father pointing at turtle"Look at that big fellow!"
"I advise you not to try it while he is there," said her father. "If he once took a bite of you, he would never let go."
"Oh, my!" exclaimed Molly. "But see those little starfish and that big soft jellyfish. They are not afraid of the turtle. And those eels are playing close about him."
Just then a frightened scream came from May, who had walked ahead of the others.
"Come quickly!" she cried. "Here is a big, big round thing with eight long arms, orlegs, I don't know which they are. They keep reaching out as if they were trying to get hold of something. And its two big round eyes are looking straight at me! I'm glad the glass wall is between us. It's the worst looking thing I ever saw in all my life! What is it, father?"
girls and father looking at octopus"Its two big round eyes are looking straight at me!"
"Well, well!" exclaimed her father. "That is an octopus. A real, live octopus! It is a big one, too. It can easily reach six or seven feet with those long legs."
"Why is it called an octopus, father?" asked Molly. "Why haven't we seen one before, and what does it do with so many legs?"
"It is called an octopus because it has eight feet, and the word octopus means 'eight-footed.' We have never seen one before because it lives at the bottom of the ocean, and we have not visited the bottom of the ocean until to-day. I suppose it uses its feet more in catching food than it does in walking. I have heard that when it winds them around anything it never lets go."
Just then their mother called, "Come with me! I have found the strangest fish you ever heard of. If you touch the fish, it will give you a tiny electric shock. Who wants to try it?"
"Oh, I do!" cried Molly, and in went her hand to stroke the sleepy fish lazily swimming about in a small tank of water. But the hand came out more quickly than it went in.
"Oh! oh!" she cried. "My hand prickles just as if it were asleep. What a strange, strange fish! You touch it, May."
"No!" said May. "I don't want to touch it. I don't want an electric shock. I want to go back to the park and play."
"Very well," said her father. "I believe we have stayed with these deep-sea creatures long enough. We will go out through the secret door, the way we came in."
And so, in a few moments, they were all standing in the bright sunshine looking out over the deep blue water which was the home of so many strange and interesting creatures.
"Have we really been 'way down under that deep water, father?" asked Molly. "Or was it just a fish museum that we were in?"
"That is a good name for it," said her father. "We have been in an aquarium. Many of the fish that are caught alive in the Mediterranean Sea are brought to this aquarium, so people may study and enjoy them."
"I feel as if I had really and truly been to the bottom of the sea," said Molly. "I am glad I am not a fish. I should much rather be a little girl and have a ride in that goat cart. Those Italian children have just had a ride.See, they are each paying the man a penny. O sir! Please may we ride next?"
girls in goat cartMay shook the reins and away they went
"And please may I drive the goats?" asked May. "I know how to drive my pony."
In another moment Molly and May were climbing into the small cart. May then shook the reins and away they went, with the man following close behind them.
They passed groups of jolly boys and girls playing marbles, spinning tops, or rolling hoops. They were clean, well-dressed children, notragged and poor like so many children Molly and May had seen in other parts of the city.
boy racing goatsSuddenly a little boy began to race with the goats
Smiling nurse maids pushed dear little babies about in handsome carriages, or sat on shaded benches watching the little children at their play.
Everyone was interested in the small goat cart with its happy passengers.
Suddenly a little boy who was rolling a hoop began to race with the goats. He ran along beside them, driving his hoop as fast ashe could make it go. The goats did not want to be left behind, so they trotted faster and still faster, but the little boy with his rolling hoop kept up with them.
The Sunbonnet Babies began to be a bit frightened, they were riding so very fast. May pulled on the reins and cried, "Whoa! whoa! stop! stop!" The small Italian goats did not understand English, so they ran faster than ever. They were enjoying the race, and so was the man who owned them. But when he saw that his little passengers were afraid, he sprang forward to stop his team. Just at that moment the goats turned sharply about, and over went the cart, Sunbonnet Babies and all.
Everybody was then really frightened, though only for a moment. Molly and May were on their feet in a jiffy. The boys and girls all laughed and talked at the same time, and the man scolded his goats for their naughty trick.
