong to Mrs.
     Gray and her family, and the _coupé_ to Mr. George and Rollo. Mr.
     George or Rollo may, perhaps, sometimes ride inside; but if they do
     so, it is to be understood that they ride there as the guests of
     Mrs. Gray; and in the same manner, if at any time any of Mrs.
     Gray's party ride outside, it will be as the guests of Mr. George
     and Rollo.

"Good!" said Rollo. "I like that regulation very much. I shall not want
to get inside very often."

"You may sometimes wish to invite Rosie to take your place outside,
when it is very pleasant, and you take her place inside," suggested Mr.
George.

"No," said Rollo; "there will be room outside for her and me too. She
can sit right between you and me."

"And, perhaps, sometimes I may invite Rosie and her brother to come
outside and ride with you, while I go inside with Mrs. Gray," added Mr.
George.

"_That_ will be a good plan," said Rollo. "But now what is the second
rule?"

     II.

     On arriving at a hotel for the night, Mrs. Gray is to take her
     choice first of all the rooms shown, for herself and Rosie. Then
     from the other rooms Mr. George is to choose the bed that he will
     sleep in. Then the two boys are to choose from the beds that are
     left, each to have the first choice alternately, beginning with
     Josie.

"Why should Josie begin?" asked Rollo. "I am the oldest."

"True," said Mr. George; "but it is of no consequence at all which
begins, and as _we_ are drawing up the rules, it is polite and proper to
give Josie the precedence in such a point."

"Very well," said Rollo; "go on. How about Susannah?"

"O, it is not necessary to make any rule about Susannah," replied Mr.
George. "I suppose that Mrs. Gray will take her into her room, if there
is a spare bed there. If not, they must make some other arrangement for
her."

     III.

     Every evening before the party separate for the night, Mrs. Gray
     shall decide at what hour we shall set off the next morning, and
     also at what hour we shall breakfast, after first hearing what
     Vittorio's opinion is as to the best time for setting out.

"Why can't we have a fixed time for setting out every day?" asked Rollo,
"and agree about it once for all beforehand."

"Because we have different distances to go on different days," said Mr.
George, "so that sometimes we shall have to set out much earlier than
will be necessary at other times."

"Then why should not we consult together as to the time?" asked Rollo.
"I don't see any reason for leaving it altogether to _one_ of the
party."

"Why, you see that Mrs. Gray is a lady," replied Mr. George, "and it
takes a lady longer to dress and get ready than men. Besides, she has
two children to look after."

"And Susannah to help her," said Rollo.

"True," said Mr. George; "still it seems proper that the time for
setting out should be fixed by the lady,--of course, after hearing what
the vetturino has to say."

"I think so too," said Rollo; "so go on."

     IV.

     Any person who is not ready to sit down to breakfast at the time
     which shall have been appointed by Mrs. Gray the evening before, or
     who shall not be ready to enter the carriage at the time appointed,
     shall pay a fine, except in the case hereinafter provided for. If
     the person so behindhand is one of the children, the fine shall be
     two cents, or the value thereof in the currency of the country
     where we may chance to be; and if it is one of the grown persons,
     the fine shall be three times that amount, that is, six cents.

"Yes; but suppose we don't wake up?" suggested Rollo.

"That contingency is provided for in the next article," said Mr. George.

     V.

     It shall be Mr. George's duty to knock at all the bedroom doors
     every morning, three quarters of an hour before the time fixed for
     breakfast; and if he fails to do so, then he shall pay all the
     fines for tardiness that may be incurred that morning by any of the
     party.

"Very good!" said Rollo.

     VI.

     It shall be Rosie's duty to decide whether or not any persons are
     tardy any morning; and her mother's watch shall be the standard of
     time. Her decisions shall be without appeal; and no excuses
     whatever shall be heard, nor shall there be any release from the
     fine, except in the case of a failure of Mr. George to knock at the
     doors, as hereinbefore provided.

"But we might some of us have a good excuse some time," said Rollo.

"True," said Mr. George; "we doubtless shall. But if we go upon the plan
of admitting excuses, then there will be a long debate every morning, on
the question whether the excuses are good or not, which will cause a
great deal of trouble. It is better for us to pay the fine at once. It
is not much, you know."

"Well," said Rollo, "go on."

     VII.

     Josie is hereby appointed treasurer, to collect and keep the fines.

"And what is to be done with the money?" asked Rollo.

"You will see," said Mr. George.

     VIII.

     Any one of the party who shall at any time make complaint of any
     thing in respect to the carriage, or the riding during the day, or
     in respect to the food provided at the hotels, or the rooms, or the
     beds, when we stop for the night, except when such complaint
     relates to an evil which may be remedied, and is made with a view
     to having it remedied, shall be fined one cent, or the value
     thereof in the currency of the country. Rosie is to be the sole
     judge of the infractions of this rule, and is to impose the fine,
     while Josie, as before, is to collect and keep the money.

"I wish you would make me the treasurer," said Rollo.

"No," said Mr. George; "you have the care of the _buono mano_ fund.
Josie shall be treasurer for the fines."

"Very well," said Rollo.

     IX.

     On the arrival of the party at Naples, the amount of the fine money
     shall be expended in the famous Neapolitan confectionery, and shall
     be divided equally among the three children.

"Good!" said Rollo. "But, uncle George, I don't think you ought to call
us _children_ exactly. We are almost all of us twelve or thirteen."

"True," said Mr. George, "you are not children; but what can I call you
to distinguish you from the grown persons of the party. The regular and
proper designation for persons under age, in a legal document, is
_infants_."

"Hoh!" said Rollo, "that is worse than _children_."

"I might call you the young persons, or the junior members of the
party."

"Yes," said Rollo, "that will be better; the junior members of the
party."

So it was agreed to strike out the word _children_ wherever it occurred
in the document, and insert in lieu of it the phrase _junior members of
the party_.

With this correction the document was read to Mrs. Gray in the hearing
of Rosie and Josie. They all approved it in every respect. The draught
was then given to Rosie in order that she might make a fair copy of it.
When the copy was made, the nine rules were read again in the hearing of
the whole party, and all agreed to abide by them.

Thus the arrangements for the journey were complete; and Mrs. Gray,
after learning from Vittorio that the first day's journey would not be
long, and that it would answer to set out at any time before noon, fixed
the hour for departure at eleven o'clock. Vittorio said he would be at
the door half an hour before, in order to have time to load the baggage.

[Illustration: READING THE ARTICLES.]




CHAPTER III.

THE JOURNEY.


The journey from Florence to Naples, as planned and provided for by the
contracts and agreements described in the last chapter, was prosecuted
from day to day, until its completion, in a very successful and
prosperous manner. The various contingencies likely to occur having been
foreseen and provided for by the contract and the rules, every thing
worked smoothly and well, and none of those discussions, disagreements,
and misunderstandings occurred, which so often mar the pleasure of
parties travelling together in one company for many days.

Mrs. Gray was fined for not being ready for breakfast at the time
appointed, on the very first morning after leaving Florence. It was at a
place called Arezzo. The time appointed for the breakfast was at seven
o'clock. Mr. George knocked at all the doors a little before quarter
past six. About quarter before seven the two boys came into the
breakfast room, and soon afterwards Mr. George and Rosie came. The
breakfast was brought in and set upon the table by the waiter a few
minutes before seven. The boys immediately began to set the chairs
round.

"Quick! quick!" said Josie. "Let us sit down quick, and mother will be
tardy, and have to pay a fine."

"Ah, but it does not go by our sitting down," said Rollo. "It goes by
Mrs. Gray's watch."

"Yes," said Rosie; "I have got the watch. It wants a minute of the time
now."

"I _hope_ she won't come," said Josie.

"She will come," said Rosie. "She has been almost ready for some time."

The children all took their seats at the table. Rosie had the watch
before her, and was closely observing the minute hand. Mr. George, who
thought it not polite that he should take his seat before Mrs. Gray
came, stood waiting by the fire. It was a cool morning, and so Mr.
George had made a little fire when he first got up.

Notwithstanding Rosie's prediction, Mrs. Gray did not come. Rosie
watched the second hand, and as soon as it passed the mark she said,--

"There! it is seven o'clock; now mother is tardy."

Josie clapped his hands, and even Rollo looked quite pleased. In about
two minutes the door of Mrs. Gray's bedroom opened, and Mrs. Gray
appeared.

"You are too late, mother!" said Josie, in an exulting tone. "You are
too late!"

"It does not depend on you to decide," said Mrs. Gray; "it depends upon
Rosie."

"Well, mother, you are really too late," said Rosie. "You are two
minutes beyond the time, or a minute and a half, at the very least, when
you opened the door. So you must pay the fine."

"Yes; and you must pay it to me," said Josie. "I am the treasurer."

"But you have not heard my excuse yet," said Mrs. Gray. "You don't know
but that I have got a good excuse."

"Ah, that makes no difference, mother," said Josie. "Excuses go for
nothing."

"Indeed!" said Mrs. Gray. "Is that the agreement? Let us see, Rosie."

