Chapter II: Part 2

"And I'm not sure that I want to drive through those dark tunnels to-morrow," said May.

"Well, let us explore the old monastery now," said their father. "Then we will have our supper. Perhaps we shall find a few monks still living here in some quiet corner."

Before they went to bed that night the Sunbonnet Babies stood a long time at their open window. A full moon hung high in the sky, making the silvery blue water of the gulf shimmer like a fairy sea. The little whitewashed houses of the village clung to the side of the dark mountain as if they feared some evil fairy might push them down into the water.

Suddenly out of the evening silence came the sound of music. Far below their window the Sunbonnet Babies could see a young singer with his mandolin. His clear, high voice gave the lovely Italian song a strange beauty on the evening air.

"Is it fairyland, or is it heaven?" Molly whispered.

"Or are we just dreaming?" asked May, as they crept into the little white beds that were waiting for them.

PIRATES

Next morning Molly and May were awake early, watching the busy boats come home after a long night of fishing out on the deep sea. They ran down the many steps to the shore, where the tired fishermen were hauling in their nets and counting their catch. The big nets were then spread out to dry. Later in the day they would be carefully mended and made ready for another night of fishing.

Their father told the children how Amalfi was once one of the most important towns in Europe. It sent its ships far away, and did more trading with distant parts of the world than was done by any other city.

But that was eight hundred years ago. Soon Amalfi was overcome by the people of Pisa, who were jealous of its power and trade. And two hundred years later a terrible storm and earthquake swept away nearly all of its fine beach and harbor, leaving only a small group of houses clinging to the steep mountain side.

So Amalfi changed from being one of the most important towns in the world to one of the least important, except for the beauty of its location.

Thousands of people from all parts of the world still go to Amalfi every year, but not to buy and sell. They go to enjoy the wonderful sunshine and water and mountains which make this part of Italy one of the loveliest spots in the world.

The Sunbonnet Babies were sorry when Pippo said they must go on with their journey. They wanted to stay and watch the women who were washing clothes in the river, and they wanted to follow a steep, narrow path which led away up the mountain side. Some women and girls were coming down this path bringing large baskets of fruit on their heads.

But Pippo told the Sunbonnet Babies that the best part of the drive was still ahead of them. And he was right.

The road took them first through a short, dark tunnel, not far below the monastery where they had spent the night. It then clung to the sides of the steepest mountains the children had ever seen. Wonderful stone bridges led across deep gorges, and dark tunnels took them inside the mountains.

On one of the bridges which crossed a great crack in the mountain side the Sunbonnet Babies begged to get out of the carriage.

"Very well," said Pippo. "You will see an interesting old fishing village in that gorge."

"What! A fishing village in that dark place, Pippo?" exclaimed May.

"Yes," said Pippo, "but only a few fishermen live there now. Their houses are really only caves in the mountain wall."

"It looks as if pirates might live there," said Molly.

"Do you suppose they will come out and steal us if we take a picture of their gorge? I am going to try it anyway."

"You need not be afraid," said Pippo. "There are no pirates here now; but once upon a time they probably did live here. The gorge was a fine place to hide in before this road was built."

It was hardly twenty miles from Amalfi to Sorrento, but it took four hours to drive there. The road finally left the shore and climbed up over the green hills that separate the Gulf of Salerno from the Bay of Naples. It led through large vineyards and through groves of orange and lemon and olive trees, until at last it reached the beautiful town of Sorrento. But Pippo did not stop his horses until he had taken his party to the prettiest and quaintest little whitewashed hotel in the town.

The nicest thing about the hotel was its garden. It seemed as if all the fruits and flowers Molly and May had ever heard of were growing in this garden.

The owner of the hotel peeped under the big sunbonnets and said, "Well! well! I think you belong in my garden. Run out and pick all the oranges and all the roses you want. Find the prettiest spot in the whole garden, and a little round table shall be set there with a tea party on it for the two sweetest little girls in Italy."

Such a wonderful time as the Sunbonnet Babies had during the rest of that sunny afternoon. They skipped along the shaded walks. They picked handfuls of lovely flowers. They filled their skirts with the ripest and biggest oranges, then they sat down on a low marble bench and sucked out the sweet juice.

The place which they chose for the tea party was 'way at the end of the garden where they could look out over the lovely Bay of Naples. As they peeped through the high iron fence they looked straight down, at least a hundred and fifty feet, to the blue water softly washing the rocky shore below.

A delicious supper for two was set on a small, round table. Then Molly served May to chicken and rice, and May served Molly to cakes and ice.

When they went to bed that night they both agreed that it had been the happiest day of the whole journey. But the next day brought new surprises of which they hadn't yet dreamed.

First they explored the lovely old town of Sorrento, and decided this was the place where they wanted to live always. Only the promise of a ride on the wonderful blue water of the bay made them willing to leave Sorrento even for a little while.