"Please don't scold the goats," said the little boy with the hoop. "You ought to praise them. They knew if you stopped them they would lose the race, so they tried to turn around and go inthe other direction. Then the cart tipped over and spoiled the fun."
"It was fun, wasn't it?" exclaimed Molly. "But let's not do it over again. Let's have a tea party now."
"Oh, yes! Let's have a tea party!" cried May. "Here is a lovely place for it in front of this pretty tea house. Who wants some grape juice and some little cakes?"
"Oh, I do!" "And I do!" cried two happy voices in real American English, for the little boy with the hoop was an American, just like the Sunbonnet Babies. And so they had the jolliest tea party under the big trees in the park that three little American children ever had together, which is saying a very great deal.
babies looking at mosaic in floor
The Buried City
Girls sitting with mother by Pompeii
"Goody! This is the day we are going to Pompeii!" cried May, as she opened her eyes quite late next morning. "I hope father has not forgotten his promise."
"Indeed he has not!" said her mother. "We have the nicest kind of a surprise for you, but we were afraid you were going to sleep all day."
"Oh, what is it? What is the surprise, mother?" cried both little girls at once.
"It is something splendid, and it will last a whole week, perhaps longer," said their mother. "Each morning you shall hear about the surprise for that day, but only for one day at a time."
"Please tell us what it is for to-day," begged Molly. "What fun it will be to have a new surprise every day!"
"Well," said their mother, "how would you like to have a picnic dinner to-day?"
"Oh, we should like it better than anything else we can think of!" exclaimed May. "But I thought we were going to Pompeii to-day."
"We are," said their mother. "We shall have our picnic in the prettiest place we can find in old Pompeii. People do not live in the ruined city now, for the houses have no roofs. But father says they have the cunningest little inhabitants he ever saw. They are part of the surprise, so I must not tell about them now."
picnic lunch
"Is the picnic basket ready, mother?" asked Molly. "Is it brimful of good things to eat?"
"Yes, everything is ready, and Pietro will take us to the station just as soon as you have had your breakfast."
After a short but very rough ride the train stopped at a small station, and a man called, "Pompeii!" as he walked quickly down the platform unlocking the doors of the compartments.
As the Sunbonnet Babies stepped from the train, they expected to see the famous ruinedcity, but they saw only a few whitewashed houses which did not look ruined at all.
looking at PompeiiMolly and May felt as if they were in another world
"O father!" cried Molly. "People are living in this town. This can't be Pompeii."
"Yes it is," said her father. "This is new Pompeii. The old city which we have come to see is only a short walk from here."
When they finally passed through the gate into the city, which had lain buried more than seventeen hundred years, Molly and May felt as if they were in another world. They walkeddown the narrow, quiet streets, looking into the empty shops and houses, trying to imagine twenty thousand people living and working and playing here so long, long ago. The smoking volcano not far away made them wonder what the people were doing when the hot ashes buried their city.
The guide said many of the people probably escaped, though some stayed to care for their homes and were buried in them. He told how a little mother bird was found sitting on her nest, buried by the ashes. She would not leave the little eggs that needed her wings for protection. He told, too, how a Roman soldier had been found standing at his place of duty when all his friends had run for safety.
Many of the streets were not wide enough for two small carriages to pass, and the sidewalks were so narrow that the Sunbonnet Babies could hardly walk side by side on them.
Molly and May thought it great fun to jump across the streets on the high stepping-stones which they found at every crossing. They played they were dainty ladies of two thousandyears ago who did not want to soil their pretty shoes.
walking on stepping stones in ruined cityIt was great fun to jump across the streets on the high stepping-stones
At last they came to a house where a watchdog with a rope around his neck lay in front of the door. He looked rather fierce, but they were not afraid, for the dog was not alive. He was only the picture of a watchdog, made by means of small black and white stones placed close together in the sidewalk. Just below him were two Latin words meaning "Beware of the Dog."
girs in front of birdbath and statuesThe rooms all opened upon a lovely little garden and court
The outside walls of most of the houses had no openings, except the front door, though some had small shops on each side of the door, where the owner carried on his business.
Molly and May stood behind the counter in one of these shops and played they were selling ripe figs to the passers-by. They went through a small door into the house and found that the rooms all opened upon a lovely little court and garden, around which they were built.
