"What is here?" said Mr. George to Philippe, when he saw that Philippe was getting down from the box.
"This is Herculaneum," said Philippe, quietly.
"Herculaneum!" repeated Rosie, amazed. "Why, I thought Herculaneum was all under ground."
"Yes," said Mr. George, "it is. He means that this is where we go down."
By this time Philippe had opened the carriage door. Mr. George got out, and then helped Mrs. Gray to descend. A half a dozen beggars, some lame, some blind, some old and paralytic, hovered about the steps, and held out tattered hats to Mrs. Gray, moaning all the time in piteous tones, and begging for alms. Mrs. Gray and Mr. George paid no attention to them, but passed directly on, followed by the children, through a door in a high wall, which led into a little court, and thence they passed into a sort of entrance hall, leading into a building. Philippe, who had preceded them, opened a closet, and took out some small candles. He lighted these candles by means of a lamp hanging against the wall, and gave one to each of the party. There was an open door near, with a broad flight of stone steps leading down, like stairs going down cellar. As soon as the candles were all lighted, the children heard somebody coming up these stairs. It was a party of visitors that had been down, and were now coming up. There were eight or ten of them, and the appearance of them as they came up, following each other in a long line, each carrying his candle in his hand, produced a very strange and picturesque effect.
The guide who came up at the head of them exchanged a few words with Philippe in Italian, and then Philippe went on, leading his own party down the stairs. The stairs were wide, so that there was abundant room for the two parties to pass each other.
After going down some way, and making one or two turnings, suddenly a light began to appear. It was a light like the light of day. It grew brighter and brighter, until at length Mr. George and Rollo, who were at the head of the party, after Philippe, came out under a large circular opening cut in the rock, through which they could look up to the open air, and to the sky.
"This is the well," said Philippe; "the well that they were digging when they first came upon the ruins."
The sides of the well were of solid lava, smooth and hard, just as they had been left by the workmen in digging down.
The light which came down through the well shone upon a sort of platform, which, as well as the walls around it, was covered with moss and other green plants, which had been induced to vegetate there by the rain and the sunlight that had come down through the well. Mrs. Gray gathered some of these plants, and put them into her book.
The party then went on down another flight of steps, which led into a series of dark, vaulted chambers, all hewn out of the rock. By holding the candles up to the sides of these chambers, the party could see here and there the remains of old arches, columns, and walls, which had been buried up in the lava, but were now partially disinterred.
These remains were part of an ancient theatre; and after passing through several gloomy passages, the party came to a large chamber, where the whole front of the stage had been brought to view. Before it, in a range, were the seats for the musicians. On each side there was a massive pedestal. The guide said that there were two bronze statues on these pedestals when the place was first excavated, but that they had been taken away, and were now deposited in the museum at Naples.
"We shall see them there, I suppose," said Mr. George, "when we go to visit the museum."
"I shall take great interest in seeing them," said Mrs. Gray.
In some places the old pavement of the theatre had been laid bare, and was plainly to be seen by holding the candles down close to the ground. In other places the painting on the walls had been found, with the colors quite fresh.
"These must be places that the hot lava did not come to," said Rollo.
"I suppose so," said Mr. George.
It was not possible to obtain any information from the guide, for he could speak no language but the Italian, with the exception of a few English words and phrases, which he pronounced in so outlandish a manner, and mingled them up so much with his Neapolitan dialect, that it was very difficult to recognize them.
"Questa vindow; vindow orizhinalle," he would say, meaning that the opening that he was pointing to was one of the original windows of the edifice. And then he would go on with a long sentence in the Neapolitan dialect, which was perfectly unintelligible from beginning to end.
At length the exploration was ended, and the whole party ascended again to the surface of the ground. The guide took the candles from their hands as they came up, and Philippe paid him his fee. Mr. George led the way to the carriage, which was still waiting at the door. It was surrounded, as before, with poor children and beggars, who set up a loud clamor for alms as soon as the party made their appearance.
Mr. George took no notice of them, but opened the door for Mrs. Gray and Rosie to get in. They got in, and Mrs. Gray took her place on the forward seat of the carriage,-that is, with her back to the horses,-and Rosie sat down by the side of her.
"The other is your seat, Mrs. Gray," said Mr. George.
"No," said Mrs. Gray; "we are going to ride here now, and let you and the boys have the back seat."
"O, no, Mrs. Gray," said Mr. George; "please take the back seat."
"By and by I will," said Mrs. Gray, "but not now."
So Mr. George and the two boys got in and took the back seat, which was a great deal better than the forward seat, as it afforded so much better opportunity to see.
All this was done in a moment, and Philippe, after shutting the door and mounting the box with the coachman, gave the order to drive on.
"I think you and Rosie ought to have this seat, Mrs. Gray," said Rollo.
"I have had that seat already for an hour," said Mrs. Gray. "There is no reason why I should have it all the time."
"Why, yes," said Rollo; "because you are a lady."
"My being a lady is a very good reason why the gentlemen should always offer me the best seat," said Mrs. Gray; "but it is no reason why I should always take it. Indeed, it is a very good reason why I should not; for it is not at all ladylike to be monopolizing and selfish in respect to good seats and good places when there is any thing to see."
Mr. George did not care a great deal about the difference in the seats, but he was so much pleased with the disinterested and considerate spirit which Mrs. Gray manifested in this case, that he secretly resolved that he would invite her and Rosie to accompany him on every excursion that he made.
The road now left the shore, and soon began to ascend the mountain, winding this way and that in long zigzags, through rich vineyards and groves of mulberry trees, all planted on soil which had been formed during the lapse of ages from the disintegration and decay of the lava which had come down from the volcano above. This land was very fertile; and as both the soil itself and the rocks from which it was formed were of a rich brown color, the country looked even more fertile than it really was. The road was excellent. Indeed, as Philippe had said, it was as hard and smooth as a floor. It was macadamized all the way, being made of lava, broken small, and so compacted together, and worn so hard and smooth by the wheels that had gone over it, and by the feet of the horses and mules, that it seemed one continuous surface of stone.
The views on every side were of course continually enlarging and expanding the higher the carriage ascended, and as, in the long windings and zigzags of the road, the heads of the horses were turning continually into different directions, each person in the carriage, without changing his seat, or even turning his head, had all the different views presented successively before him.