"How shall we get down to the water's edge?" Molly asked, as they stood by the iron fence looking down at the blue water so far below them.

"I will show you the way," said a brown-eyed Italian boy. "Come with me."

He then led them to a hole in the ground and down some steep, winding steps. When they reached the bottom of the steps they were in a great cave close by the water's edge. Several rowboats were lying in the cave, and two small, dark-eyed men were standing near by.

Molly was sure this was a real pirates' cave. When one of the dark-eyed men put her mother into his boat and pushed it off into the water, she burst into tears.

"O father!" she cried. "They are carrying mother off in that boat! They must not! They shall not!"

She ran toward the pirate, stamping her feet very hard and commanding him to take her mother out of his boat. She was not crying now. She was very brave. She would save her mother and all the rest of her family from the dreadful pirates.

As the small, dark man looked at her, a smile came into his brown eyes. Then he threw back his head and laughed a loud, merry laugh.

"I really am not so bad a pirate as you think I am, little girl," he said, after a moment. "I have lived five years in your America, but I wanted to come back to my sunny Italy. I like the way you take care of your mother. I believe you are brave enough to stop a big ship out there on the bay and climb aboard her, just as a real pirate might do."

"Oh, no, I am not!" said Molly. "I am sure I am not!"

"Well, let's try it," said the man. "Your father and mother are willing. I am sure you will not object, if your little sister does not."

Now, May was clinging to her father's hand, looking very frightened indeed.

"If you are really a _good_ pirate," said Molly at last, "and if you will not let anything happen to us, we will go with you. But you must take good care of my mother."

"I promise you I will," said the man. "But remember, you must be as brave as pirates and do as I tell you. I am the captain, you know."

So they obeyed their captain and got into his boat. The two men then pushed the boat out of the cave, pulling hard on the long oars.

The waves were really quite high for so small a boat to ride over. But Molly and May sat very still, wondering if they really could be as brave as pirates. They were thinking so hard they did not see a small steamer coming down the bay, until it was quite close to them. Then Molly said excitedly, "O Captain! Captain! Is that the ship that I must stop?"

"That's the ship," answered the captain. "You must stand right up here in the bow of our boat and wave your handkerchief hard. When the captain of that ship sees you, he will know you are commanding him to stop his boat."

"But will he really stop it?" asked May.

"He wouldn't dare not to stop it," answered the pirate captain. "He knows me, and when I tell him to stop, he stops."

"How exciting!" cried Molly, as she stood in the bow of the boat waving her handkerchief.

"He is doing it! He is stopping his ship!" cried May.

"Of course he is," said her captain. "Now we must row our boat close up to the big one, and you must all climb aboard her."

"Oh, we can never climb up over the side of that big ship!" exclaimed May. "See how our boat is tossing about. We shall be drowned!"

"Tut! tut! You must be as brave as your little sister," said her captain.

"I will try to be brave," said May. And, as their small boat tossed up and down on the rough water close beside the taller ship, she was very brave.

The sailors quickly opened a gate on the deck and pushed out a short gangplank. Two sailors then ran down to the end of the plank and held out their arms to catch the little pirates as they climbed aboard the ship.

Molly and May never knew just how it was done, but in some way their captain swung them from his small boat up onto the gangplank of the big boat, and the sailors held them fast. Their father and mother came up safely, too, and even their traveling bags were put onto the steamer. They were hardly aboard, however, when the ship began to move. The Sunbonnet Babies looked quickly over the deck rail to see why their pirate friends were not with them.

"They have left us!" exclaimed May. "They are rowing back to their cave again!"

Sure enough, the two men were pulling rapidly away from the big boat toward the shore. When they saw the Sunbonnet Babies waving to them, they smilingly took off their caps and called "Addio, little pirates! Be brave and have a happy time."

THE HUMPBACKED ISLAND

"Where are we going, father?" demanded Molly, as the boat which they had just come aboard sailed slowly out toward the open sea.

"And why did we climb onto this steamer 'way out here in the deep water?" asked May.

"Oh, this is part of the surprise for to-day," answered their father. "Don't you like it?"

"Of course we like it," said Molly. "I even like those pirates, though I am glad they have gone back to their cave. But please tell us where we are going, father."

"Well, we are bound for the island of Capri, away off in the distance. It is about seven miles from here."

"But why didn't this boat come to the shore and get us?" asked May again.

"Just because the water close to the shore is not deep enough for so large a boat to sail on," said her father.

"Did those men know you wanted to go on this steamer?"

"Yes," answered her father. "It is their business to bring out in their boats people who want to go to Capri."

"Then they really are not pirates at all," said Molly in a disappointed voice.

"No, I am afraid not," answered her father. "But they have helped you to play a real pirate's trick. How did you like it?"

