Part 8 (2/2)

”Go right on,” said Rollo; and so saying, he stood up in the carriage, and pointed forward. The coachman, of course, did not understand the words, but the gesture was significant enough, and so he drove on.

”Now watch, Charley, sharp,” said Rollo; ”and when you see the street that you think is the one where we came into the Corso, tell me.”

So the boys drove on through the Corso, standing up all the time in the middle of the carriage, and looking about them in a very eager manner.

They went on in this way for some time, but they could not identify any of the branch streets as the one by which they had come into the Corso.

”Never mind,” said Rollo; ”we will turn off into any of these streets, and perhaps we shall come upon the hotel. We will take the streets that look most like it, and at any rate, we shall have a good ride, and see the city of Rome.”

Rollo accordingly pointed to a side street when he wished the coachman to turn. The coachman said, ”_Si, signore_,” and immediately went in that direction. As he advanced in the new street, the boys looked about on all sides to see if they could recognize any signs of their approach to their hotel.

After going on a little way, and seeing nothing that looked at all familiar, Rollo made signs to the coachman to turn down another street, which he thought looked promising. The coachman did as he was directed, wondering a little, however, at the strange demeanor of the boys; and feeling somewhat curious to know where they wanted to go. He, however, felt comparatively little interest in the question, after all; for, as he was paid by the hour, it was of no consequence to him where they directed him to drive.

Rollo now perceived that Charles began to be somewhat anxious in respect to the situation they were in, and so he tried in every way to encourage him, and to amuse his mind.

”I'll tell you what we will do,” said Rollo. ”This street that we are in now seems to be a good long one, and we will drive through the whole length of it, and you shall look down all the streets that open into it on the right hand, and I will on the left; and if we see any thing that looks like our hotel, we will stop.”

So they rode on, each boy looking out on his side, until at length they came to the end of the street, where there was a sort of opening, and a river. There was a bridge across the river, and an ancient and venerable-looking castle on the other side of it.

”Ah,” said Rollo, ”here is the River Tiber.”

”How do you know that that is the name of it?” asked Charles.

”Because I know it is the Tiber that Rome is built upon,” replied Rollo,--”the Yellow Tiber, as they call it. Don't you see how yellow it is?”

As Rollo said this, he made signs for the coachman to turn out to the side of the street at the entrance of the bridge, and to stop there.

The coachman did as he was directed, and then Rollo and Charles, still standing up in the carriage, had a fine view of the bridge and of the river, and also of the Castle of St. Angelo beyond. The water of the river was quite turbid, and was of a yellow color.

”That's the river,” said Rollo, ”that Romulus and Remus were floated down on, in that little ark.”

”What little ark?” asked Charles.

”Why, you see,” replied Rollo, ”when Romulus and Remus were babies, the story is that somebody wanted to have them killed; but he did not like to kill them himself with his own hand, and therefore he put them into a sort of basket, made of bulrushes, and set them afloat on this river, up above here a little way. So they floated down the stream, and came along by here.”

”Under this bridge?” asked Charles.

”Under where this bridge is now,” said Rollo; ”but of course there was no bridge here then. There was no town here then--nothing but fields and woods.”

”And what became of the babies?” asked Charles.

”Why, they floated down below here a little way,” said Rollo, ”to a place where there is a turn in the river; and there the basket went ash.o.r.e, and was upset, and the children crawled out on the sand, and began to cry. Pretty soon a wolf, who was in the thicket near by, heard the crying, and came down to see what it was.”

”And did he eat them up?” asked Charles.

”It was not a he wolf,” said Rollo; ”it was a she wolf--an old mother wolf. She thought that the children were little wolves, and she came to them, and lay down by them, nursed them, and took care of them, just as if she had been a cat, and they had been her two kittens.”

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