So Rosie took the paper out of her pocket, and with Josie's
assistance,--who looked over very eagerly all the time,--she found the
passage, and Josie read as follows, speaking the words in a very
distinct and emphatic manner:--

"'No excuses shall be heard, nor shall there be any release from the
fine, except,' and so forth, and so forth. So you see, mother, you can't
be excused."

"I see," said Mrs. Gray. "The language is very plain indeed; so I'll pay
the fine. I pay it very willingly. It would be very dishonorable in any
of us, after having deliberately adopted the rules, to manifest any
unwillingness to abide by them."

So Mrs. Gray took out of her pocket a small silver coin called a paul,
which Mr. George said was a good deal more than six cents, but which she
said was near enough to the amount of the fine, and paid it into Josie's
hands. Josie put it safely into a certain compartment of his wallet,
which he had set apart for the purpose.

The truth was, that Mrs. Gray contrived to be tardy that morning on
purpose, in order to set an example of exact and cheerful submission to
the law, and to give a practical illustration, in her own case, of the
strictness with which, when once enacted, such laws ought to be
enforced. She knew very well that if she had once submitted to be fined,
when she was only a minute and a half behind the time, and also to be
refused a hearing for her excuse, nobody could afterwards expect any
indulgence. The effect produced was just what she had intended, and the
whole party were extremely punctual all the way. There were only a few
fines assessed, and they were all paid at once, without any objection.

The road lay for a day through a small country called Tuscany. The
scenery was very beautiful. Although it was so early in the spring, the
wheat fields were every where very green, and in the hedges, and along
the banks by the road side, multitudes of flowers were blooming. For a
considerable portion of the way, where our travellers passed, the
occupation of the inhabitants was that of braiding straw for bonnets;
and here every body seemed to be braiding. In the streets of the
villages, at the doors of the houses, and all along the roads every
where, men, women, and children were to be seen standing in little
groups, or walking about together in the sun, braiding the straw with a
rapid motion, like that of knitting. They had a little bundle of
prepared straw, at their side, and the braid which they had made hung
rolled up in a coil before them. They looked contented and happy at
their work, so that the scene was a very pleasing, as well as a very
curious one to see.

After leaving the frontiers of Tuscany, the party entered the Papal
States--a country occupying the centre of Italy, with Rome for the
capital of it. The Papal States are so called because they are under the
dominion of the pope. Of course the Catholic religion reigns here in
absolute supremacy.

While passing through this country, the children, or rather, as Rollo
would wish to have it expressed, the young people of the party, were
very much interested in observing the crosses which were put up here and
there by the road side, with the various emblems and symbols connected
with our Saviour's death affixed to them. The first time that one of
these crosses attracted their attention, Rosie was riding in the _coupé_
with Mr. George and Rollo. There was room enough for her to sit very
comfortably between them.

"See!" said Rosie; "see! Look at that cross, with all those images and
figures upon it!"

The cross was pretty large, and was made of wood. It was set up by the
road side, like a sign post in America. From the middle of the post out
to the left hand end of the arm of the cross, there was a spear fixed.
This spear, of course, represented the weapon of the Roman soldier, by
which the body of Jesus was pierced in the side. From the same part of
the post out to the end of the opposite arm of the cross was a pole with
two sponges at the end of it, which represented the sponges with which
the soldiers reached the vinegar up for Jesus to drink. Then all along
the cross bar were various other emblems, such as the nails, the hammer,
a pair of pincers, a little ladder, a great key, and on the top a cock,
to represent the cock which crowed at the time of Peter's betrayal of
his Lord.

[Illustration: EMBLEMS ON THE CROSS.]

Rollo and Rosie both looked at these things very eagerly, as the
carriage drove by. Rosie seemed somewhat shocked at the sight.

"How curious that is!" said Rollo.

"I suppose it is all idolatry," said Rosie, speaking very seriously.

"No," said Mr. George, "it is not necessarily idolatry. These kind of
contrivances originated in the middle ages, when the poor people who
lived in all these countries were very ignorant, as indeed they are
now; and inasmuch as they could not read, and there were no schools in
which to teach them, they had to be instructed by such contrivances as
these."

"They are very poor contrivances, I think," said Rollo.

"They would be very poor as a substitute for Sunday schools, and other
such advantages as the children enjoy in America," said Mr. George; "but
not very poor, after all, for the people for whom they were intended. Go
back in imagination five hundred years, and conceive of a little child,
born in one of these peasants' huts. His father and mother probably have
never even seen a book, and are not capable of understanding any thing
that is not perfectly simple and plain. The child, walking along the
road side, sees this cross. He stops to look up at it, and wonders what
all those little objects fastened upon it mean. After a while, when he
grows a little older, he asks his mother, when she is coming by with him
some day, what they mean. Now, she would not have been able, of herself,
and without any aid, to give the child any regular instruction whatever,
but she can explain to him about the cross, and the various emblems that
are upon it."

"Yes," said Rosie; "I should think she could do that."

"The child," continued Mr. George, "in looking upon the cross, and
seeing all those curious objects upon it, would ask his mother what they
mean. Then his mother would tell him about the crucifixion of Christ.
'They nailed him to the cross,' she would say, 'by long nails passing
through his hands and feet. Don't you see the nails?' And the child
would say, 'Yes,' and look at the nails very intently. 'The soldiers
climbed up by a ladder,' she would say. 'Don't you see the ladder? And
by and by, when in his fever he called for some drink, they reached
something up to him by a sponge fastened to the end of a long pole. Do
you see the pole?' The child would look at all these things, and would
get a much more clear and vivid idea of the transaction than it would be
possible for so ignorant a mother to communicate to it in any other
way."

"Yes," said Rosie; "I think she would."

"Thus you see," continued Mr. George, "there is a right and proper use
of such contrivances as these, as well as a wrong and an idolatrous one.
Unfortunately, however, pretty much all of them, though perhaps
originally well intended, have degenerated, in Catholic countries, into
superstition and idolatry."

The scenery of the country through which the journey lay was enchanting.
The ground was every where cultivated like a garden. There were wheat
fields, and vineyards, and olive orchards, and rows of mulberry trees
for the silk worms, and gardens of vegetables of every kind. Here and
there groups of peasants were to be seen at work, men and women
together, some digging fresh fields, some ploughing, some planting, and
some pruning the trees or the vines. In many places the vines were
trained upon the trees, so that in riding along the road you seemed to
see an immense orchard on each side of you, with a carpet of rich
verdure below, and a monstrous serpent climbing up into every tree, from
the grass beneath it.

[Illustration: ASCENDING THE MOUNTAINS.]

The scenery was very much varied, too; and the changes were on so grand
a scale that they made the views which were presented on every side
appear extremely imposing. Sometimes the road lay across a wide plain,
many miles in extent, but extremely fertile and luxuriant, and bounded
in the distance by blue and beautiful mountains. After travelling upon
one of these plains for many hours, the road would gradually approach
the mountains, and then at length would enter among them, and begin to
wind, by zigzags, up a broad slope, or into a dark ravine. At such
places Vittorio would stop, usually at a post house at the foot of the
ascent, and take an additional horse, or pair of horses, and
sometimes a yoke of oxen, to help his team draw the carriage up the
hill. Many of these ascents were four or live miles long, and as the
road turned upon itself in continual zigzags, there was presented to Mr.
George and Rollo, and also to Mrs. Gray's party within the carriage, as
they ascended, a perpetual succession of widely-extended views over the
vast plain below, with the road which they had traversed stretching
across it in a straight line for ten or fifteen miles, like a white
ribbon.

Sometimes Mr. George and the two boys descended from the carriage, and
walked for a while, in going up these hills; but generally they remained
in their seats and rode. Indeed the men who came with the extra horses
or oxen often rode themselves. When oxen were employed, the man used to
ride, sometimes sitting on the yoke between them, and facing backward,
so that he could watch them and see how they performed their work. He
kept them up to their work by means of a small whip, which he had in his
hand.

After reaching the top of the ascent, Vittorio would stop, and the man
would detach his oxen from the team. Vittorio would pay him for his
services, and then the man would come and hold out his hat to Mr.
George and Rollo for a _buono mano_ from them. Rollo always had it
ready.

The party stopped every day at noon for breakfast, as Vittorio called
it. The coffee, and eggs, and bread and butter, which they had early in
the morning, was not called _breakfast_; it was called simply _coffee_.
The _breakfast_, which came about noon, consisted of fried fish,
beefsteaks, or mutton chops, fried potatoes, all hot, and afterwards
oranges and figs. With this there was always what they called wine set
upon the table, which tasted like a weak mixture of sour cider and
water. Every thing, except the wine, was very good.

Mrs. Gray, however, always called this meal the dinner, and all the rest
of the party were very willing to have it called so; and when they
stopped at night, all that they required was tea and coffee, with bread
and butter.