So they talked and asked questions as they sailed on over the clear, blue water, until the sun dropped suddenly behind the rim of the humpbacked island. Then beautiful rainbow colors were poured out over the sky and the sea and the island. But soon the rose and golden tints changed to silver and violet, and the rocky old island looked like a great purple camel with a double hump on its back, kneeling in a sea of shimmering blue and lavender.

Between the humps nestled the pretty village of old Capri, surrounded by lemon groves and vineyards. High up on one of the humps clung the little village of Anacapri, and close down by the water's edge snuggled a few pink and white and blue houses waiting to welcome travelers who might come to their shore.

It would be hard to tell all that Molly and May did and all that they saw during four happy days on the island. The people of Capri seem to live out of doors, for the warm sunshine and fresh breezes make summer and winter much alike there.

Some of the streets of the little old town are no wider than American sidewalks, and most of those that lead uphill have steps in them. Long ago, when these streets were built, there were no horses and carriages on the island. People carried their heavy loads on their heads, or on the backs of faithful donkeys.

Donkeys can climb stairs almost as well as men, so they are still used a great deal on this mountainous little island, for there are only two or three roads that horses and carriages can go over.

As the Sunbonnet Babies took their first walk through the narrow streets, they met a boy and girl coming down the hill on two small donkeys. The boy sprang quickly to the ground. He lifted his cap and said in polite Italian, with much motioning of his hands, "Buon giorno, signore. Would the little girls like to ride on our donkeys?"

"Oh, thank you! Of course we should like to ride," answered Molly very quickly.

"Please may we both ride?" asked May.

"Yes, indeed!" said the little Italian girl, jumping lightly from her donkey. "We will take you over our whole island if you would like to go with us."

"Goody!" exclaimed May. "Please take us first very, very high up where we can look 'way off over the blue sea toward America."

"We will take you up the long stairs to Anacapri," said the boy. "I will get a carriage for your father and mother, and they can drive up over the fine new road."

The Sunbonnet Babies did not understand all the boy's strange words, but they understood some of them, and they each understood the others' motion language. In a few moments Molly was proudly seated on one of the small donkeys and May on the other. Giorgio and Luisa, the friendly Italian boy and girl, followed close behind them, while the children's parents rode comfortably along in a low carriage.

They had gone only a short distance, however, when the two donkeys left the smooth road and began to climb some steps cut into the steep hillside. Giorgio and Luisa gave the donkeys each a sound slap to keep them from turning back, for donkeys are lazy animals.

Before the Sunbonnet Babies really knew what was happening, their father and mother were nearly out of sight around a bend in the road, quite far below the steps up which the donkeys were climbing.

"Father! Father! Where are you going?" called May.

"We are going to the same place you are. We are going to Anacapri," her father shouted back. "Let us see who will get there first. Giorgio knows the way."

"They are going the long and easy way, while we are going the short and steep way," Giorgio said, with much motioning. "If these donkeys are not too lazy, we shall be there first," and he gave them each another quick rap on their backs with his hand.

"You should not strike your donkeys, Giorgio," Molly said. "We can make them go without your help."

"All right," said Giorgio, laughing. "You may try it, but you will never reach Anacapri."

"Oh, yes, we shall!" answered Molly. "Just watch us. Come on, May!"

Then they each pulled quickly on the short reins, but the donkeys did not stir. They patted the donkeys' necks and urged them to go on, just as they did with their ponies at home, but the donkeys only turned their heads and looked with sleepy eyes at their strange little riders. May's donkey even began to nibble the grass at the side of the path. It acted as if it had no thought of going up the hill, while Molly's donkey winked its eyes and stood very still, in spite of all her efforts to make it move.

"O Giorgio!" she cried at last. "What are we going to do? I never saw such stupid animals. We shall never reach Anacapri. Father and mother will think we are lost."

Giorgio and Luisa wanted very much to laugh at their anxious little riders, but they were too polite to do so.

"You see," Giorgio said, "our donkeys do not like strange ways. They do not like to have anyone but Luisa and me drive them. They understand what we mean, and our blows do not hurt them."

"Then please drive them now," said May. "I don't want to sit here any longer."

So Giorgio and Luisa gave the donkeys each a sound slap on their backs, which made them swing their tails and start on up the long steps. The donkeys stopped often to rest, but they were reminded each time that their young master and mistress were close behind them.

At last they reached the top of the steps, and Giorgio and Luisa drove the donkeys to a lovely garden where small tables were set under the green trees.

"What a lovely place for a tea party!" exclaimed May. "Let's have one ready for father and mother when they come."

"Yes, let's have it at this table close by the wall, where we can look down and see the lovely water. My! It must be 'most a thousand feet 'way down there! See how tiny those boats look, and what a wonderful color the water is! It looks as if an artist had painted it that way."

"Let's plan our tea party before mother gets here," said May. "What fun it will be to surprise her!"

So they asked the waiter to please bring some grape juice, with bread and butter and little cakes, enough for six people, for Giorgio and Luisa were to share the party with them.

