How "A Dear Little Couple" Went Abroad Part 3

Why? Well, because, unfortunately, the lower cla.s.ses of Italians have many foolish superst.i.tions, and that is one of them, for they fancy that "_ill luck_" is kept off and the "_evil eye_" of misfortune turned aside by the use of the feathers, the hair, or the fur in the manner I have described.

Polly and Teddy agreed that it was a very silly idea, and I'm afraid they didn't have much respect for the drivers of the animals they saw decorated in that absurd style.

One day Papa and Mamma took the children to the island of Capri. They had seen the island from their windows rising out of the bay in the distance, and the guide-book told them that it would be a fine excursion on a fair day. So they started off one lovely morning in the little excursion boat that takes pa.s.sengers to and fro between Naples and the island of Capri and other points of interest in the bay.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

I cannot take time to give all the particulars of the _boat_ trip and its delights, but must tell you about the famous "_Blue Grotto_," which they reached before arriving at Capri.

The "Blue Grotto" is a cave in the rocks of one of the cliffs, and when the water is smooth a row-boat can be paddled through the low opening which makes the mouth of the cave; but in rough weather no boat can make the pa.s.sage, as the opening is so very small.

The rock on one side of the cave does not go to the bottom, but is only sunken a little way below the water. So the sunlight strikes down under the rock, as well as under the entrance hole, and is reflected upwards again through the water in the cave, which causes a wonderful silvery light, and a beautiful pale blue tint to the water and the roof of the cave.

Visitors to Capri always stop at the "Blue Grotto" on the way, and when the big boat--the excursion boat--stops at that part of the cliff there are a crowd of men in little row-boats, waiting to take pa.s.sengers who wish to go into the cave and show them the wonders of it, for a small coin each pa.s.senger. So of course our little couple must see it, and so must Mamma. Papa, who had seen it all once before (when he and Mamma had taken a trip alone, before _Polly_ could remember), did not go, for the boatman would only carry three pa.s.sengers on the trip.

You may imagine how they enjoyed it, and when they saw a boatman from another boat jump over into the water and splash about to show his pa.s.sengers how like a silver blue water-sprite he could look the children gave one of their delighted whoops right there, and then nearly fell out of their own boat with fright at the loud strange echo the cave gave back at their shout.

Well, after the pa.s.sengers returned from the cave, the steamboat went on its way, and in due time the landing at Capri was made, and the pa.s.sengers were told that they would have two hours of time in which to see everything of interest on the beautiful island, before the boat should start on to _Sorrento_ (which is another charming resort not far from Capri).

Such a crowd of donkey boys and donkey girls as were on the dock when the steamboat stopped! They were all yelling at one time, trying to coax pa.s.sengers to use their donkeys or their cabs, and pay them so much per hour.

[Ill.u.s.tration: "The Blue Grotto of Capri."]

Now, you see, Capri is a funny sort of island, for it is "taller than it is broad," as people say. It rises right out of the bay in a lot of terraced cliffs, and as far up as you can see it is just a ma.s.s of green gardens and woods.

At the base of the island are the village streets, and odd little houses, and shops and hotels, and at one of the hotels our party of four ate a good dinner, before taking a carriage up the mountain road to Anacapri, a funny little bit of a village right at the very top of the island.

When the dinner was finished Mamma and Papa took the back seat in the open little "victoria" (as the carriage was called, though it was very small and crampy in its proportions), and the little couple, gay as larks, and wide-eyed with wonder, sat close together on the small footstool of a seat in front of the "grown-ups," and with a crack of the whip (which the horse didn't even jump at, because he is so used to it, and best of all, because the "crack" is only in the air and not against his bony sides) they all started off for "Anacapri."