The inns where the party stopped were very quaint and queer. They
looked, Josie said, precisely as he had imagined the inns to look which
he had read about in Don Quixote. The entrance was generally under an
arched passage way, where the horses and carriage could go in. From this
passage a flight of broad stone steps led up into the house. The lower
floor was usually occupied for stables, sheds, and other such purposes,
and the one above for kitchens and the like. Higher up came the good
rooms.

The apartment which was used by the party for their sitting and eating
room was usually a large hall, with a brick or stone floor, and a
vaulted ceiling above, painted in fresco. The walls of the room were
usually painted too. There was generally a small and very coarse carpet
under the table, and sometimes one before the fireplace. The doors were
massive; and the locks and hinges upon them, and also the andirons and
the shovel and tongs, were of the most ancient and curious construction.
The first thing which the children did, on being ushered into one of
these old halls, was to walk all about, and examine these various
objects in detail. Rollo made drawings of a great many of them in his
drawing book, to bring home and show to people in America.

The bed rooms opened out from this great hall, on the different sides of
it. There were generally, but not always, two beds in each. According to
the agreement, Mrs. Gray had her first choice of these rooms. She chose
one, if possible, which had one wide bed in it, and one narrow one. The
wide one was for herself and Rosie; the narrow one was for Susannah.

Mr. George came next in the order of choice, and he generally took a
room which had only one bed in it, leaving another room with two single
beds in it for the two boys. They always had a fire in the great hall
every evening. Mrs. Gray usually went to her room with Rosie and
Susannah at half past eight, leaving Mr. George and the two boys in the
hall. The first evening of the journey--that is, the evening of the
night spent at Arezzo--Mr. George told Rollo, as soon as Mrs. Gray had
gone, that he had some bad news to tell him.

"What is it?" asked Rollo.

"It is that I am going to make a rule for you, that every night, from
and after the time that Mrs. Gray goes into her room, you are not to
have any conversation with any body."

"Why not, uncle George?" asked Rollo.

"Because I want to have the room still, so that I can write. I have
journals and letters to write, and so have you,--and so I suppose has
Josie; and the evening, after Mrs. Gray and Rosie have gone to their
room, will be the best time to appropriate to the work. You can do your
own work of this kind at that time or not, just as you please; but if
you do not do it, you must not interrupt me in doing mine."

"I suppose that is a rule for me and Josie too," said Rollo.

"No," said Mr. George, "it is for you alone."

"Why is it not a rule for Josie," said Rollo, "as much as for me?"

"Because I have no authority to make any rules for Josie," replied Mr.
George. "I have no authority over him at all, but only over you."

"But, uncle George," said Rollo, "if you are busy writing, and I am not
allowed to talk, and Mrs. Gray and Rosie have gone to bed, Josie will
not have any body to talk to."

"True," said Mr. George.

"Then I don't see but that you might just as well make the rule for him
too, at once," said Rollo. "You may just as well make a rule that he
shall not talk himself, as to make one that cuts him off from having any
body to talk to."

"Only," replied Mr. George, "that to do the one comes within my
authority, while to do the other does not."

Here Rollo was silent a few minutes, and seemed to be musing on what Mr.
George had said. Presently he added,--

"Besides, uncle George, this is not put down among the rules and
regulations for the journey which you drew up. We all agreed to abide by
those rules, and this is not one of them."

"True," said Mr. George. "But those rules and regulations are of force
as a compact only between Mrs. Gray and me, as the heads respectively of
the two divisions of the party. They are not at all of the nature of a
compact between Mrs. Gray and her children, nor between you and me. Her
authority over her children in respect to every thing not referred to in
the compact, is left entirely untouched by them, and so is mine over
you."

"Well," said Rollo, drawing a long breath, "I have no objection at all
to the rule. Indeed, I should like some time every evening to write and
draw. I only wanted to see how you would defend your rule, in the
argument."

"And how do you think the argument stands?" asked Mr. George.

"I think it stands pretty strong," said Rollo.

Rollo further inquired of his uncle whether he and Josie could not talk
in their own room; but Mr. George said no. If boys were allowed to talk
together after they went to bed, he said, they were very apt to get into
a frolic, and disturb those who slept in the adjoining rooms.

"And besides," said Mr. George, "even if they do not get into a frolic,
they sometimes go on talking to a later hour than they imagine, and the
sound of their voices is heard like a constant murmuring through the
partitions, and disturbs every body that is near. So you must do all
your talking in the course of the day, and when eight o'clock comes, you
must bring your discourse to a close. You may sit up as long as you
please to read or write; but when you get tired of those employments,
you must go to bed and go to sleep."

The rule thus made was faithfully observed during the whole journey.

It was Monday morning when the party left Florence, and on Saturday
afternoon at three o'clock, the carriage drew up at the passport office
just under the great gate called the _Porta del Popolo_, at Rome. The
party spent the Sabbath at Rome, and on the Monday morning after they
set out again. On the following Thursday they arrived at Naples, and
there they all established themselves in very pleasant quarters at the
Hotel de Rome--a hotel which, being built out over the water from the
busiest part of the town, commands on every side charming views, both of
the town and of the sea.




CHAPTER IV.

SITUATION OF NAPLES.


Naples is situated on a bay which has the reputation of being the most
magnificent sheet of water in the world. It is bordered on every side by
romantic cliffs and headlands, or by green and beautiful slopes of land,
which are adorned with vineyards and groves of orange and lemon trees,
and dotted with white villas; while all along the shore, close to the
margin of the water, there extends an almost uninterrupted line of
cities and towns round almost the whole circumference of the bay. The
greatest of these cities is Naples.

[Illustration: SITUATION OF NAPLES.]

But the crowning glory of the scene is the great volcano Vesuvius, which
rises a vast green cone from the midst of the plain, and emits from its
summit a constant stream of smoke. In times of eruption this smoke
becomes very dense and voluminous, and alternates from time to time with
bursts of what seems to be flame, and with explosive ejections of
red-hot stones or molten lava. Besides the cities and towns that are
now to be seen along the shore at the foot of the slopes of the
mountain, there are many others buried deep beneath the ground, having
been overwhelmed by currents of lava from the volcano, or by showers of
ashes and stones, in eruptions which took place ages ago.

Of course there is every probability that there will be more eruptions
in time to come, and that many of the present towns will also be
overwhelmed and destroyed, as their predecessors have been. But these
eruptions occur usually at such distant intervals from each other, that
the people think it is not probable that the town in which they live
will be destroyed in their day; and so they are quiet. Of course,
however, whenever they hear a rumbling in the mountain behind them, or
notice any other sign of an approaching convulsion, they naturally feel
somewhat nervous until the danger passes by.

Naples is built on the northern shore of the bay You will see by the map
on the preceding page just what the situation of the town is, and where
Vesuvius is in relation to it. Vesuvius, you observe, stands back a
little from the sea, but the slope of land extends quite down to the
margin of the water. You perceive, however, that there is a carriage
road, and also a railroad, passing along the coast between the mountain
and the sea.

Besides the villages and towns laid down on the map, upon this coast,
there are many little hamlets scattered along the way, so that, as seen
across the water from Naples, there seems to be, as it were, a continued
town, extending along the whole line of the shore.

Among the places named on the map you see the sites of Herculaneum and
Pompeii marked. Pompeii lies to the south-east from the mountain, and
Herculaneum to the south-west. Of course the lava, in breaking out from
the crater in different eruptions, runs down the mountain, sometimes on
one side and sometimes on another. It is the same with the showers of
stones and ashes, which are carried in different directions, according
to the course of the wind.

Very near the site of Herculaneum you see a small town laid down, named
Resina. This is the place where people stop when about to make the
ascent of Vesuvius, and leave the carriage in which they came from
Naples. If they come by the railroad, they leave the train at the
Portici station, which, also, you will see upon the map, and thence go
to Resina by a carriage.

At Resina they take another carriage, or sometimes go on in the same,
until they get up to what is called the Hermitage, the place of which
you also see marked on the map. The Hermitage is so called because the
spot was once the residence of a monk who lived there alone in his cell.
It is now, however, a sort of ruin.

There is no carriage road at all beyond the Hermitage, and here,
accordingly, the party of travellers take mules or donkeys, to go on
some distance farther. At last they reach a part of the mountain which
is so steep that even mules and donkeys cannot go; and here the people
are accordingly obliged to dismount, and to climb up the last part of
the ascent on foot, or else to be carried up in a chair, which is the
mode usually adopted for ladies. You will see how Mr. George and Rollo
managed, in the next chapter.

The ruins of Herculaneum can be visited on the same day in which you
make the ascent of Vesuvius; for, as you see by the map, they are very
near the place, Resina, where the ascent of the mountain commences.
Pompeii, however, is much farther on, and usually requires a separate
day.

Besides, it takes much longer to visit Pompeii than Herculaneum, on
account of there being go much more to see there. The reason for this
is, that the excavations have been carried on much farther at Pompeii
than at Herculaneum. Herculaneum was buried up in lava, and the lava,
when it cooled, became as hard as a stone; whereas Pompeii was only
covered with ashes and cinders, which are very easily dug away.