The carriage soon drew up to the garden gate, and the Sunbonnet Babies ran to meet it, calling: "Hello! hello! See, we are here first! Our donkeys were so funny climbing up the long stairs. They almost went to sleep, but Giorgio and Luisa kept them moving. We are going to have a tea party now. Come quickly, and look over the garden wall. We never, never were so high up above the water before!"

As they were drinking their grape juice, a young Italian boy and girl ran into the garden and began to dance. Their mother made music for them on an instrument that looked like the head of a small drum, with little bells fastened all around it. She tapped the instrument sharply with her fingers and jingled the little bells.

The dancers were dressed in gay, pretty costumes. They seemed to be telling each other a happy love story by motions, glances, and graceful dancing. It was the famous tarantella dance which the people of Southern Italy love so much.

When the dancers had finished their story, Molly and May gave them each some grape juice and little cakes. Then they rode back down the hill on their two sleepy donkeys.

The next day the Sunbonnet Babies were given a wonderful boat ride all the way around the island of Capri. In many places the shore rose from the blue water very steep and high. Gay-colored jellyfish floated about, and little forests of red coral clung to the rocky wall just below the water's edge.

When they had sailed nearly around the island, their steamer stopped quite suddenly, and they were told they must all get into some small rowboats that were waiting near by.

"What is the trouble?" asked May excitedly. "Is our boat sinking? Have these men come to rescue us, father? The shore is much too steep for us to land here, isn't it?"

"Oh, no!" said her father. "Our boat is not sinking, but we are going to take a look at the inside of the island. The Overall Boys saw the inside of a glacier up in Switzerland, you know."

"Oh, goody!" exclaimed Molly. "See, there is a man who wants to take us in his boat. Please, can't we hurry?"

A few moments later they were being rowed straight toward a low hole in the steep shore. The hole was not more than three feet high and three feet wide above the surface of the water. It led into a narrow passage about fifteen feet long, which was just large enough for a rowboat to slip through if heads were kept very low.

"Oh, my! Where are we going?" whispered May, as she lay very still in the bottom of the boat. "This is more dangerous than going inside of a glacier. I know it is! I wish the Overall Boys were here!"

"Heads up!" called the boatman. "You are now in the beautiful Blue Grotto, the most wonderful chamber in Italy."

The next few moments no one spoke. The Sunbonnet Babies were sure they were dreaming, or that they had fallen asleep while lying in the bottom of the boat and had wakened in the land of the water nymphs.

Molly peeped gently over the edge of the boat, hoping to see a pretty nymph swimming about in the wonderful greenish-blue water. Just then a slender figure sprang from a narrow ledge at the farther side of the cave.

"Look, Molly!" whispered May. "It _is_ a nymph--a really, truly nymph! It has gone way down under the water. The water is so clear and light we can see everything in it. It looks as deep as the sky."

"See, the nymph is coming up now!" said Molly eagerly. "What a beautiful color it is! It is diving and splashing and playing, just like a real boy."

"And it is a real boy," said their father. "He is showing you the wonderful light and color in the water."

"Oh! Would I look as beautiful as that if I should swim in this water?" Molly asked eagerly.

"And would I?" cried May.

"Put your hand into the water and see," her father answered.

In a moment four little hands were splashing in the clear water. They were no longer the rosy hands of Molly and May. They looked like white marble hands, softly tinted with blue. The drops of water that fell from their fingers were like strings of lovely opals and sapphires. The children wanted to catch some of the drops to carry home, but the boat-man said they would look just like any other water drops out in the sunshine.

"But what makes them look so strange and lovely in this grotto?" asked Molly.

"Perhaps because most of the light that comes into the grotto shines through the water," said her father. "In some way the red and orange and yellow rays of the sunlight have been lost, but the blue and green and violet rays seem to be all here. So everything looks cool and blue instead of warm and rosy, as it does just outside."

"How was such a great cave ever made under this island?" asked May. "Did the Italians make it?"

"No, indeed!" answered the boatman. "The sea made it ages and ages ago. This cave used to be a resort for the Roman emperors and their friends two thousand years ago. One emperor about that time built wonderful palaces on the island, and on hot summer days he and his friends would come down into this cool grotto to swim and to rest. Since then the island has sunk a little, so the water in the grotto is higher than it used to be. But even now the walls of the cave are forty feet high and a hundred and seventy feet long. It is almost as large as a good-sized church, you see."

"But the door is only three feet high," said Molly. "What would happen if a big storm came up while we were in here?"

"We couldn't get out," said the boatman. "Boats are not allowed to come into the grotto unless the sea is perfectly quiet. When it is rough it is very dangerous to be in here. We are allowed to stay only fifteen minutes, and our time is up now."

So they tossed a shining silver piece to the little boy who had made them think he was a really, truly water nymph, and their boats slipped quickly through the narrow passage back into the bright Italian sunshine.

