Part 8 (1/2)

CHAPTER V.

GETTING LOST.

”And now,” said Rollo, ”the first thing is to find somebody that can speak French or English, for us to inquire of.”

”What good will that do?” asked Charles, ”as long as we don't know what to ask them for?”

”True,” said Rollo. ”That's a real difficulty. I wish we just knew the name of the hotel. At any rate, we will walk along until we find a carriage, and I will be thinking what we had better do.”

The boys walked along together. Charles kept silence, so as not to interrupt Rollo in his thinking.

”All I know,” said Rollo, after a short pause, ”is, that the long, straight street that we came through, is the Corso. I have heard of that street before. If we could only find our way to the Corso, I believe that I could follow it along, and at last find the mosaic shop, and so get back to our hotel.”

”Very well,” said Charles, ”let us try.”

”Or, we might get into a carriage,” said Rollo, ”and direct the coachman which way to drive by pointing.”

”So we could,” said Charles. ”And I should like that, for I am tired of walking so much.”

”Then we will get a carriage,” said Rollo. ”We will take the first one that we see. You shall get inside, and I will mount upon the box with the coachman, and show him which way to go.”

”No,” said Charles, ”we will both get inside, for we can stand up there and point.”

”So we can,” said Rollo.

There are carriages to be found almost every where in the streets of Rome, especially in the neighborhood of the most interesting ruins. It was not long before Rollo and Charles came in sight of one. The coachman was looking toward them, and was cracking his whip to attract their attention.

Rollo and Charles walked directly towards the spot, and Rollo, taking out his watch, and showing the coachman what o'clock it was, said,--

”_Per hora._”

This was to notify the coachman that he took the carriage by the hour.

”_Si, signore_,” said the coachman; and then Rollo and Charles got in.

The carriage was entirely open,--the top being turned back,--so that it afforded an uninterrupted view in every direction; and also, by standing up and pointing forward, the boys could easily indicate to the coachman which way they wished him to drive. Rollo, however, in the first instance, directed him in words to drive to the Corso.

”_Si, signore_,” said the coachman; and so he drove on.

The boys sat in the carriage, or stood up to look back at the various objects of interest that attracted them as they pa.s.sed. The scenes through which the driver took them seemed very strange. Every thing in Rome was strange to them, and their course now lay through a part of the city which they had not been in before. Their attention was continually attracted first upon this side of the carriage and then upon the other, as they rode along; and they pointed out to each other the remarkable objects they were pa.s.sing.

The driver meanwhile upon his seat drove on, entirely indifferent to it all. The scenes that were so new to the boys, were perfectly familiar to him.

[Ill.u.s.tration: RIDING AMONG THE RUINS.]

He soon entered a region of dark, crooked, and winding alleys, where Rollo said that he and Charles could never have found their way, if they had undertaken it alone. They frequently pa.s.sed portions of old ruins.

In some places these ruins consisted of columns standing alone, or immense fragments of broken arches that had fallen down, and now lay neglected upon the ground. In other places, the remains of ancient temples stood built in with the houses of the street, with market women at their stalls below, forming a strange and incongruous spectacle of ancient magnificence and splendor, surrounded and overwhelmed with modern poverty and degradation. As the carriage drove through these places, Rollo and Charles stood up in it, supporting themselves by pressing their knees against the front seat, and holding on to each other. They stood up thus partly to be enabled to see better, and partly so as to be ready to point out the way as soon as they should enter the Corso.

It was not long before they came to the Corso. The coachman then looked round, as if to inquire of the boys what he was to do next.