Part 2 (1/2)

CHAPTER II.

_How in the World did it get there?--A joyous Ride.--Hark! Hark!

The Dogs do bark! Beggars come to Town; some in Rags, some in Tags, and some in a tattered Gown!--A pleasant Meditation on a cla.s.sic Past very rudely, unexpectedly, and even savagely interrupted, and likely to terminate in a Tragedy!--Perilous Position of David and Clive._

Fortunately, no bones were broken. The Italian slowly picked himself up, and casting a stupid look at the boys, moved slowly away, leaving the occupants of the standing there in their night-clothes, and earnestly discussing the question,--How in the world did the goat get there?

This was indeed a knotty question, till at length it was unravelled by Uncle Moses.

”Wal, I declar,” said he, ”ef I didn't go an leave the door open.”

”You!” cried all.

”Yes,” said he. ”You see it was dreadful close an suffocatin last night; so when you went to bed, I jest left that door open to cool off. Then I went off to bed, and forgot all about it.”

That was clear enough as far as it went, but still it did not account for the presence of a goat in the sixth story of a hotel.

This they found out afterwards. That very day they saw flocks of goats being driven about from house to house. At other times they saw goats in their own hotel. They were hoisted up to the various stories, milked, and left to find their way down themselves. The fas.h.i.+on of using goat's milk was universal, and this was the simple way in which families were supplied. As to their visitor, the billy goat, he was undoubtedly the patriarch of some flock, who had wandered up stairs himself, perhaps in a fit of idle curiosity.

”If it hadn't been dark,” said Frank. ”If it hadn't been so abominably dark!”

”We were like Ajax,” said David,--who was a bit of a pedant, and dealt largely in cla.s.sical allusions,--”we were like Ajax, you know:--

'Give as but light, and let as _see_ our foes, We'll bravely fall, though Jove himself oppose.'”

”O, that's all very well,” said Uncle Moses; ”but who's goin to pay for all that thar furnitoor? The goat can't.”

”Uncle Moses,” said Bob, gravely, ”there's a great deal in what you say.”

Uncle Moses turned away with a look of concern in his mild face, and retreated into his room.

(It may as well be stated here, that Uncle Moses had to pay for that furniture. The landlord called up an interpreter, and they had a long and somewhat exciting interview. It ended in the landlord's recovering a sum of money which was sufficient to furnish a whole suit of apartments in another part of the house.)

Being now fairly introduced to Naples, the boys were all eager to see the place and its surroundings, and Uncle Moses was quite willing to gratify them in any way. So they hired a carriage, found a guide, named Michael Angelo, who could speak English, and, thus equipped, they set out first for Baiae.

Through the city they went, through the crowded streets; past the palaces, cathedrals, gardens; past the towers, castles, and quays; till at last there arose before them the mighty Grotto of Posilipo.

Through this they drove, looking in astonishment at its vast dimensions, and also at the crowds of people who were pa.s.sing through it, on foot, on horseback, and on wheels. Then they came to Pozzuoli, the place where St. Paul once landed, and which is mentioned in the New Testament under its ancient name--Puteoli.

Here they were beset by beggars. The sight of this produced strange effects upon the little party. Uncle Moses, filled with pity, lavished money upon them, in spite of the remonstrances of the guide. Clive's sensitive nature shuddered at the spectacle. Frank tried to speak a few words of Italian to them, which he had caught from Michael Angelo. David muttered something about the ancient Romans, while Bob kept humming to himself these elegant verses:--

”Hark! hark! The dogs do bark!

Beggars come to town, Some in rags, some in tags, Some in a tattered gown!”

The beggars followed them as far as they could, and when they left them, reinforcements always arrived.

Thus they were beset by them at the crater of the extinct volcano of Solfatura.

They encountered them at the gateway of c.u.mae,

At the Grotto of the Comaean Sibyl,