IN THE CITY OF ROME

"I feel as if vacation time were over," said Molly, a few days later, as she looked from their window out upon a busy street in Rome. "I should much rather play in the orange garden at Sorrento or climb over the island of Capri with Giorgio and Luisa than to see Rome."

"So should I!" said May. "I am sure there can't be any more surprises as nice as the ones we have had."

"Oh, yes, there can be!" said their father, who overheard what his Sunbonnet Babies were talking about. "There is one big surprise coming, which I believe you will think is even nicer than Sorrento or Capri."

"O father! Is it here in Rome?" asked May.

"No," answered her father. "Not the surprise I am thinking about, though there are many nice ones here. We can drive about the city a little now, and see what it looks like."

"That will be fun," said Molly. "I hope the streets will not be so noisy and dirty as they were in Naples."

They were soon driving through broad streets and narrow streets, through streets where electric cars were speeding along, through old, old streets, and through big beautiful squares. It seemed as if they passed more great stone churches and handsome fountains than they had seen in all their lives before.

Their driver stopped his carriage near one of the largest of the fountains and said they should each throw a penny into the basin of water and take a drink from it before leaving Rome. Then they would surely visit the city again, for the legend says:

Cast your obulus in Trevi's fountain,
Drink and, returning home,
Pray that by stream or desert, vale or mountain,
All roads may lead to Rome.

"I am not sure yet that I want to come to Rome again," said Molly. "I think I will not throw my penny into the fountain until the last day I am here."

"I will show you something that will make you want to come again," said the driver. "I know what the Americans like."

He then drove them through more narrow streets, until they came to a large square with a fountain in the center of it. This fountain looked like an old Roman war vessel.

Already the Sunbonnet Babies had learned that in Italy a public square is called a _piazza_, and their driver told them that this square was the Spanish Piazza.

"It should be called the Flower Piazza!" exclaimed May. "It looks like a big flower market. May we buy some of those lovely cherry blossoms?"

"Yes, indeed! Buy all you want," said their driver. "This is only one of our flower markets. There are many others in the city."

"Why are the people waiting on those great stone steps?" asked Molly. "And why do they wear such odd, pretty clothes?"

"Those people are models for artists," answered their driver. "Many of them live in the country and come into the city every pleasant morning. They wait on these steps, hoping artists may come and ask them to pose for their pictures. They are dressed in the old Roman costumes."

"I like their costumes," said May. "I wish your people would all dress that way. How nice that little girl looks with her bright-colored apron and red coral beads. She is barefooted and bareheaded, too."

"See, she is running down the steps with a tall jar on her head. Isn't she lovely? I wonder if she will let us take her picture."

"I will ask her," said May. "Do you suppose that woman is her mother? She is knitting with long, crooked needles. Her cap looks like a white handkerchief laid over her black hair. Perhaps they think father and mother are artists who want to paint them in a picture."

"I will tell them that my little daughters are the artists," said the Sunbonnet Babies' father. "It does not take you so long to make a picture as it does most artists, so I think they will be glad to pose for you."

And they were. When the camera had been snapped, Molly and May each gave the little girl a _soldo_ and said they hoped a real artist would paint a beautiful picture of her soon.

"I should much rather see the picture you have just taken in your queer, black box," said the little Italian girl.

"Would you really like to have us send it to you when it is finished?" asked Molly.

"Oh, yes, thank you! I would take it home to _il padre_ and show him what happens when I come to the big city."

"Where do you live?? asked the Sunbonnet Babies' father.

"We live in the country, two miles beyond the city walls. We go out through St. Paul's Gate. My father has a little farm out there."

"May we drive out to see you some day?" asked the Sunbonnet Babies' father again.

"We should be proud to have you do so, sir," answered the little girl's mother politely.

"We will come next Friday afternoon, if you will be at home that day."

"And we will bring the picture we have just taken," Molly said to her smiling little friend.

"Please tell us what your name is," said May.

"My name is Maria," answered the little girl brightly.

"Why, that is the Italian name for Mary, isn't it? My name is May."

"Addio, Maria! Here are some cherry blossoms for you, and here is a bunch of kisses. Addio!"

Then they drove away, blowing kisses from the tips of their small fingers to the lovely little model standing on the Spanish Flower Steps.

Soon they came to a handsome bridge which crossed the river Tiber. Their driver said this bridge was built by the famous Emperor Hadrian in the year 136. At the end of the bridge was a great round castle, which was also built by Emperor Hadrian, as a burial tomb for himself.

Three hundred years ago ten large stone angels were placed on each side of the long bridge, and another angel was put high on top of the round castle. Since then Hadrian's Tomb is often called the Castle of the Holy Angels, and the bridge is called the Bridge of the Holy Angels.

As Molly and May drove slowly across this fine old bridge between the two rows of angels, they felt very small and very young indeed.

"I wonder if any of the bridges in America will last eighteen hundred years," Molly said thoughtfully. "And what do you suppose the boys and girls were like in those days?"