Besides, Herculaneum was buried very deep, so that, in order to get to
it, you have to go far down under ground. The fact that there was an
ancient city buried there was discovered about a hundred and fifty years
ago, by a man digging a well in the ground above. In digging this well,
the workmen came upon some statues and other remains of ancient art.
They dug these things out, and afterwards the excavations were continued
for many years; but the difficulties in the way were so great, on
account of the depth below the surface of the ground where the work was
to be done, and also on account of the hardness of the lava, that after
a while it was abandoned. People, however, now go down sometimes through
a shaft made near the well by which the first discovery was made, and
ramble about, by the light of torches, which they carry with them, among
the rubbish in the subterranean chambers.

The site of Pompeii was discovered in the same way with Herculaneum,
namely, by the digging of a well. Pompeii, however, as has already been
said, was not buried nearly as deep as Herculaneum, and the substances
which covered it were found to be much softer, and more easily removed.
Consequently a great deal more has been done at Pompeii than at
Herculaneum in making excavations. Nearly a third of the whole city has
now been explored, and the work is still going on.

The chief inducement for continuing to dig out these old ruins, is to
recover the various pictures, sculptures, utensils, and other curious
objects that are found in the houses. These things, as fast as they are
found, are brought to Naples, and deposited in an immense museum, which
has been built there to receive them.

You will see in a future chapter how Rollo went to see this museum.

Vesuvius, Herculaneum, and Pompeii are all to the eastward of Naples,
following the shore of the bay. To the westward, at the distance of
about a mile or two from the centre of the town, is a famous passage
through a hill, like the tunnel of a railway, which is considered a
great curiosity. This passage is called the Grotto of Posilipo. You will
see its place marked upon the map. The wonder of this subterranean
passage way is its great antiquity. It has existed at least eighteen
hundred years, and how much longer nobody knows. It is wide enough for a
good broad road. When it was first cut through, it was only high enough
for a carriage to pass; but the floor of it has been cut down at
different times, until now the tunnel is nearly seventy feet high at
the ends, and about twenty-five in the middle. High up on the sides of
it, at different distances, you can see the marks made by the hubs of
the wheels, as they rubbed against the rocks, at the different levels of
the road way, in ancient times.

On passing through the grotto in a carriage, or on foot, the traveller
comes out to an open country beyond, where he sees a magnificent
prospect spread out before him. The road goes on along the coast, and
comes to several very curious places, which will be described
particularly in future chapters of this volume.

On the afternoon of the day when Mr. George and his party arrived at the
hotel, just before sundown, Rollo came into Mrs. Gray's parlor, where
Mr. George and all the rest of the party, except Josie, were sitting,
and asked them to go with him and see a place which he and Josie had
found.

"Where is it, and what is it?" asked Mrs. Gray.

"You must come and see," said Rollo. "I would rather not tell you till
you come and see."

But Mrs. Gray, being somewhat fatigued with her ride, and being,
moreover, very comfortably seated on a sofa, seemed not inclined to
move.

"Rosie may go instead," said Mrs. Gray, "and when she has seen it, she
may come back and tell me, and if she thinks it is worth while I will
go."

"Well," said Rollo; "come, Rosie."

So Rollo led the way, and Rosie followed out of the parlor into the
hall, and from the hall along a sort of corridor which led to a narrow
and winding stone stair.

"No," said Rosie, as soon as she began to ascend the stair, "I don't
think mother will like to come. She does not like to go up long stairs,
especially stone stairs, and more especially still, stairs that wind
round and round."

"Wait and see," said Rollo.

After going round and round several times,--all the while
ascending,--Rollo came out to a sort of open passage way, paved with
glazed tiles of a very pretty pattern, where there was a door leading
out to a balcony. From this balcony there was a narrow iron stair which
led up on the outside of the house to the roof. Rollo led the way up
this stair, and Rosie followed him, though somewhat timidly. They landed
at length on a sort of platform among the chimneys, from which another
stair led up to another platform, higher still, where Josie was.

"There!" said Rollo, as soon as he reached the first platform, "don't
you think your mother would like to be here?"

Rosie looked around, and saw that a magnificent panorama presented
itself to her view.

"She would like to _be_ here very much, if she only dared to come," said
Rosie.

On looking towards the east, Rosie could survey the whole shore of the
bay in that direction, with the continuous line of towns and villages
along the margin of the water, and the immense green slopes of Vesuvius
rising beyond. Among the green fields and groves, far up these slopes,
white hamlets and villas were scattered, and above, the double summit of
Vesuvius was seen, with dense volumes of white smoke ascending from one
of the peaks. The children, too, could look from where they stood far
out over the bay, and see the ships and steamers in the offing, and
great numbers of small boats plying to and fro nearer the shore.

Rollo had an opera glass in his hand, which he used as a spy-glass. He
let Rosie look through this glass at the mountain, so that she might see
the smoke coming out more distinctly. With the glass, besides the
general column of vapor, she could discern several places, near the
summit, where small, separate puffs of smoke were issuing.

Farther down the mountain, Rollo directed her attention to a white
building, which was seen very distinctly in the rays of the setting
sun. This building, he said, must be the Hermitage.

"How do you know it is the Hermitage?" asked Rosie.

[Illustration: VIEW THROUGH THE GLASS.]

"I know by the situation of it," said Rollo. "Look through the glass and
you will see that it is the highest house on the mountain side. Besides,
it stands on the end of a ridge or spur, projecting from the mountain,
just as I know the Hermitage does, with a deep valley on each side of
it."

"I should have thought that they would have built it in one of the
valleys," said Rosie. "It would have been more sheltered then from the
wind."

"No," said Rollo. "That would not have been a good plan at all, for then
it would have been in the track of the streams of lava. The lava comes
down through the valleys."

"I can see the zigzag road leading up to the Hermitage," said Rosie.

"Yes," replied Rollo; "and I think it probable we could see people going
up or coming down, if there were any there now."

"I mean to watch," said Rosie.

Rosie watched, but she did not see any thing moving. The truth was, that
the people who had been up that day had all come down. They usually come
down early in the afternoon. And yet parties sometimes make arrangements
to stay up there until after dark, so as to see the glow of the fires
that are continually smouldering in the chasms and crevices of the
crater, and sometimes breaking out there.

Mrs. Gray was so much pleased with Rosie's report of what she saw on the
roof, that she went up herself immediately after Rosie came down. Mr.
George went up too. As for Josie, he staid up there all the time.

When Mrs. Gray and Mr. George reached the first platform, Josie called
to them. "Mother," said he, "come up here!"

"No," said Mrs. Gray; "this is high enough for me. I can see very well
here."

Mrs. Gray was very much interested in the view of the mountain, and of
the column of smoke issuing from the summit. She had not seen the summit
before, as all the upper part of the mountain had been enveloped in
clouds during the time while they were approaching the town.

She was also much pleased with the view of Naples itself, which she
obtained from this platform. The hotel was built out over the water, so
that from the lookout the town was spread out in full view, with all the
great castles and towers which crowned the cliffs and headlands above,
and the various moles, and piers, and fortresses, that extended out into
the water below.

In coming up the iron stair, on the outside of the building, Mrs. Gray
had been a little afraid; but in coming down she found the steps so firm
and solid under her tread that she said she should not be afraid at all
a second time.

"Then, mother," said Rosie, "let us come up here this evening after
dark, and then on the top of the mountain, instead of smoke coming out,
we shall see fire."

"Shall we, Rollo?" asked Mrs. Gray.

"I believe so," said Rollo. "At any rate they do sometimes see fire
coming out; and I don't know why we should not to-night."

It was finally agreed that after it became dark, Rollo and Josie should
go up alone first, to see if there was any fire, and if there was, then
Mrs. Gray and Rosie were to go up.

Accordingly, about eight o'clock, Rollo and Josie went up. They very
soon came running down again, and reported that there was quite a bright
fire. So Mrs. Gray and Rosie went up. Taking their stations on the
platform, and looking towards the mountain, they could see distinctly a
bright glow playing over the summit, with brighter flashes beaming up
from time to time. The sight impressed them all with an emotion of
solemn awe.




CHAPTER V.

PLANNING THE ASCENSION.


Rollo was very impatient for the time to come for the ascent of
Vesuvius; but several days elapsed before Mr. George was ready. Then,
after that, for two or three days, the weather was not favorable. The
sky was filled with showery-looking clouds, and great caps of fog hung
over the summits of the mountains.

"If we get up there when there are mists and fogs hanging about the
mountain," said Mr. George, "we shall not be able to see the fire at
all."

"Then I would rather wait for a fair day," said Rollo.

Rollo repeatedly asked Rosie if she was not going up.

"I don't know," said Rosie; "it depends upon my mother. I shall not go
unless she goes, and she says she has not decided."

At last, after several days of uncertain weather, the wind came round to
the westward, the clouds passed off, and the whole sky became serene.
This was in the afternoon. Mr. George had been rambling with Rollo about
the town that day; but when he found that the weather promised now to be
good, he said he would go home and talk with Mrs. Gray about making the
ascent. So he and Rollo returned to the hotel, and went up together to
Mrs. Gray's room.

