"Are you sure it is the same column?" suggested Charles.
"Yes," said Rollo, "for it was exactly of that shape, and it had the same spiral line of images going round and round it, and a statue on the top. See, how old and venerable it looks! It was built almost two thousand years ago."
"What did they build it for?" asked Charles.
"Why, I don't know exactly," said Rollo, looking a little puzzled; "for ornament, I suppose."
"But I don't see much ornament," said Charles, "in a big column standing all by itself, and with nothing for it to keep up."
"But it has something to keep up," rejoined Rollo. "Don't you see, there is a statue on the top of it."
"If that's what it is to keep up," said Charles, "I don't see any sense in making the column so tall as to hold up the statue so high that we can't see it."
"Nor I," said Rollo, "but they often made tall columns, like these, in ancient times."
After rambling about a short time longer, the boys came to another open space, where there was a second column very similar in appearance to the first.
"Ah!" said Rollo, "perhaps this is the column of Trajan."
Rollo was right this time. There are several large columns standing among the ruins of Rome, and among them are two with spiral lines of sculpture around them, which are extremely similar to each other, and it is not at all surprising that Rollo was at first deceived by the resemblance between them.
These columns were built in honor of the victories of great generals, and the spiral lines of sculptures were representations of their different exploits. The statue upon the top of the column was, originally, that of the man in whose honor the column was erected. But in the case of the Roman columns, these original statues have been taken down, and replaced by bronze images of saints, or of the Virgin Mary.
Near the column of Trajan was a large sunken space, in the middle of the square, with a railing around it. In the bottom of this sunken space was a pavement, which looked very old, and rising from it were rows of columns with the tops broken off. The old pavement was eight or ten feet below the level of the street.
"This must be some old ruin or other," said Rollo; "a temple perhaps."
"Only I do not see," said Charles, "why they built their temples down so low."
"Nor do I," said Rollo.
"But, Rollo," said Charles, "I think it is time for us to begin to try to find our way home. I don't see how you are going to find the way at all."
"If I only knew the name of the hotel, or even the name of the street," said Rollo, "I should know at once what to do."
CHAPTER V. GETTING LOST.
"And now," said Rollo, "the first thing is to find somebody that can speak French or English, for us to inquire of."
"What good will that do?" asked Charles, "as long as we don't know what to ask them for?"
"True," said Rollo. "That's a real difficulty. I wish we just knew the name of the hotel. At any rate, we will walk along until we find a carriage, and I will be thinking what we had better do."
The boys walked along together. Charles kept silence, so as not to interrupt 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 that street before. If we could only find our way to the Corso, I believe that I could follow it along, and at last find the mosaic shop, and so get back to our hotel."
"Very well," said Charles, "let us try."
"Or, we might get into a carriage," said Rollo, "and direct the coachman which way to drive by pointing."
"So we could," said Charles. "And I should like that, for I am tired of walking so much."
"Then we will get a carriage," said Rollo. "We will take the first one that we see. You shall get inside, and I will mount upon the box with the coachman, and show him which way to go."
"No," said Charles, "we will both get inside, for we can stand up there and point."
"So we can," said Rollo.
There are carriages to be found almost every where in the streets of Rome, especially in the neighborhood of the most interesting ruins. It was not long before Rollo and Charles came in sight of one. The coachman was looking toward them, and was cracking his whip to attract their attention.
Rollo and Charles walked directly towards the spot, and Rollo, taking out 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 it afforded an uninterrupted view in every direction; and also, by standing up and pointing forward, the boys could easily indicate to the coachman which way they wished him to drive. Rollo, however, in the first instance, 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 various objects of interest that attracted them as they passed. The scenes through which the driver took them seemed very strange. Every thing in Rome was strange to them, and their course now lay through a part of the city which they had not been in before. Their attention was continually attracted first upon this side of the carriage and then upon the other, as they rode along; and they pointed out to each other the remarkable objects they were passing.
The driver meanwhile upon his seat drove on, entirely indifferent to it all. The scenes that were so new to the boys, were perfectly familiar to him.
[Illustration: RIDING AMONG THE RUINS.]
He soon entered a region of dark, crooked, and winding alleys, where Rollo said that he and Charles could never have found their way, if they had undertaken it alone. They frequently passed portions of old ruins. In some places these ruins consisted of columns standing alone, or immense fragments of broken arches that had fallen down, and now lay neglected upon the ground. In other places, the remains of ancient temples stood built in with the houses of the street, with market women at their stalls below, forming a strange and incongruous spectacle of ancient magnificence and splendor, surrounded and overwhelmed with modern poverty and degradation. As the carriage drove through these places, Rollo and Charles stood up in it, supporting themselves by pressing their knees against the front seat, and holding on to each other. They stood up thus partly to be enabled to see better, and partly so as to be ready to point out the way as soon as they should enter the Corso.
It was not long before they came to the Corso. The coachman then looked round, 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 the words, but the gesture was significant enough, and so he drove on.
"Now watch, Charley, sharp," said Rollo; "and when you see the street that 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 the middle 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 any of 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 that look most like it, and at any rate, we shall have a good ride, and see the city of Rome."
Rollo accordingly pointed to a side street when he wished the coachman to turn. The coachman said, "Si, signore," and immediately went in that direction. As he advanced in the new street, the boys looked about on all sides to see if they could recognize any signs of their approach to their hotel.