"I believe they were very much like the Roman children to-day," said her father. "And I am sure those old Roman men must have been very wise to build such fine bridges as this one. In a few moments we shall see the largest church in all the world."

"Why, I thought the largest buildings were all in America," said May.

"The largest and tallest business buildings are there," said her father, "but not the largest churches. Half a dozen of the big churches in New York City could be set down right inside the Cathedral of St. Peter's, and forty thousand people can walk about in the Cathedral and not be crowded at all."

"Oh, dear! We shall get lost in such a big place!" exclaimed May.

But when they were once inside the great cathedral, it did not seem so large as they had expected. Not until they had walked around one of the great pillars which support the high dome did they realize how very, very large the cathedral was. They had to take as many steps in walking around that one pillar as they would have taken in walking around their own home in America. And there were four of these great pillars, besides many smaller ones. On some of the pillars there were marble figures of babies as large as men, and figures of men as large as giants, while each of the many chapels along the two sides of the cathedral were the size of small churches.

"Is this great church named for St. Peter whom we read about in the Bible?" asked Molly.

"Yes," answered her father. "And he is supposed to be buried under this beautiful altar. See, there is an old bronze statue of him on the side of that pillar."

"And look! A woman is lifting up her baby to kiss the foot of the statue!" exclaimed May. "Why is she doing that, father?"

"She wants to show her honor and love for St. Peter. And she wants to teach her child to honor him, too," said her father. "One of the great bronze toes is nearly worn away, so many people have kissed it. Now are you ready to do something almost as hard as climbing a mountain?"

"Of course we are! We are ready for anything. What is it, father?"

"Follow me and you will soon find out."

Then they all passed through a small door on one side of the great church and began to go up some broad, winding stairs. They climbed up and up and up, until it seemed as if they could not climb any higher.

"Would you rather have come up these stairs on a donkey?" asked their father at last.

"Oh, dear! I don't know," said Molly, laughing. "I guess the Capri donkeys could come up here all right, but I think I'd rather be on my own feet. A donkey might get tired and lie down, or turn around and go back."

"Well, here is a resting place for us," said her father. "We have climbed as far as the base of the great dome. We can walk around the gallery now and look down into the church where we stood only a little while ago."

"How tiny the people look 'way down there! And how high the great dome still is above us!" exclaimed May.

"It is more than two hundred feet from this gallery to the top of the dome," said her father. "Shall we climb up there?"

"Yes, indeed!" said Molly, who had courage for anything.

Their father did not want the little legs to grow too tired with the long climb, so he carried his two little Sunbonnet Babies by turns up the last part of the steep, winding stairs, until they stood on a small open gallery above the great dome.

The whole city of Rome lay spread out before them like a great map. They could see the new city with its fine buildings, and the older city with its narrow streets and crowded houses, and the still older, dead city, which had lain buried many centuries and now looked very much like old Pompeii.

There was the river Tiber with its muddy water flowing lazily along between the crowded houses. And not far away was the Tomb of Hadrian and the handsome Bridge of the Holy Angels. Their father pointed out parts of the ancient stone wall which once surrounded the whole of old Rome, and St. Paul's Gate, through which Maria said they must drive in going to visit her father's farm.

Beyond the old city wall they could see miles and miles of level farms and pastures, and away in the distance rose a line of dark mountains against a blue sky. It was a big and wonderful view, but Molly and May soon became more interested in what they saw on the great, flat roof of the cathedral just below them.

"It looks like a little village down there," said May. "Is it really the roof of the cathedral?"

"It really is," answered her father. "Those men are busy repairing different parts of the cathedral and the great palace buildings. They say there are eleven hundred rooms in that palace. There are art galleries and museums and chapels in it, and it is also the home of the Pope, who is the head of the Catholic Church. We must visit the art galleries some day. There are many beautiful things in them."

"Look, father!" cried May at last. "How dark the sky is growing! It is going to rain."

"I am afraid it is," said her father. "We must leave this hilltop and hurry to our hotel."

A few moments later they were out on the beautiful piazza in front of the cathedral. It had already begun to sprinkle, but they found a carriage and driver waiting to take them wherever they wanted to go.

"I am sure it will rain hard before we can reach the hotel," said their mother. "How would you like to drive to a restaurant near by and have one of our nice tea parties?"

"Oh, we should love it!" exclaimed Molly and May. "It is hungry work to climb so high."

After a tea party of hot chocolate and bread and butter, they were rested once more. The shower had passed, and they had a wonderful time buying Roman beads and sashes and hair ribbons in the gay little shops along the busy street.

THE STORY OF THE TWINS

"Shall we visit the very oldest part of the city to-day?" asked the Sunbonnet Babies' father one morning.

"Oh, dear! I am tired of old things," said May. "I should much rather ride in the park and hear the band play, as we did yesterday."

