Rollo in Rome Page 5

  CHAPTER V.

  GETTING LOST.

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

  "What good will that do?" asked Charles, "as long as we don't know whatto ask them for?"

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

  The boys walked along together. Charles kept silence, so as not tointerrupt 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 thatstreet before. If we could only find our way to the Corso, I believethat I could follow it along, and at last find the mosaic shop, and soget back to our hotel."

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

  "Or, we might get into a carriage," said Rollo, "and direct the coachmanwhich way to drive by pointing."

  "So we could," said Charles. "And I should like that, for I am tired ofwalking so much."

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

  "No," said Charles, "we will both get inside, for we can stand up thereand point."

  "So we can," said Rollo.

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

  Rollo and Charles walked directly towards the spot, and Rollo, takingout 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 itafforded an uninterrupted view in every direction; and also, by standingup and pointing forward, the boys could easily indicate to the coachmanwhich way they wished him to drive. Rollo, however, in the firstinstance, 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 variousobjects of interest that attracted them as they passed. The scenesthrough which the driver took them seemed very strange. Every thing inRome was strange to them, and their course now lay through a part of thecity which they had not been in before. Their attention was continuallyattracted first upon this side of the carriage and then upon the other,as they rode along; and they pointed out to each other the remarkableobjects they were passing.

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

  RIDING AMONG THE RUINS.]

  He soon entered a region of dark, crooked, and winding alleys, whereRollo said that he and Charles could never have found their way, if theyhad undertaken it alone. They frequently passed portions of old ruins.In some places these ruins consisted of columns standing alone, orimmense fragments of broken arches that had fallen down, and now layneglected upon the ground. In other places, the remains of ancienttemples stood built in with the houses of the street, with market womenat their stalls below, forming a strange and incongruous spectacle ofancient magnificence and splendor, surrounded and overwhelmed withmodern poverty and degradation. As the carriage drove through theseplaces, Rollo and Charles stood up in it, supporting themselves bypressing their knees against the front seat, and holding on to eachother. They stood up thus partly to be enabled to see better, and partlyso as to be ready to point out the way as soon as they should enter theCorso.

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

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

  "Now watch, Charley, sharp," said Rollo; "and when you see the streetthat 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 themiddle 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 anyof 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 thatlook most like it, and at any rate, we shall have a good ride, and seethe city of Rome."

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

  After going on a little way, and seeing nothing that looked at allfamiliar, 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; andfeeling somewhat curious to know where they wanted to go. He, however,felt comparatively little interest in the question, after all; for, ashe was paid by the hour, it was of no consequence to him where theydirected him to drive.

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

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

  So they rode on, each boy looking out on his side, until at length theycame to the end of the street, where there was a sort of opening, and ariver. There was a bridge across the river, and an ancient andvenerable-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," repliedRollo,--"the Yellow Tiber, as they call it. Don't you see how yellow itis?"

  As Rollo said this, he made signs for the coachman to turn out to theside 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, stillstanding up in the carriage, had a fine view of the bridge and of theriver, and also of the Castle of St. Angelo beyond. The water of theriver was quite turbid, and was of a yellow color.

  "That's the river," said Rollo, "that Romulus and Remus were floateddown on, in that little ark."

  "What little ark?" asked Charles.

  "Why, you see," replied Rollo, "when Romulus and Remus were babies, thestory is that somebody wanted to have them killed; but he did not liketo kill them himself with his own hand, and therefore he put them into asort of basket, made of bulrushes, and set them afloat on this river, upabove here a little way. So they floated down the stream, and came alongby here."

  "Under this bridge?" asked Charles.

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

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

  "Why, they floated down below here a little way," said Rollo, "to aplace where there is a turn in the river; and there the basket wentashore, and was upset, and the children crawled out on the sand, andbegan to cry. Pretty soon a wolf, who
was in the thicket near by, heardthe 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 motherwolf. She thought that the children were little wolves, and she came tothem, and lay down by them, nursed them, and took care of them, just asif she had been a cat, and they had been her two kittens."

  "O Rollo," said Charles, "what a story! I don't believe it."

  "Nor I," said Rollo. "Indeed, I don't think any body nowadays believesit exactly. But that is really the story. You can read it in the historyof Rome. These two children, when they grew up, laid the foundations ofRome. I don't really believe that the story is true; but if it is true,this is the very place where the basket, with the two babies in it, musthave drifted along."

  Charles gazed for a few minutes in silence on the current of turbidwater which was shooting swiftly under the bridge, and then said that itwas time for them to go.

  "Yes," said Rollo; "and we will turn round and go back, for it is of nouse to go over the bridge. I am sure that we did not come over theriver when we set out from the hotel, and so we must keep on this side."

  Rollo concluded, however, not to go back the same way that he came; andso making signs to the coachman for this purpose, he turned into anotherstreet, and as the carriage drove along, he and Charles looked out inevery direction for their hotel; but no signs of it were to be seen.

  After going on for some distance, Rollo's attention was attracted by asign in English over a shop door as follows:--

  MANUFACTURE OF ROMAN SCARFS. ENGLISH SPOKEN.

  "Ah!" he exclaimed, suddenly, "that is just what I wanted to find." Andhe immediately made a sign for the coachman to stop at the door.

  "What is it?" asked Charles.

  "It is a place where they make Roman scarfs," said Rollo, "and I want toget one for my cousin Lucy. She told me to be sure, if I came to Rome,to get her a Roman scarf. You can't get them in any other place."

  As Rollo said this, he descended from the carriage, and Charles followedhim.