I could tell you of a great many things they saw on the way, and of the natives they pa.s.sed, who bobbed and curtsied to the travelers, and showed their white teeth, and held up their little brown babies, hoping for the gift of a coin or two. And I would like to describe the magnificent sight of the olive-gardens, and of the trees hanging full of lemons and oranges, and of the beautiful flowering vines which grew by the roadside, and the shade trees, and particularly of the _grand_ sight which greeted their eyes with every turn of the winding road which brought the Bay of Naples (stretching itself far and wide and dotted all over with odd little s.h.i.+ps and boats) into view. But I must skip all those things, and get you at last with the dear little couple to the mite of a village mentioned as "Anacapri."

From there our friends looked right down upon the bay and over at Naples, and if they had been little birds they would have spread their wings and taken a good fly into the blue sunny s.p.a.ce before them--at least, that is what Teddy whispered in Polly's ear he would _like_ to do.

CHAPTER IX.

WHAT THEY SAW AT ANACAPRI, AND HOW THEY WENT ON TO SORRENTO AND POMPEII.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

WHEN the carriage stopped in the midst of the small houses at Anacapri, instantly a swarm of little boys and girls surrounded it. While the horse was resting, the small natives stared at our friends, and gazed especially hard and long upon Polly and Teddy, who felt quite shy and uncomfortable over the matter. They finally decided to give a few stares back again, and little bashful Polly ventured to smile, though she didn't have anything in particular to smile about. Teddy, seeing Polly smile, thought _he_ ought to, and in a few moments every little Italian face was on the broad grin also. Mamma and Papa had been talking with the driver, who could speak a little broken English, but they were ready to notice the pretty brown faces of the children who stood beside the carriage, and now decided that Anacapri could boast of the good looks of its "small fry" with good reason. There was only one ugly-featured little boy in the crowd, and he was very ugly indeed, and not only that, but his hair was red, and his eyes _very blue_, and he was so fair of skin that his face was covered with freckles. He spoke Italian, however, like a native, and Papa wondered what sort of little red-haired native he might be. So he spoke to him in English, to see if the boy would comprehend. To his surprise he answered with a merry smile, and then, another surprise, a little fellow beside him spoke up also in English, and explained that, though _he_ was dark in complexion, and Italian all over, yet he was _brother_ to the red-haired boy, who was _Scotch_; and that Jim's father was a Scotchman, and when he died his mother married an Italian whom she met in England, and when _he_ died she was left poor, and through some friends in Anacapri had come there to live only seven months before. He told all this in good, though of course childish and broken English, for he was only nine years old. Then Jim, the little Scotchman, put in his word, and when asked how they happened--in only a few months--to speak Italian like natives, when they had lived in other countries all their lives before, he replied, tossing his head proudly: "Oh, _that_ ain't anythin'. _We got it off the boys_ here!" Of course all this was deeply interesting to Polly and Teddy, and they took a great fancy to the little brothers. But presently a boy who had not spoken before, not knowing English, put his hand inside his s.h.i.+rt and pulled out a little brown bird. Holding it by both wee feet, he held it up, while its poor little heart was beating and its tiny wings fluttering with fear. "_Monie!_" he said, and it was the only English word he cared to know--"monie!" and he pointed to the bird and then to the sky. The little couple looked wonderingly at him, and the Scotch boy explained that if Polly gave the boy a coin he would let the poor birdie fly away in safety. If he didn't get the coin, then he would take it home and his family would cook it for supper.

That made our little couple indignant, and vexed also the Mamma and kind-hearted Papa. So he paid over a coin, and up, up, up into the sunny s.p.a.ce above flew little birdie, and the children--_our_ children--shouted with pleasure to see the poor captive free. But--what do you think came next? Why, that cruel boy put his hand inside his s.h.i.+rt again, and out came another bird, and with it the same request for "monie." Of course, he was frowned upon, and not another coin was given him, for Papa found he had a "bunch of birds" hidden there to earn their freedom by coin-giving, at every chance offered, and as those same birds, after being freed, would be caught again in time, the outlook was discouraging, wasn't it?

And now, the horse being rested, the party turned about to go back to the steamboat landing below, and to the small Scotchie and his Italian brother only did Mr. Darling give a farewell gift of coin, as they drove away and finally left the little village behind them.