"Don't you like to hear old stories?" asked her father.

"Why, yes! I always like stories, you know."

"Well, wouldn't you like to hear an old story about some twin boys? And while I tell the story, wouldn't you like to sit near the place where the boys were supposed to have grown up?"

"Yes, of course we should!" exclaimed Molly. "I like old things, father. You tell such interesting stories about them."

Half an hour later they were walking slowly about the old Roman Forum looking at ruins of beautiful buildings and temples which had once been the center of the busy city. In one of the narrow streets they saw some large squares and circles made in the pavement, on which the men and boys used to play their games.

They saw, too, the great open-air theater, or Colosseum, in which the old Romans held their famous sports. Sometimes the sports were very wicked and cruel. The Colosseum was built in the shape of a huge circle without a roof. It once seated eighty-seven thousand people around its high sides, leaving a large open space in the center for the games.

Then they saw beautiful great arches, built in honor of old emperors, and tall marble columns which were once a part of lovely temples. But these things were all so broken and ruined the Sunbonnet Babies soon grew tired of looking at them.

"When are you going to tell us the story, father?" asked May at last.

"Well, let us have it now," answered her father. "Let us sit down on this old stone block right where we can look at the hill over yonder. The present city of Rome is built on seven hills. Our story tells how the city was first started on that hill and how the first wall was built around it."

"Is the story really true, father?" asked May.

"People used to think it was true, but it happened such a long time ago we cannot be sure about it. Even if it is not true, it is a good story about twin brothers who were said to have lived nearly three thousand years ago. The father of the boys was supposed to have been the young god Mars, and their mother was a beautiful maiden called Sylvia.

"It was Sylvia's work to care for the sacred fire in the temple of the goddess Vesta. Such maidens were treated with great honor, but they were not allowed to marry. So the people were very angry when Sylvia said the great god Mars was her husband and the two baby boys were her own little children. As a punishment the young mother was buried alive, and her helpless babies were put into a wooden trough, which was set afloat on the river Tiber.

"Now it happened just at that time that the river overflowed its banks. But very soon the water went down, and the little trough in which the twin babies lay was left safely on high ground. Of course the babies became very hungry and probably cried loudly for their mother to come and feed them. But the poor mother could not come, though another mother did. She was a mother wolf, and she carried the hungry babies away to her lair, where she tenderly nursed and cared for them.

"Some time later a shepherd found the baby boys living in the woods with their wolf mother. He was a kind man, and he took the children home to his wife. She named the boys Romulus and Remus, and brought them up to be shepherds like her husband.

"When the twin brothers grew to be young men, trouble arose between the shepherds belonging to their mother's father, who should have been king of the country, and the shepherds of the wrongful ruler. Romulus and Remus did many brave things of which their grandfather heard, and one day he asked to have them brought before him. He then discovered that they were the twin sons of his beautiful daughter Sylvia.

"The proud young men gathered an army together at once and seized the country in the name of their grandfather, the rightful king. They then decided to build a city, but they could not agree upon a place for it. Romulus wished to build it on one of the seven low hills in that region, while Remus wished to build it on another. Finally they went to their grandfather for advice, and he told them to watch for a sign from the gods. So Romulus stood on the hill which he had chosen and Remus stood on his hill, both watching for some sign to show them the right spot on which to build their city.

"At last Remus saw six vultures flying over his head, but shortly afterward Romulus saw twelve vultures. The people took this to be a sign that the gods preferred the choice of Romulus, so they made him their king.

"Romulus began at once to build the walls of his new capital. He harnessed a heifer and a bull to a plow, and between the rising and going down of the sun he plowed a furrow in the shape of a square around the top of his hill. On this furrow he built the wall of his city.

"Remus had seen the birds first and he felt that he should be the founder of the city. One day, as he stood watching the building of the new wall, he laughed at it scornfully and leaped over it. Romulus was deeply hurt, and he killed his brother on the spot, crying, 'So may all perish who cross this wall!'

"Romulus named his city _Rome_, and he and his shepherds lived in thatch-roofed mud houses within the protection of its walls.

"The story says this was the real beginning of the wonderful city of Rome. The hill which Romulus chose was the one right over there. It is called the Palatine Hill. The old Roman emperors lived on it for many centuries. The ruins of their walls and great palaces can still be seen," said the Sunbonnet Babies' father, as he finished his story.

"I wonder if it was there that the mother wolf took care of Romulus and Remus," said Molly. "If so, I think Romulus was right in wanting to build his city on the same spot."

"Rome is now so large it covers all of the seven hills, as well as the land between them," said her father. "Our hotel is on one of the hills, and the park where we drove yesterday is on another. Who wants to drive in the park again to-day?"

"I do!" and "I do!" and "I do!" cried Molly and May and their mother.

"Please may we drive first through the Spanish Piazza and buy some more flowers?" begged May. "Perhaps we may find Maria on the big steps. If she is there, father, may we ask her to drive in the park with us?"