Mr. George told Mrs. Gray that the weather promised to be favorable the
next day for the ascent of the mountain.

"And Rollo and I," said he, "think of going up. If you would like to go,
we should be very happy to have you join our party."

"_Can_ I go, do you think?" asked Mrs. Gray.

"O, yes," said Mr. George; "you certainly can go, for you can be carried
up in a _portantina_ from the place where we leave the carriage. But if
you please, I will send for a commissioner, and he can tell us all about
it."

"Very well," said Mrs. Gray, "I should like to have you do that."

"Ring the bell, then, Rollo," said Mr. George.

So Rollo rang the bell; a servant man soon came in. He was what Rollo
called the chamberman. His business was to make the beds and take care
of the rooms. This work, in Italy, is done by men generally, instead of
by women.

"Is there a commissioner attached to this hotel," asked Mr. George,
addressing the servant, and speaking in French, "who accompanies parties
to Vesuvius?"

"Yes, sir, certainly," said the servant.

"What is his name?" asked Mr. George.

"Philippe," replied the man.

"Where is he?" asked Mr. George.

"He is below," said the man.

"Please ask him to come up," said Mr. George. "I want to talk with him
about an excursion to the mountain."

The servant man went down, and pretty soon Philippe appeared. He was a
very intelligent looking young man, neatly dressed, and with a frank and
agreeable countenance.

"This is Philippe, I suppose," said Mr. George, speaking in French.

"Yes, sir," said Philippe.

"Take a seat," said Mr. George. "This lady wishes me to make some
inquiries of you about going up the mountain. Do you speak English?"

"Yes, sir," said Philippe, "a little."

On hearing this Mr. George changed the conversation into the English
language, so that Mrs. Gray might understand what was said, without the
inconvenience and delay of having it interpreted.

"In the first place," said Mr. George, "when ladies ascend the Mountain,
how far do they go in a carriage?"

"To the Hermitage," said Philippe.

"Can you go in a good, comfortable carriage all the way to the
Hermitage?" asked Mr. George.

"O, yes, sir," said Philippe. "We take an excellent carriage from town.
The road is very winding to go up the mountain, but it is perfectly
good. A lady can go up there as comfortably as she can ride about town."

Philippe further said that ladies often went up with parties as far as
the Hermitage, and then, if they did not wish to go any farther, they
remained there until their friends came down.

"What sort of a place is the Hermitage?" asked Mrs. Gray. "Is it an
inn?"

"Yes, madam," said Philippe. "It is an inn. It is a very plain and
homely place, but a lady can stay there very well a few hours."

"Is there a family there?" asked Mrs. Gray.

"No, madam," said Philippe; "it is kept by a monk."

"Let us go, mother," said Josie. "We can go up _there_ as well as not."

"Yes," said Mrs. Gray, "I think I should like to go up at least as far
as there. I can take a book to read, to while away the time while you
are up the mountain; or I can ramble about, I suppose. Is it a pleasant
place to ramble about, around the Hermitage?"

"Yes, madam; it is a _very_ pleasant place," replied Philippe. "You have
an exceedingly fine view of the bay, and of Naples, and of the islands,
and of the whole Campagna. Then the observatory is near, and that is a
very pleasant place, with gardens and plantations of trees all around
it. Perhaps the beggars might be a little troublesome if you walked out,
but I think I could manage about that."

"What _is_ the observatory that you speak of?" asked Mr. George.

"It is a government establishment that is kept there for making
observations on the state of the mountain," replied Philippe. "It is a
fine building, and it has very pretty gardens and grounds around it."

"I should think it would be a very pleasant place," said Mrs. Gray.
"Indeed, it looks like a pleasant place seen from this hotel with
Rollo's opera glass."

"Well, now for the next stage of the journey," said Mr. George; "that
is, from the Hermitage to the foot of the cone. How far is that, and how
do we go?"

"It is about three quarters of an hour's walk," replied Philippe. "There
is no carriage road, but only a mule path, and in some places the road
is very rough."

"Is it steep?" asked Mr. George.

"No, sir," said Philippe; "the steep part comes afterwards. The mule
path is nearly on a level, but it is rough and rocky. There are three
ways of going. You can walk, you can ride upon a mule or a donkey, or
finally, you can be carried in a chair. Ladies that do not like to walk
so far usually ride on a donkey, or else are carried. It is easier to be
carried, but it costs a little more."

"How much more?" asked Mr. George.

"A dollar," said Philippe.

"I think I should rather be carried if I were to go," said Mrs. Gray.

"I'd rather ride on a donkey," said Rosie.

"And I on a mule," said Josie.

"You and I might walk, Rollo," said Mr. George.

"Yes," said Rollo, "I would rather walk."

Rollo always preferred to go on foot when on any of these mountain
excursions, because then he could ramble about this way and that,
wherever he pleased, and climb up upon the rocks, and gather plants and
specimens.

"Very well," said Mr. George; "and this brings us to the foot of the
steep part of the mountain. How far is it up this last steep part?"

"About an hour's work, hard climbing," said Philippe.

"Is it very hard climbing?" asked Mr. George.

"Yes, sir," said Philippe; "it is right up a steep slope of rocks."

"Is there good footing," asked Mr. George, "or are the rocks loose, or
slippery?"

"It is very good footing," said Philippe. "In one sense the rocks are
loose, for the whole side of the mountain where we go up is formed of
slag and scoriæ. But then the pieces are wedged together, so as not to
move much, and the foot clings to them, so that you don't slip. On the
whole, it is good footing. The only difficulty is, it is so steep. It is
a thousand feet up rough rocks, as steep as you can go."

"_I_ could not get up, I am sure," said Mrs. Gray.

"Nor I," said Rosie.

"O, you can be carried up," said Mr. George, "in a portantina."

"What kind of a thing is it?" asked Mrs. Gray.

"It is a common arm chair," said Philippe, "with two stout poles lashed
to the sides of it. Two men take hold of the ends of the poles before,
and two others behind, and they lift the poles,--chair, passenger, and
all,--up upon their shoulders. They carry you, in this way, right up the
mountain."

"I should be afraid," said Rosie.

"You would feel a little afraid at first," said Philippe, "when the men
were lifting you up upon their shoulders--but afterwards, you would not
be afraid at all. You ride as easy as if two persons were to take you in
a chair and carry you about the room."

"But I should pity the poor men so much," said Rosie, "in having such a
heavy load to carry!"

"Ah!" said Philippe, "instead of pitying them, you ought to rejoice for
them. They are so glad when they get any body to carry up! They are paid
about three quarters of a dollar apiece, and that is a great deal of
money for them. There will be a great many of them up there to-morrow,
waiting, and hoping that somebody will come for them to carry up."

"Ah, that makes it different," said Rosie.

"Besides," said Josie, "_you_ are nothing to carry, you are so little
and light. Rollo and I could carry you. I suppose that they would carry
Rosie for half price--would not they, Philippe?"

Rosie looked a little troubled to hear her brother speak of her in this
way. She did not like to be called little and light. Philippe saw that
she was troubled.

"No," said he; "they will ask the same for carrying Miss Rosie that they
would for any other lady."

This answer removed in an instant the cloud which had appeared upon
Rosie's face, and replaced it with a smile which had something of the
expression of triumph in it. In fact, Philippe shaped his answer as he
did on purpose to please her. It was strange that a guide, whose life
had been spent among the roughest of men, on the mountains, should know
better how to be polite than a boy who had been brought up tenderly in
the midst of refinement and elegance; but so it often is.

"How long does it take to go up the steep part?" asked Mrs. Gray.

"About an hour," said Philippe. "They stop two or three times on the
way, to rest the bearers, and change them."

"Then they change the bearers," said Mrs. Gray.

"Yes, madam," replied Philippe. "We take eight bearers to each chair,
and four of them carry it at a time; so we have two sets."

"I'm glad of that," said Rosie.

"And what do we see when we get to the top?" asked Mrs. Gray.

"We walk along over the sand and lava," replied Philippe, "until we come
to the edge of the crater, and then we look down."

"And do we see the fire coming out?" asked Rollo.

"Yes," said Philippe, "plenty of fire."

"And lava, and red-hot stones?" asked Josie.

"Yes," said Philippe, "all the time."

"I hope you don't go too near," said Mrs. Gray.

"No, madam," said Philippe; "we are careful not to go too near. There is
a mountain guide who goes up with the party from the Hermitage, and it
is his business to know all the time what the state of the mountain is,
and where it is safe to go. There are two craters now. One of them they
cannot go down into, for the sides have caved in all around, and formed
perpendicular cliffs. But at the other crater there is on one side a
slope of sand and slag, where people can go down, and walk over the lava
on the floor of the crater."

"Why, I should think they would sink into it," said Rosie.

"No," said Philippe; "the lava that lies spread out over the bottom of
the crater has cooled so as to be hard enough to walk upon, though you
can see that it is red hot in the cracks."

"I should not dare to walk over it," said Rosie.