When they reached Sorrento a little while after, it was late in the afternoon, and Papa said they must spend the night there and go on by carriage to see the ruins of Pompeii the next day.

It was a delightful experience to our little European travelers when they saw that the steamboat did not go close up beside the landing dock, as at Capri, but that the pa.s.sengers were to be taken off in small boats and rowed ash.o.r.e. They could hardly wait their turn for it, but finally the blissful moment arrived, and the children were seated in the stern of the little boat, gliding over the blue waters. Oh! you have no idea how very blue and clear the water there really is. It is like beautiful azure blue ribbon, satin ribbon, and you feel as if you'd like to carry home bottles of it. But as it is the suns.h.i.+ne and the condition of the depths of water and bottom of the bay all combined which produce that _color_ there--you would not be able to bottle it, would you?

Well, when the landing was reached, the children had to lift their eyes to a height on top of a steep cliff wall before they could see the hotel in which the night was to be spent.

"I never in the world, Teddy Terry, can climb up there!" said puzzled little Polly. But Ted thought it would be real fun to climb it, and was quite disappointed when Papa pointed to a narrow railroad which ran up, up, up the cliff through a tunnel beginning not far from where they had left the boat. "It is called a '_funicular_,' or, as the Italians call it, a '_funicolare_,'" explained Papa, "and the little car we are to enter presently is drawn up to the top of the cliff by a cable, a strong wire rope, very thick and quite able to do its work safely, so you needn't look so frightened, little goosey," to Polly, for her eyes were full of anxious wonderment, and she took tight hold of her Father's hand.

"I'm not a bit frightened," declared Teddy, but I really think he was a tiny bit afraid, for he grasped the tail of Papa's coat pretty closely as they followed Mamma into the little car, which seemed to be standing almost on end, and looked as though at any moment it might roll backwards down the incline. However, they arrived in good condition at the top before long, and were able to rest themselves and by-and-by eat a good dinner in the fine hotel, which was located in the midst of a wonderful garden right there on top of the cliff. Next morning they visited the little shops where beautiful olive-wood articles were sold, and Papa bought a fine ruler for Ted, and a dainty little clothes-brush (both of carved olive-wood) for Polly.

Then it was time to drive to Pompeii, and after a long, rather dusty drive down the mountain road, they found themselves amongst the ruins of that ancient city at last. Of course such little folks as Polly and Teddy couldn't take quite as much interest in the old city as grown-up visitors were taking, but they were quick to observe everything especially interesting: the ruts in the paved streets worn deeply by the wheels of the chariots used in those days (something like the chariots you have seen, no doubt, when Barnum's big circus comes along, and all little folks go to see it, of course); the big flat stepping-stones in the streets, which were placed there so that people could have a clean, dry, and raised crossing from one side to the other (very nice for rainy, muddy weather, wasn't it?); the bake ovens where loaves of bread were baking at the very moment the flood of hot cinders and lava came thickly down upon the city and destroyed it so suddenly and so soon; the old drinking-fountains still bearing the worn impressions and dents made by the hands which used to rest upon the fountain basins so long ago.

Papa explained that according to history the city was seven hundred years old when destroyed, and it lay over a thousand years under twenty feet of ashes. You see, the ashes cooled, and the lava hardened, and there was no sign of any city there till all those many years had pa.s.sed, and then by accident, history tells us, it was discovered that there was a city away down under all that earth (gra.s.s had grown over it in all that long time, and it looked like meadows). Then people set to work digging, and lo and behold! uncovered so much of it that everybody flocked to see it. So that is how Polly and Teddy at last got there, and people are still digging away, clearing more and more of the big city from the earth over it.

Papa made it all very interesting to our little couple (and when they got home what did Teddy do but bury away down deep in his garden, in the deepest hole he could dig with his little spade, a whole toy village of Polly's, and cover it up, and pound the earth and gra.s.s over it again, and by-and-by play he was "discovering Pompeii" and set to work to excavate the little city again).

CHAPTER X.

BACK TO NAPLES, AND "HOMEWARD BOUND."