"Yes, indeed!" answered her father. "We may meet the king and queen in the park. They drive there nearly every day."

"Oh! oh!" exclaimed May. "Let's buy the loveliest roses we can find and toss them into the king's carriage."

TRAVEL ADVENTURES

The next few days were spent in traveling northward, sometimes by train, sometimes by automobile, and sometimes behind two small Italian horses.

Each night the Sunbonnet Babies slept in some quaint little town near a great old church or castle built hundreds of years ago.

Some of the towns stood on steep, rocky hills and were surrounded by strong, stone walls. There was always a village well within the walls, where the women and girls filled their graceful jugs with water every morning.

During spring and summer the men and women in these hillside towns work on their fertile little farms in the green valleys below. In the fall the children take long trips to the woods to gather ripe chestnuts to grind into flour, for the Italians are very fond of chestnut cakes.

The most wonderful thing which Molly and May saw on this northward journey was the Leaning Tower at Pisa.

For seven hundred years the beautiful white marble tower has stood there leaning lazily over to one side. Soon after it was started, the ground under it began to sink. The builders straightened it up as well as they could, but when it was finished its top leaned to one side nearly fourteen feet.

The Sunbonnet Babies were almost afraid to go up the winding stairs inside the Leaning Tower. But at last they bravely climbed the three hundred steps, round and round and up and up, until they reached the top where the great bells hang.

Even though a strong railing was around the top of the tower, Molly and May thought they would surely slip off, it leaned so far to one side. But they soon forgot their fears.

Near by they saw the great black and white cathedral and the beautiful round baptistry where the babies of Pisa are all baptized.

Toward the west they looked across broad, green fields to the blue sea seven miles away. Two thousand years ago the sea was only two miles from Pisa, but the river Arno, which flows down from the mountains, brings with it a great deal of soil which it drops when it reaches the sea. In this way five miles of new land have been made between Pisa and the sea.

There was not much except the Leaning Tower in the now quiet little city of Pisa to interest the Sunbonnet Babies, so they followed the river Arno up toward the mountains as far as the beautiful city of Florence.

It was Maytime, and there were roses everywhere--roses to sell and roses to give away. For the first time in their short lives Molly and May had all the roses they wanted.

"No wonder Florence is called the City of Flowers," said their mother one morning, as they visited the big flower market.

"Yes, everybody seems to be buying or selling flowers. Isn't it lovely?" cried Molly.

Then, before her parents knew what she was doing, Molly ran up to a small boy who was carrying two baskets of beautiful roses on a wooden yoke across his shoulders.

"O little boy!" she said. "Will you please let me sell your roses for you? I will give you all the money I make. I should love to sell them!"

"And so should I!" cried May. "Father, please ask him if we may sell his flowers for him," for the small boy could not quite understand what the little American girls wanted.

A few words from their father, however, brought a happy smile to the boy's face. This was enough for the Sunbonnet Babies. In a moment Molly was standing beside one of the flower baskets and May beside the other, with the radiant little Italian boy between them.

"Now," said Molly, "you hold the baskets while we sell the flowers. We will sell some to our own father first. Please, sir, here is a bunch of pink roses for you. They cost only one lira. I am sure you want them."

Of course he did want them, and many other people wanted to buy of the pretty little flower girls, too.

In a very few minutes the two baskets were empty, and the small boy was hurrying away to his father's flower stand with more money in his pocket than he had ever had before, while Molly and May found other interesting things to do.

From a corner of the market place they heard some one calling, "Ecco! Signor Filippo will now present his troup of trained tops for the crippled soldiers."

"Oh, let's see them!" exclaimed May. "Tops are such fun, and we ought to help the poor Italian soldiers, too."

So they watched young Filippo, who had been a soldier in the great war, spin his wonderful tops.

They were military tops which Filippo had made himself. There was an American soldier, an Italian soldier, a British soldier, and a French soldier. Then there was a Red Cross nurse and a jolly sailor boy. But prettiest of all was a dainty little girl with butterfly skirts, dancing gracefully about among the stiff soldiers.

It was really wonderful, the way Filippo kept the tops spinning. Molly and May paid him a whole lira for the fun they had in watching them.

As they were about to leave the market place they heard a clear, beautiful whistle which made them stop and listen.

"It is my blackbird, signorine," called a little boy. "See, he is here in this cage. I caught him in the field and taught him how to whistle. Now he can whistle better than any other blackbird in Florence. Would you like to buy him?"

"Why, yes, of course we should! But we cannot take care of a bird while we are traveling. He will be happier with you. We will give you some pennies to buy food for him." So they dropped two big Italian pennies into the little boy's hat, while he bowed very politely.

One whole lovely afternoon was spent in motoring over the hills beyond the city of Florence. They saw groves of olive trees that were hundreds and hundreds of years old, and large vineyards where purple grapes were growing.