"Ladies go down very often," said Philippe, "and there is no danger,
only the sulphurous smoke, if it happens to blow over upon you, is bad
to breathe."

After some further conversation with Philippe, and some consultation
with each other, the party formed the plan as follows: They were all to
go together in a carriage to the Hermitage. Then Philippe was to provide
chairs and bearers for Mrs. Gray and Rosie, to take them to the foot of
the cone, and animals, either mules or donkeys, for "the three
gentlemen," as Philippe called them. On arriving at the foot of the
cone, Mrs. Gray was to decide whether she would let Rosie continue and
go to the top. For herself, she concluded that she would not go, but
after seeing the party commence their ascent, she would go back to the
Hermitage, and wait there till they returned.

"And now, Philippe," said Mr. George, "I wish you to calculate exactly
what the expense will be for the whole expedition, including carriage
hire, guides, bearers, mules, _buono manos_, and every thing. Then I
will give you money enough, before we set out, to pay the whole. I don't
wish to have any thing to do in the way of paying, from the time we
leave the hotel until we get back again."

"Yes, sir," said Philippe; "that is the best way. If you undertake to
pay the men on the mountain yourself, they will never be satisfied. They
clamor continually for more, as long as the party will give any thing. I
know just what is their due."

So Philippe drew his chair up to the table where Mr. George had placed a
sheet of paper and a pen and ink, and began to make out his account.
After writing a few minutes, he looked up from his work, and asked if
the gentlemen wished to have any assistance in going up the cone. "What
assistance _can_ we have?" asked Mr. George.

"There are men who put straps over their shoulders to pull by, and let
you take hold of the end of them. It helps you a great deal."

"Yes, uncle George," said Rollo, "let us have them. I should like to be
pulled up in that way."

"So should I," said Josie.

"You boys may have strapmen, then," said Mr. George. "I think I can get
along without one myself."

Philippe then asked if the party would stop on the way and go down into
Herculaneum. Mr. George said that they would. Philippe then went on with
his calculation, and when it was finished he presented it to Mr. George.
Mr. George wrote a heading to it, and then read it as follows, except
that I give the amounts in American money:--

 ASCENT OF VESUVIUS.

 _Estimate of Expenses_--_Party of Five._

 Carriage to the Hermitage,                      $5.00
 Fees at Herculaneum,                              .25
 Portantina to the foot of the cone for madame,   2.00
 Portantina to the summit for mademoiselle,       6.00
 Two mules for the young gentlemen,               2.00
 Two strapmen up the cone,                        1.00
 Refreshments,                                     .50
 Mountain guide,                                  1.00
 Buono manos,                                     1.00
 Valet de place,                                  1.00
                                                ______
                                                $19.75

"Very well," said Mr. George. "That is satisfactory. Now I will give you
gold enough to cover that amount. You must get it changed into such a
form as you want it, and you must not call upon me or any of the party
for any money whatever, from the time that we set out till we get back
again to the hotel."

"Very well, sir," said Philippe; "that is much the best way. The men
will gather around you from time to time on the way, and clamor for
_buono manos_, but you must not pay any attention to them; say simply,
'Philippe will pay.'"

"And now," said Mr. George, "it is all arranged except the time for
setting out. What is the best time?"

"We ought to set out at eight or nine o'clock," said Philippe. "It takes
about ten hours."

"Let us set out at eight, then," said Mrs. Gray. "We can have breakfast
at seven, I suppose."

"Certainly," said Philippe. "And will you have it in your own room?"

"No," said Mrs. Gray; "let us all breakfast together in the dining room.
That will be more interesting. We may meet some other parties there who
are going to the mountain."

"Then I will order breakfast for you at seven o'clock," said Philippe.

"Provided you find, to-morrow morning, that the weather is going to be
good," said Mr. George. "We won't go unless you are convinced that it is
going to be a fine day."

"Yes, sir," said Philippe; "we judge a great deal by the smoke on the
mountain. If it comes down the mountain on this side, then the weather
is going to be bad. But if it goes away on the other side, off towards
the sea, then we can generally depend upon a fine day."

So it was agreed that Philippe should make an observation early in the
morning, and if he concluded that the day would be a good one for the
excursion, he was to come to Mr. George's room and let him know the
decision. He was then to order the breakfast for seven o'clock, and the
carriage for eight, while Mr. George was to call the rest of the party.

The plan being thus formed, the party separated for the night. Rollo
said that he meant to get up at half past five; or as soon as it was
light, and go up to the top of the house, and see which way the smoke of
Vesuvius was going.

"Call for me, and I will go with you," said Josie.

"I will," said Rollo.




CHAPTER VI.

GOING UP.


Rollo slept in the same room with Mr. George. He got up as soon as it
was light, dressed himself in a hurried manner, and went out. In about
ten minutes he returned.

"Well, Rollo," said Mr. George, "what is the report?"

"The smoke is not going either way," said Rollo. "It mounts
right straight up into the air; but Philippe says he thinks it is going
to be a fine day, and he has ordered breakfast. So I think you had
better get up."

At seven o'clock precisely the whole party were assembled in the dining
room for breakfast. They ate their breakfast together at the end of one
of the long tables. There were already two other parties in the room.
There was one consisting of two gentlemen that were going to Vesuvius.
There was another larger party that were about setting out for Rome.
Their carriage was at the door, and the vetturino and his men were at
work putting on the trunks and baggage.

At eight o'clock precisely, the carriage for Mr. George's party came to
the door. All were ready, and they all immediately got in. Philippe put
in a basket containing provisions. Mrs. Gray had a small book, formed
with leaves of blotting paper, to press the flowers in, which she meant
to gather around the Hermitage while the rest of the party were gone up
the mountain. Mr. George took his knapsack, though there seemed to be
nothing in it.

"What are you carrying up an empty knapsack for, uncle George?" asked
Rollo.

"To bring down specimens in," said Mr. George.

"Ah," said Rollo, "I wish I had thought to take mine."

"I'll let you have part of mine," said Mr. George. "It is big enough to
hold the specimens for all of us."

Philippe, when he found that the company were well seated in the
carriage, shut the door, mounted the box with the coachman, and gave the
order to drive on.

The carriage was entirely open, and the party, as they drove along,
enjoyed an uninterrupted view of every thing around them. They passed
through one or two beautiful public squares, with palaces and churches
on either hand, and lines of troops parading before them. Then they came
to a long and exceedingly busy street, with the port and the shipping on
one side, and stores, shops, hotels, and establishments of every kind,
on the other. The street was crowded with people going to and fro, some
on foot and some in carriages. A great many persons were carrying
burdens on their heads. Some had jars, or pails, or little tubs of
water; some had baskets heaped up with oranges, or other fruit. Some had
long boards with a row of loaves of dough upon them, which they were
taking to the bakers to be baked.

The sidewalks, especially on the side towards the harbor, were thronged
with people living in the open air, and practising their various trades
there. There were cooks, cooking all sorts of provisions; and
blacksmiths, working with hammers and anvils; and cabinet makers, sawing
or planing, or gluing together the parts of tables or chairs. Then there
were a great many family groups, some sitting in the sun around a boat
drawn up, or upon and around a great chain cable, or an anchor; and
others gathering about a fire made in a brazier, for the morning was
cool. These families were engaged in all the usual domestic avocations
of a household. The mothers were dressing the children, or getting the
breakfast, while the grandmothers and aunts were knitting, or spinning
thread with a distaff and spindle. The men were often employed in making
nets.

The carriage, which was drawn by three horses abreast, went on very
rapidly through these scenes--so rapidly, in fact, that Mrs. Gray had
not time to look at the various groups as much as she wished.

"I mean to come and take a walk here some day," said Mrs. Gray, "and
then I can look at all these things at my leisure."

"O mother," said Josie, "you can't do that very well, on account of the
beggars. If a gentleman and lady attempt to walk together in any of
these streets of Naples, the beggars come and gather around them at
every step."

"Then I'll come some day in a carriage, and tell the coachman to drive
slowly."

"That will be just as bad," said Josie. "They'll come then around the
carriage. The only way is to drive so fast that they cannot keep up."

The carriage went on. It followed the road which led along the shore, as
shown in the map given in a former chapter to illustrate the situation
of Naples; but the shore was occupied with such a succession of hamlets
and villages that the road seemed to form a continued street all the
way. After getting a little beyond the confines of Naples, the road was
thronged with people coming into town, some on foot, with loads of
produce on their heads, some driving donkeys, with immense burdens of
vegetables loaded in panniers on their backs, or drawn in carts behind
them. There were omnibuses too, of a peculiar kind, filled with people,
and a kind of carriage called a _calash_, which consisted of a sort of
chaise, with an extended frame for people to stand upon all around it.
The first class passengers in these calashes had seats in the chaise
itself. The others stood up all around, and clung on as best they could
to the back of the seat before them.

Our party met a great many of these calashes coming into town, and
bringing in loads of country people.

"It is astonishing," said Rollo, "that one horse can draw so many
people."

"It is because the road is so level and smooth," said Mr. George. "The
wheels run almost as easy upon it as they would upon a railroad."