This house was not so badly injured as some,so it looks much as it did when people lived in it long ago. Everything has been left almost as it was found when the ashes were taken out. The little garden has been replanted with flowers and green grass.
Around the four sides of the garden there is a broad porch, and opening from the porch are living rooms, bedrooms, and dining rooms. On the walls are many pictures, which are almost as beautiful as when they were first painted.
While they were walking about in this lovely old house, May suddenly saw a queer little animal. It was as green as grass, and it had a long pointed tail and four big feet.
"What can it be?" she cried.
"I think I know," said Molly. "It is one of the tiny inhabitants mother said we should find here. I think it is a lizard. Look! There are two more. How fast they run! They are frightened. Poor little things!"
The guide gave a long, low whistle which made the little lizards raise their heads and listen. He whistled softly, until they had lost all fear, standing very still while the Sunbonnet Babiestouched their soft, green backs. Molly even lifted one up gently by its long pointed tail. But this frightened the little creature again, and it jumped so hard it left its tail hanging between Molly's fingers, while it ran across the garden and up the wall of the porch, without any tail.
Molly holding lizard with May watchingMolly lifted up a little lizard very gently by its long pointed tail
Poor Molly was now as frightened as the little lizard, for she thought it would surely die without its tail. But the guide said it would run away and wait for another tail to grow, though he thought lizards didn't like to lose their tails.
Soon they came to the market place of the old city, and the Sunbonnet Babies begged to have their picnic dinner there. It was not like any other picnic that Molly and May had ever had. There were no trees to sit under, and they were not allowed to build a bonfire. But they made believe that the tall columns of the old houses were great trees two thousand years old, and they were sure Mount Vesuvius was the biggest bonfire any picnic party ever had.
Before the afternoon was over, however, the Sunbonnet Babies had seen enough of the dead city. They were glad to leave it to the timid little lizards, while they went to find a real house in the new city of Pompeii where they could spend the night.
scene of ancient young women picking flowers
girls pointing at yellow bird in tree
A Long Drive
at the breakfast table
"What's the secret for to-day, mother?" asked Molly very early next morning. "Are we going to climb Mount Vesuvius?"
"I hope not," said her mother. "Solfatara was bad enough for me. I don't want to go so near to another volcano."
"Neither do I," said May. "But whatarewe going to do, mother?"
"Father says he will tell us the secret at the breakfast table, under the 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 noisy Naples last night. I love this dear little 'Tavern of the Sun'! I believe the garden is the only parlor the hotelhas. It is a really and truly sun parlor, isn't it, mother?"
"We are ready for the secret, father," called Molly, a few moments later, as she skipped out into the lovely garden.
"Well, let us have some breakfast first. Then we will have the secret," said her father.
"Look! We are going to have bread and honey and delicious hot chocolate for breakfast," said Molly. "And best of all, we are going to eat it under this lovely orange tree."
While they were enjoying the sweet taste of the bees' honey and the sweet smell of the orange blossoms, a more wonderful sweetness came to their ears. It came from a tall, dark tree near by. It was the sweetest bird's song the little Americans had ever heard.
"O Maria! Please tell us the name of that wonderful bird," they begged the pretty Italian maid who brought them a fresh pot of honey.
"Why, that is our nightingale," answered Maria, laughing. "He has a nest somewhere here in our garden. I think there must besome little brown eggs in it now. During the month of April he sings all day and all night, except for two or three hours just after sunset. Oh, we love our little nightingale!"
Baby sitting at table in garden pointing at nightingaleA nightingale had a nest somewhere in the garden
"I love him, too!" cried Molly. "I wish he would live in our garden trees at home."
"Well, children, are you ready for the secret?" asked their father, at last. "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 in all the world. We shall spend two days on the way, for we shall not want 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 his long whip many times above the backs of the two small horses, but they seemed to like the sound, for they dashed along over the hilly road as if it were play.
After driving several hours over this lovely mountain road they came to the beautiful blue waters of the Gulf of Salerno. Now began the most wonderful part of the drive. The road followed the shore of the gulf, clinging all the way to the steep slopes of the mountains, which came close down to the water's edge.
