A LONG DRIVE
"What's the secret for to-day, mother?" asked Molly very early nextmorning. "Are we going to climb Mount Vesuvius?"
"I hope not," said her mother. "Solfatara was bad enough for me. Idon't want to go so near to another volcano."
"Neither do I," said May. "But what _are_ we going to do, mother?"
"Father says he will tell us the secret at the breakfast table, underthe orange trees in the garden. Who will be ready first?"
"I shall be!" cried Molly.
"No, I shall be!" cried May. "I am glad we didn't go back to noisyNaples last night. I love this dear little 'Tavern of the Sun'! Ibelieve the garden is the only parlor the hotel has. It is areally and truly sun parlor, isn't it, mother?"
"We are ready for the secret, father," called Molly, a few momentslater, as she skipped out into the lovely garden.
"Well, let us have some breakfast first. Then we will have thesecret," said her father.
"Look! We are going to have bread and honey and delicious hotchocolate for breakfast," said Molly. "And best of all, we are goingto eat it under this lovely orange tree."
While they were enjoying the sweet taste of the bees' honey and thesweet smell of the orange blossoms, a more wonderful sweetness came totheir ears. It came from a tall, dark tree near by. It was thesweetest bird's song the little Americans had ever heard.
"O Maria! Please tell us the name of that wonderful bird," they beggedthe pretty Italian maid who brought them a fresh pot of honey.
"Why, that is our nightingale," answered Maria, laughing. "He has anest somewhere here in our garden. I think there must be somelittle brown eggs in it now. During the month of April he sings allday and all night, except for two or three hours just after sunset.Oh, we love our little nightingale!"
_A nightingale had a nest somewhere in the garden_]
"I love him, too!" cried Molly. "I wish he would live in our gardentrees at home."
"Well, children, are you ready for the secret?" asked their father, atlast. "Here is Pippo, who wants to take us for a long drive."
"Is that the secret, father?" asked the Sunbonnet Babies eagerly.
"Yes, Pippo is going to take us on one of the most beautiful drives inall the world. We shall spend two days on the way, for we shall notwant to hurry."
A few moments later they were all seated in a low Italian carriage,with Pippo on the driver's seat, high in front of them. He cracked hislong whip many times above the backs of the two small horses, but theyseemed to like the sound, for they dashed along over the hilly road asif it were play.
After driving several hours over this lovely mountain road they cameto the beautiful blue waters of the Gulf of Salerno. Now began themost wonderful part of the drive. The road followed the shore of thegulf, clinging all the way to the steep slopes of the mountains, whichcame close down to the water's edge.
Molly and May were wild with excitement over the strangeness andbeauty of it all. Molly begged to sit up on the seat beside Pippo,where she could see better and where he could tell her all about thewonderful things they were passing.
At first the mountains sloped gently away, above and below the road.Small groves of orange and lemon trees and vineyards of purple grapesgrew on the sunny slopes, while the blue waters of the gulf sparkledlike millions of diamonds under the brilliant sunshine.
They passed tiny fishing villages where barefooted women and littlechildren seemed to be the only inhabitants. The men were probably awayon fishing trips, or were sleeping lazily in the shade. In one of thevillages the Sunbonnet Babies begged to stop and buy some oranges.
"O Pippo! Please ask if we may pick a few oranges from that tree justabove the road," begged May.
Pippo smilingly said a few words to a woman standing near by, and shesmilingly answered, "Si, si, signor. As many as they wish."
Molly and May were out of the carriage in a moment saying, "Grazie,grazie, signora!" as they scrambled up the slope to a place where theycould reach the ripe, yellow fruit. The woman kindly showed them theripest and juiciest oranges. Then she broke a small branch from ahigher part of the tree, and gave it with a pretty bow to the littleAmerican girls.
_"I never tasted anything so good as this orange"_]
"Look, May!" exclaimed Molly. "Here are ripe oranges and green orangesand lovely white blossoms all growing on the same branch. I'm sure Inever smelled anything so sweet as these orange blossoms!"
"And I'm sure I never tasted anything so good as this orange!" saidMay, who had made a hole in one of her biggest oranges and was eagerlysucking out the sweet juice.
"I wish I had something pretty to give the woman," said Molly. "I knowwhat I will do! I will give her my hair ribbon. She may have a littlegirl at home who will like it. Mother always carries extra hairribbons for us, you know."
So, out from under the pretty sunbonnet came a big pink bow, which wasgiven quickly to the kind woman. Into her other hand May slippedsomething from her purse. A moment later Pippo's long whip crackedover the horses' heads, and they were off.
The children waved good-by to their new friend, but she was lookingwith happy eyes at the beautiful pink bow in one hand and at thelittle piece of money in the other.
While Molly and May were busy gathering oranges, their mother wasopening the well-filled lunch box. The next half-hour Pippo let hishorses go as slowly as they liked, while the party in the carriage atetheir picnic dinner and enjoyed the lovely scenery. Of course Pippohad his share of the lunch, which he seemed to think was very fine.
By the middle of the afternoon they had reached Amalfi, the largestand probably the oldest fishing village on this rocky coast.
"We will spend the night in that old monastery on the cliff," said theSunbonnet Babies' father.
"Very well, sir," answered Pippo. "But you will have a good many stepsto climb before you get up there."
The steps were very soon found, nearly two hundred of them, and up,up, up the little party climbed.
"How did the monks ever build such a great monastery 'way up here onthe mountain side?" exclaimed Molly. "It seems as if it might fallinto the water any minute."
"A piece of it did fall into the water a few years ago," said asmiling Italian man who was standing near by. "I saw it with my owneyes. I was not much larger then than you little girls are now."
"Oh, tell us about it, please!" begged the Sunbonnet Babies.
"Well, it was this way," said the man. "Our government spent a greatdeal of money building the fine road over which you drove to-day. Theroad had to be cut into the side of the mountain nearly the wholedistance along this rocky shore. A broad stone wall was built on theside next to the water, so that carriages would not roll off. Butthere are places between here and Sorrento where the mountain is sosteep the road could not be built on the outside of it. It had to becut through the inside of the mountain. One of those places is justbelow this old monastery. You will drive through the tunnel in themorning when you start on your journey again.
"Well," continued the little man excitedly, "probably so much cuttingaway of the rock weakened a part of the mountain on which themonastery was built. One day, when the sun was shining as lovely as itis now, we heard a great ripping and splitting noise. It seemed likean earthquake. But no, it was not an earthquake! It was a pieceof the mountain falling into the water below, carrying a small end ofthe monastery with it. Oh, it was terrible! I can never, never forgetit!"
_"I'm not sure that I want to drive through those darktunnels"_]
"I'm sure I never could forget it, either," said Molly, who was almostcrying.
"And I'm not sure that I want to drive through those dark tunnelsto-morrow," said May.
"Well, let us explore the old monastery now," said their father. "Thenwe will have our supper. Perhaps we shall find a few monks stillliving here in some quiet corner."
Before they went to bed that night the Sunbonnet Babies stood a longtime at their open window. A full moon hung high in the sky, makingthe s
ilvery blue water of the gulf shimmer like a fairy sea. Thelittle whitewashed houses of the village clung to the side of the darkmountain as if they feared some evil fairy might push them down intothe water.
Suddenly out of the evening silence came the sound of music. Far belowtheir window the Sunbonnet Babies could see a young singer with hismandolin. His clear, high voice gave the lovely Italian song a strangebeauty 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 littlewhite beds that were waiting for them.
Pirates]
The Sunbonnet Babies in Italy Page 7