[Illustration: CALASH COMING INTO NAPLES.]

After going on in this manner for about an hour,--all the time gently
ascending, and passing through what seemed to be a continued succession
of villages and towns,--the carriage stopped before the door of a kind
of inn in the midst of a crowded street. The moment that the carriage
stopped, it seemed to be surrounded by a crowd of ostlers, donkeys and
donkey drivers, ragged boys and beggars; and such a clamor arose from
the crowd as was quite appalling to hear, the more so as nothing could
be understood of what was said, since it was all in Italian.

"What is here?" said Mr. George to Philippe, when he saw that Philippe
was getting down from the box.

"This is Herculaneum," said Philippe, quietly.

"Herculaneum!" repeated Rosie, amazed. "Why, I thought Herculaneum was
all under ground."

"Yes," said Mr. George, "it is. He means that this is where we go down."

By this time Philippe had opened the carriage door. Mr. George got out,
and then helped Mrs. Gray to descend. A half a dozen beggars, some lame,
some blind, some old and paralytic, hovered about the steps, and held
out tattered hats to Mrs. Gray, moaning all the time in piteous tones,
and begging for alms. Mrs. Gray and Mr. George paid no attention to
them, but passed directly on, followed by the children, through a door
in a high wall, which led into a little court, and thence they passed
into a sort of entrance hall, leading into a building. Philippe, who
had preceded them, opened a closet, and took out some small candles. He
lighted these candles by means of a lamp hanging against the wall, and
gave one to each of the party. There was an open door near, with a broad
flight of stone steps leading down, like stairs going down cellar. As
soon as the candles were all lighted, the children heard somebody coming
up these stairs. It was a party of visitors that had been down, and were
now coming up. There were eight or ten of them, and the appearance of
them as they came up, following each other in a long line, each carrying
his candle in his hand, produced a very strange and picturesque effect.

The guide who came up at the head of them exchanged a few words with
Philippe in Italian, and then Philippe went on, leading his own party
down the stairs. The stairs were wide, so that there was abundant room
for the two parties to pass each other.

After going down some way, and making one or two turnings, suddenly a
light began to appear. It was a light like the light of day. It grew
brighter and brighter, until at length Mr. George and Rollo, who were at
the head of the party, after Philippe, came out under a large circular
opening cut in the rock, through which they could look up to the open
air, and to the sky.

"This is the well," said Philippe; "the well that they were digging when
they first came upon the ruins."

The sides of the well were of solid lava, smooth and hard, just as they
had been left by the workmen in digging down.

The light which came down through the well shone upon a sort of
platform, which, as well as the walls around it, was covered with moss
and other green plants, which had been induced to vegetate there by the
rain and the sunlight that had come down through the well. Mrs. Gray
gathered some of these plants, and put them into her book.

The party then went on down another flight of steps, which led into a
series of dark, vaulted chambers, all hewn out of the rock. By holding
the candles up to the sides of these chambers, the party could see here
and there the remains of old arches, columns, and walls, which had been
buried up in the lava, but were now partially disinterred.

These remains were part of an ancient theatre; and after passing through
several gloomy passages, the party came to a large chamber, where the
whole front of the stage had been brought to view. Before it, in a
range, were the seats for the musicians. On each side there was a
massive pedestal. The guide said that there were two bronze statues on
these pedestals when the place was first excavated, but that they had
been taken away, and were now deposited in the museum at Naples.

"We shall see them there, I suppose," said Mr. George, "when we go to
visit the museum."

"I shall take great interest in seeing them," said Mrs. Gray.

In some places the old pavement of the theatre had been laid bare, and
was plainly to be seen by holding the candles down close to the ground.
In other places the painting on the walls had been found, with the
colors quite fresh.

"These must be places that the hot lava did not come to," said Rollo.

"I suppose so," said Mr. George.

It was not possible to obtain any information from the guide, for he
could speak no language but the Italian, with the exception of a few
English words and phrases, which he pronounced in so outlandish a
manner, and mingled them up so much with his Neapolitan dialect, that it
was very difficult to recognize them.

"Questa vindow; vindow orizhinalle," he would say, meaning that the
opening that he was pointing to was one of the original windows of the
edifice. And then he would go on with a long sentence in the Neapolitan
dialect, which was perfectly unintelligible from beginning to end.

At length the exploration was ended, and the whole party ascended again
to the surface of the ground. The guide took the candles from their
hands as they came up, and Philippe paid him his fee. Mr. George led the
way to the carriage, which was still waiting at the door. It was
surrounded, as before, with poor children and beggars, who set up a loud
clamor for alms as soon as the party made their appearance.

Mr. George took no notice of them, but opened the door for Mrs. Gray and
Rosie to get in. They got in, and Mrs. Gray took her place on the
forward seat of the carriage,--that is, with her back to the
horses,--and Rosie sat down by the side of her.

"The other is your seat, Mrs. Gray," said Mr. George.

"No," said Mrs. Gray; "we are going to ride here now, and let you and
the boys have the back seat."

"O, no, Mrs. Gray," said Mr. George; "please take the back seat."

"By and by I will," said Mrs. Gray, "but not now."

So Mr. George and the two boys got in and took the back seat, which was
a great deal better than the forward seat, as it afforded so much better
opportunity to see.

All this was done in a moment, and Philippe, after shutting the door and
mounting the box with the coachman, gave the order to drive on.

"I think you and Rosie ought to have this seat, Mrs. Gray," said Rollo.

"I have had that seat already for an hour," said Mrs. Gray. "There is no
reason why I should have it all the time."

"Why, yes," said Rollo; "because you are a lady."

"My being a lady is a very good reason why the gentlemen should always
offer me the best seat," said Mrs. Gray; "but it is no reason why I
should always take it. Indeed, it is a very good reason why I should
not; for it is not at all ladylike to be monopolizing and selfish in
respect to good seats and good places when there is any thing to see."

Mr. George did not care a great deal about the difference in the seats,
but he was so much pleased with the disinterested and considerate spirit
which Mrs. Gray manifested in this case, that he secretly resolved that
he would invite her and Rosie to accompany him on every excursion that
he made.

The road now left the shore, and soon began to ascend the mountain,
winding this way and that in long zigzags, through rich vineyards and
groves of mulberry trees, all planted on soil which had been formed
during the lapse of ages from the disintegration and decay of the lava
which had come down from the volcano above. This land was very fertile;
and as both the soil itself and the rocks from which it was formed were
of a rich brown color, the country looked even more fertile than it
really was. The road was excellent. Indeed, as Philippe had said, it was
as hard and smooth as a floor. It was macadamized all the way, being
made of lava, broken small, and so compacted together, and worn so hard
and smooth by the wheels that had gone over it, and by the feet of the
horses and mules, that it seemed one continuous surface of stone.

The views on every side were of course continually enlarging and
expanding the higher the carriage ascended, and as, in the long windings
and zigzags of the road, the heads of the horses were turning
continually into different directions, each person in the carriage,
without changing his seat, or even turning his head, had all the
different views presented successively before him.

The whole expanse of the Bay of Naples was coming continually more and
more fully into view, with the mountainous islands in the offing, which
border it towards the sea, and a long line of hamlets, villages, and
towns, extending, like a white fringe upon a green mantle, along the
curve of the shore. Naples was seen in the distance, with the great
Castle of St. Elmo on a rocky summit above it.

Towards the mountain the travellers could see lofty peaks, with immense
valleys between them. These valleys were extremely fertile and
beautiful, except where recent streams of lava had flowed through them;
that is, lava which had issued from the mountain within a few hundred
years. From the road where the carriage was now moving, the party could
look down upon the beds of these streams, and as the lava had already
become partially decomposed, they looked like immense fields of rich
brown soil turned up by the plough. These valleys, by which the mountain
sides were furrowed, were so large, and the streams of lava in the beds
of them were comparatively so small, that Mr. George said he did not
wonder that the people in the towns along the sea shore were not more
afraid of living so near the mountain.

"There is room enough in these valleys," said he, "to hold the lava of a
thousand eruptions, before they would be filled up."

At length the carriage arrived at the Hermitage. The building stood, as
Rollo had seen with his opera glass from the balcony of the hotel, at
the outer extremity of a spur of the mountain, a mile or two from the
foot of the great cone. The road to the foot of the great cone lay along
the crest of the ridge. The observatory, which was a larger and
handsomer building, stood just above and beyond it, and was surrounded
with very pretty gardens.

The grounds around the Hermitage were very fertile, and though they were
steep and broken, they were so laid out in vineyards and groves of
mulberry trees, and the sun shone upon them so pleasantly, that they
presented a very attractive appearance. The Hermitage was a plain, but
neat stone building, massive and white, with a broad area before it,
where a great many carriages, and also a great many donkeys and mules,
all saddled and bridled, were standing. The carriage drove up rapidly,
and stopped before the door.