WELL, after they had seen Pompeii, and looked at the curiosities in the little museum of the office and station building near by, our little couple felt very tired, and begged Papa to take them home.

Polly's little golden head ached, and Teddy's stocking had gotten into a wrinkle on his heel, and it hurt him to walk, and they both agreed that they didn't care one bit if "_Vesulivus_" did cover old "Pompawy" all over with ashes and dirt. They wanted to go home and rest Polly's head and Teddy's lame heel, and so Papa and Mamma confessed to being pretty tired also, and soon they were in the train, speeding rapidly towards Naples, having had two days of "round trip excursion," and a "jolly good time," as the children expressed it.

I would like to tell you about all the little couple did and all they saw while there for four happy weeks, but I must leave it all to your lively imagination, dear little readers, and whatever beautiful times you imagine for the children you may be sure they had.

[Ill.u.s.tration: "I have almost kept my promise to my Mamma and tried to be a good boy."]

Papa was obliged to return to his business at home after a month of good times abroad, and so the day came when the trunks were packed again, and the clock was being watched, and the hotel "bus" being listened for, etc., and our little couple again in haste to go on board the steams.h.i.+p, for, much as they had enjoyed themselves, they confided secretly to each other the grand truth that--"After all, they liked their own gardens and playtimes at home lots better'n European things, and that Bridgie and Ann made things taste nicer to eat than the queer cooks in Naples; and 'sides all that, they hadn't seen any tree at all that was half so nice as their own apple-tree where they could sit in amongst the leaves together, and--and--they guessed 'Merican things were nicer for little boys and girls, _any_ way!"

Teddy had put into a snug corner of his small trunk a few little gifts for "dear own Mamma and Papa," and a nice present for his Bridget and Polly's Ann.

And Polly had carefully stowed away in Mamma's trunk also some pretty gifts for "Auntie Terry and Uncle Terry," and a present each for her Ann and Teddy's Bridgie; and the things they planned to do and the good times they planned to have when once more at their own pretty cottage homes, where the _old apple-tree_ and the much-loved _gap in the fence_ near it were waiting for them I can't begin to tell you.

We see them now--as they stand together with Teddy's loving arm about Polly, and her soft cheek pressed close to his--at the railing in the stern of the ocean liner, taking a farewell look at sunny Naples and Italian sh.o.r.es, and waving handkerchiefs to the men, women, and children in the small row-boats which were skipping about in the bay in the wake of the steams.h.i.+p, while shrill Italian voices were shouting: "_Addio!

addio!_"

"We've had the beautifullest time that ever could be, and we've liked being European travelers ever so much, haven't we, Teddy Terry?"

remarked Polly at last, as the children followed Mr. Darling to their steamer chairs; "and I must say," she added quite proudly, "that I think we've been such good children that some day maybe Papa'll take us to some other places. Won't that be fun?"

Teddy thought it would, but he could not be so conscientiously sure of having been as "good" as Polly fancied, for he had a distinct remembrance of certain occasions (of which I haven't had the heart to tell my little readers) when Mamma Darling had had to scold pretty severely, and he had been more humiliated about it than Polly, on account of his promise to his own Mamma. Thinking it all over now, as he sat in his chair beside Mrs. Darling on deck, he suddenly drew her head down to him and earnestly whispered: "Say, Auntie, I have almost kept my promise to my Mamma and tried to be a good boy, haven't I? You see, I wouldn't like her to say I broke my word after she'd been and trusted me, you know, Auntie!"

Mrs. Darling put a tender kiss on the soft little tanned forehead, and whispered back: "I'm going to tell Mamma Terry that her boy was the best-behaved little traveler I ever saw, so cheer up, Teddy boy!"

It was a very happy little laddie who settled back in that big steamer chair and slipped his hand into Polly's after "Auntie" had made her whispered speech.

And now we must say good-bye to them, as the steams.h.i.+p speeds on towards America's sh.o.r.es, and I hope this story of _more_ of the doings of our dear little couple will have given as much pleasure as your first account of them. The world is full of "Dear Little Couples," isn't it?