  "They speak English here," said Rollo, as he went into the shop, "and sowe shall not have any difficulty."

  These Roman scarfs are very pretty ornaments for the necks and shouldersof ladies. They are made of silk, and are of various sizes, some beinglarge enough to form a good wide mantle, and others not much wider thana wide ribbon. The central part of the scarf is usually of some uniformhue, such as black, blue, green, or brown; and the ends are ornamentedwith stripes of various colors, which pass across from side to side.

  Rollo wished to get a small scarf, and the ground of it was to be green.This was in accordance with the instructions which Lucy had given him.He found great difficulty, however, in making the shopman understandwhat he wanted. To all that Rollo said, the shopman smiled, and saidonly, "Yes, sir, yes, sir," and took down continually scarfs and apronsof different kinds, and showed them to Rollo, to see if any of them werewhat he wanted.

  At last, by pointing to a large one that had a green ground, and saying,"Color like that," and then to a small one of a different kind, andsaying, "Small, like that," the shopman began to understand.

  "Yes, sir," said the shopman; "yes, sir; I understand. Must onemake--make. See!"

  So saying, the shopman opened a door in the back side of the shop, andshowed Rollo and Charles the entrance to a room in the rear, where theboys had heard before the sound of a continual thumping, and where nowthey saw several silk looms, with girls at work at them, weaving scarfs.

  "Ah, yes," said Rollo. "You mean that you can make me one. That will bea good plan, Charley," he added. "Lucy will like it all the better if Itell her it was made on purpose for her.

  "When can you have it done?" asked Rollo.

  "Yes, sir," said the shopman, bowing and smiling; "yes, sir; yes, sir."

  "When?" repeated Rollo. "What time?"

  "Ah, yes, sir," said the shopman. "The time. All time, every time.Yesterday."

  "Yesterday!" repeated Rollo, puzzled.

  "To-morrow," said the man, correcting himself. He had said yesterday bymistake for to-morrow. "To-morrow. To-morrow he will be ready--thescarf."

  "What time to-morrow shall I come?" asked Rollo.

  "Yes, sir," said the shopman, bowing again, and smiling in a verycomplacent manner. "Yes, sir, to-morrow."

  "But what _time_ to-morrow?" repeated Rollo, speaking very distinctly,and emphasizing very strongly the word _time_. "What time?"

  "O, every time," said the man; "all time. You shall have him every timeto-morrow, because you see he will make begin the work on him this day."

  "Very well," said Rollo, "then I will come to-morrow, about noon."

  So Rollo and Charles bade the shopman good by, and went out of the shop.

  "Is that what they call speaking English?" asked Charles.

  "So it seems," said Rollo. "Sometimes they speak a great deal worse thanthat, and yet call it speaking English."

  So Rollo and Charles got into the carriage again. Rollo took out hiswallet, and made a memorandum of the name of the shop where he hadengaged the sash, and of the street and number. The coachman sat quietlyupon his seat, waiting for Rollo to finish his writing, and expectingthen to receive directions where he was to go.

  "If I could only find a commissioner that speaks French or English,"said Rollo, "I could tell him what we want, and he could tell thecoachman, and in that way we should soon get home."

  "Can't you find one at some hotel?" asked Charles.

  "Why, yes," said Rollo. "Why did not I think of that? We'll stop at thevery first hotel we come to. I'll let him drive on till he comes to one.No; I'll tell him to go to the Hotel d'Amerique. That is the only nameof a hotel that I know."

  So Rollo pronounced the words "Hotel d'Amerique" to the coachman, andthe coachman, saying, "_Si, signore_," drove on. In a short time he drewup before the door of the hotel where Mr. George had stopped first, onarriving in town. A waiter came to the door.

  "Is there a commissioner here who speaks English or French?" askedRollo.

  "Yes, sir," said a man who was standing by the side of the door when thecarriage stopped, and who now came forward. "_I_ speak English."

  "I want you to help us find our hotel," said Rollo. "We don't know thename of it. I shall know it when I see it; and so I want you to get onthe box with the coachman, and direct him to drive to one hotel afteranother, till I see which is the right one."

  "Very well," said the commissioner, "I will go. Do you remember anything about the hotel,--how it was situated."

  "There was a small, open space before it," said Rollo, "and a fountainunder a tree by the side of it."

  "It must have been the Hotel d'Angleterre," said the commissioner.

  "In going in at the front door, we went _down_ one or two steps, insteadof up," said Rollo.

  "Yes," said the commissioner, "it was the Hotel d'Angleterre." Thenseating himself on the box by the side of the coachman, he said to thelatter, addressing him in Italian,--

  "Lo canda d'Ingleterra," which is the Italian for Hotel d'Angleterre,or, as we should express it in our language, "The English Hotel."

  The coachman drove on, and in a few minutes came to the hotel.

  "Yes," said Rollo, as soon as he came in sight of it. "Yes, this is thevery place."

  If Rollo had had any doubts of his being right, they would have beendispelled by the sight of Mr. George, who was standing at the hotel doorat the time they arrived.

  "So you come home in a carriage," said Mr. George.

  "Why, we got lost," said Rollo. "I did not take notice of the name ofour hotel when we went out, and so we could not find our way homeagain."

  "That's of no consequence," said Mr. George. "I am glad you had senseenough to take a commissioner. Whenever you get into any difficultywhatever in a European town, go right to a commissioner, and he willhelp you out."

  So Rollo paid the coachman and the commissioner, and then he and Ch
arleswent into the hotel.