Here followed another noise and uproar, from beggars, musicians, mule
and donkey men, guides, and boys, who gathered about the carriage in a
crowd as soon as it stopped, all clamoring for money or employment. Mr.
George paid no attention to them, but assisting Mrs. Gray and Rosie to
descend, he led the way into the house. There was a boy at the door to
receive him. The boy led the way up a narrow flight of stone stairs to a
sort of hall, surrounded on every side by massive walls of stone. There
were two or three desolate-looking rooms opening from this hall. The
room doors were open. The floors were all of stone. There were tables
set in these rooms, and different parties were seated at them, partaking
of refreshments that they had brought up with them in their
carriages--the bags and baskets in which they had brought them up lying
at their feet.

These parties were waited upon by the monk, who walked about among the
guests, bringing them glasses, knives and forks, bottles of wine, and
any thing else that they required. He was dressed in the costume of his
order, and looked, as Rosie said, precisely like the pictures of monks
which she had seen in books in America.

Philippe came up almost immediately after his party, bringing with him
his basket of refreshments. He soon found a table that was unoccupied,
and having placed chairs around it, he asked the monk to bring some
glasses and some knives and forks.

"And now," said he, addressing Mr. George, "if you will take some
refreshment here, I will go and make the preparations for continuing
the ascent. I will come up again as soon as we are ready."

So Philippe went away. Mrs. Gray and Rosie sat down at the table, but
the boys began to ramble about in the hall and in the rooms, to see what
was to be seen, taking care, however, to go now and then to the table to
get fresh pieces of bread and butter, and oranges, so as to keep
themselves well supplied with provisions all the time.

In about fifteen minutes Philippe came up, and said that the
arrangements were made, and then the whole party went down stairs. There
were two portantinas at the door, all ready. The men--an extremely
rough-looking set--stood beside them.

"Now, Rosie," said Mrs. Gray, "you may get into yours first, so that I
may see how you do it."

Philippe spread a shawl over the chair which Rosie was to go in, and
Rosie took her seat. Four of the men then took hold of the ends of the
poles, and first with a lift, and then a gentle toss, they raised it up
to their shoulders. Rosie was a little frightened when she found herself
going up so high into the air; but when the ends of the poles came down
gently upon the men's shoulders and rested there, she felt reassured,
and she looked down upon her mother with a smile.

"How do you feel?" asked Mrs. Gray.

"Beautifully," said Rosie.

Mrs. Gray then took her seat in her chair, and the bearers lifted her up
upon their shoulders in the same way. Both sets of bearers set off
immediately.

Rollo and Josie then mounted two donkeys, which Philippe had provided
for them, while Mr. George set out on foot. In this order the party
moved in quite a long procession from the area before the Hermitage, and
began to follow the winding path which led along the crest of the ridge
towards the foot of the cone. There were in all nearly thirty persons,
thus:--

 Travellers,                                         5
 Portantina bearers, 8 to each chair,               16
 Donkey drivers,                                     2
 Strapmen,                                           2
 Refreshment man,                                    1
 Guide,                                              1
                                                    __
                                                    27

The refreshment man carried the provisions, which he hoped to sell to
the party by the way, in a basket poised upon his head.

The procession moved on in this order, along a rough and narrow mule
path, for nearly an hour. In some parts of the way the road was pretty
nearly level; in others it was extremely broken and steep, where it
passed across old streams of lava. Before them the travellers could see,
all the way, the immense cone, which formed the summit of the mountain,
rising into the sky. They saw that they were gradually drawing nearer
and nearer to the foot of it, and on looking up they could see another
party, which had preceded them in making the ascent, slowly toiling
their way up the rocky steep, while, at a little distance on one side,
another party were seen descending by a different path, which was seen
winding down circuitously at a part of the mountain where the slope was
formed of sand.

At length Rollo saw at a distance before him a level place among the
trees, very near the foot of the great cone. This he knew at once must
be the halting place.

"Uncle George," said he, "we are coming to the end of our ride."

"Are we?" asked Mr. George.

"Yes," said Rollo. "Do you see all those mules and donkeys there,
standing together among the rocks and trees? That must be the halting
place at the foot of the cone."

Rollo was right. As soon as he and Josie arrived at this place, the
donkey boys stopped the donkeys, and held them by the head for the
riders to dismount. The bearers of the portantinas stopped too, to
change hands.

Mrs. Gray got out of her chair as soon as the men put it down, and went
to Rosie's chair to ask Rosie how she had got along.

"Very well indeed," said Rosie. "I like it very much."

"Does your courage hold out to go up the cone?" asked Mrs. Gray.

"O, yes, mother," said Rosie; "and I wish you would go up too."

"No," replied Mrs. Gray; "I will go back to the Hermitage, and wait
there until you come down. But you may go up if you wish, and if Mr.
George is willing to take you."

Mr. George said that he should like to have Rosie go very much, and he
promised to take special care of her. So the new bearers lifted her up
upon their shoulders again, and the strapmen that Philippe had provided
came with their straps to Rollo and Josie. Mr. George took a cane which
one of the boys provided him with, and thus the party began the ascent
of the cone.

[Illustration: THE ASCENT.]

Rollo found, after a while, that he did not need the strapmen; so he let
Josie have them both. Josie put his staff through the loops of the
straps, and took hold of the ends of it, while the men walked before
him, and pulled him up the rocks.

Rollo kept ahead. He climbed faster than the rest of the train, but he
stopped now and then on some projecting mass of lava to wait for them to
come up. Next to Rollo came Josie, with the two strapmen pulling him up
by their straps. Then the refreshment man, with his basket of provisions
on his head. Last of all came the bearers of the portantina, with Rosie
in the chair. Mr. George followed immediately after. He kept close to
Rosie all the way, for he thought she would be afraid to be left alone
with such wild and rough-looking men.

Indeed, she doubtless would have been afraid, for the men were rough and
wild in their demeanor, as well as in their looks. They made a great
deal of noise, shouting and scolding all the way. Every now and then
they would stop to rest, and then they would clamor for _buono manos_,
sometimes begging for the money in very earnest and noisy, but suppliant
tones, and sometimes demanding it in a very loud and threatening manner.
Mr. George, however, paid no heed to these requests, but steadily
refused to give the men any money, saying simply that Philippe would
pay. At length the men, finding that Mr. George was cool and collected,
and that he did not seem to be at all intimidated by their violent and
boisterous demeanor, became quiet, and performed their duty in a more
steady and orderly manner.

The party went on climbing in this way for nearly an hour, and finally
reached the summit.




CHAPTER VII.

THE SUMMIT.


On coming out upon the brow of the mountain, Rollo saw at a short
distance before him an immense column of dense white vapor pouring up
into the air. His first impulse was to run forward up the sandy slope
that still remained between the place where he stood and the margin of
the crater; but he checked himself, and stopped where he was, to wait
for the rest of the party. As soon as the portantina bearers reached the
place where he stood, they set down the chair, and immediately the whole
set crowded around Mr. George, and again demanded _buono manos_.

"_Philippe payera_," said Mr. George, pointing down the mountain to the
Hermitage--"_Philippe payera, là bas_," which means, "Philippe will pay
when you go down."

Mr. George said this in a very quiet manner, and then proceeded to help
Rosie out of her chair. The guide who had come up the mountain with
them then led the way, and Mr. George, Rollo, Rosie and Josie followed,
towards the crater.

And here I must stop a moment in my story to explain a little what a
crater is, and how it is formed. A crater is a great circular pit or
depression in the top of a volcano, formed by the sinking of the ground
in that part. This sinking of the ground is caused apparently by the
cooling and shrinking of the melted matter below, after a time when it
has been unusually heated.

Most boys have observed an effect similar to this in casting lead. When
you attempt to cast any thing of lead,--a cannon, for example, or
anchor, or even a bullet,--you will observe that as the lead cools, the
portion of it which comes at the top of the mould shrinks and falls in,
forming a little pit or depression, which you have to fill up by pouring
in a little more lead. The reason is, that lead, as well as most other
melted substances, shrinks when it cools. In the case of the bullet, for
instance, all the lead which forms the mass of the bullet within the
mould shrinks. The effect of this would be to collapse the sides, were
it not that the sides have already become solid by contact with the cold
mould. But the lead at the top, having been poured in last, is still
fluid; and so that settles down as the lead cools below, and forms the
little pit or depression, which the boy presently fills up by pouring in
a little more lead.

It is much the same with a volcano. For some reason or other,--no one as
yet knows what it is,--the interior of a volcano changes its temperature
very much at different times. Sometimes for a period of several months,
or years, it seems to be all the time growing hotter and hotter. The
substances below become more and more melted, and formed into lava. The
water, which is all the time filtering in through the crevices and
openings, in the rocks around the sides of the mountain, is forced down
under this molten mass by the immense pressure given to it by the height
of the mountain. There it is turned into steam. For a time it is kept
down by the vast weight of the lava which is over it, but after a time
the elastic force of it gets so great that a bubble of it bursts up, and
comes out at the top of the mountain in a great, thundering puff,
bringing up some portion of the melted lava with it, and throwing it
high into the air.

The lava thus thrown up falls down again, and when there is no wind it
falls down clos