Molly and May were wild with excitement over the strangeness and beauty 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 the wonderful 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 grapes grew on the sunny slopes, while the blue waters of the gulf sparkled like millions of diamonds under the brilliant sunshine.
They passed tiny fishing villages where barefooted women and little children seemed to be the only inhabitants. The men were probably away on fishing trips, or were sleeping lazily in the shade. In one of the villages the Sunbonnet Babies begged to stop and buy some oranges.
"O Pippo! Please ask if we may pick a few oranges from that tree just above the road," begged May.
Pippo smilingly said a few words to a woman standing near by, and she smilingly 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 they could reach the ripe, yellow fruit. The woman kindly showed them the ripest and juiciest oranges. Then she broke a small branchfrom a higher part of the tree, and gave it with a pretty bow to the little American girls.
eating oranges right off the tree"I never tasted anything so good as this orange"
"Look, May!" exclaimed Molly. "Here are ripe oranges and green oranges and lovely white blossoms all growing on the same branch. I'm sure I never smelled anything so sweet as these orange blossoms!"
"And I'm sure I never tasted anything so good as this orange!" said May, who had made a hole in one of her biggest oranges and was eagerly sucking out the sweet juice.
"I wish I had something pretty to give the woman," said Molly. "I know what I will do! I will give her my hair ribbon. She may have a little girl at home who will like it. Mother always carries extra hair ribbons for us, you know."
bow for hair
So, out from under the pretty sunbonnet came a big pink bow, which was given quickly to the kind woman. Into her other hand May slipped something from her purse. A moment later Pippo's long whip cracked over the horses' heads, and they were off.
The children waved good-by to their new friend, but she was looking with happy eyes at the beautiful pink bow in one hand and at the little piece of money in the other.
While Molly and May were busy gathering oranges, their mother was opening the well-filled lunch box. The next half-hour Pippo let his horses go as slowly as they liked, while the party in the carriage ate their picnic dinner and enjoyed the lovely scenery. Of course Pippo had his share of the lunch, which he seemed to think was very fine.
By the middle of the afternoon they had reached Amalfi, the largest and probably the oldest fishing village on this rocky coast.
"We will spend the night in that old monastery on the cliff," said the Sunbonnet Babies' father.
"Very well, sir," answered Pippo. "But you will have a good many steps to climb before you get up there."
long steps up to monastary
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 on the mountain side?" exclaimed Molly. "It seems as if it might fall into the water any minute."
"A piece of it did fall into the water a few years ago," said a smiling Italian man who was standing near by. "I saw it with my own eyes. 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 great deal of money building the fine road over which you drove to-day. The road had to be cut into the side of the mountain nearly the whole distance along this rocky shore. A broad stone wall was built on the side next to the water, so that carriages would not roll off. But there are places between here and Sorrento where the mountain is so steep the road could not be built on the outside of it. It had to be cut through the inside of the mountain. One of those places is just below this old monastery. You will drive through the tunnel in the morning when you start on your journey again.
"Well," continued the little man excitedly, "probably so much cutting away of the rock weakened a part of the mountain on which the monastery was built. One day, when the sun was shining as lovely as it is now, we heard a great ripping and splitting noise. It seemed like an earthquake. But no, it was not anearthquake! It was a piece of the mountain falling into the water below, carrying a small end of the monastery with it. Oh, it was terrible! I can never, never forget it!"
girls overlooking lake and seeing tunnels in distance"I'm not sure that I want to drive through those dark tunnels"
"I'm sure I never could forget it, either," said Molly, who was almost crying.
"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 haveour 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.
girls looking at barefoot man on steps above them
Pirates
girls looking at sailboats
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 thebest 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."
houses in canyons"It looks as if pirates might live there," said Molly
"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 reachedthe 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 wherethey 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.
supper on a terraceThey could look out over the lovely Bay of Naples
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 ofthe 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.
Molly trying to rescue her motherShe ran toward the pirate, stamping her feet
"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 hethrew 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 agoodpirate," 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."
all the family in a boatThe waves were really quite high for so small a boat
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?"
Molly waving a handkerchiefMolly stood bravely waving her handkerchief
"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."
two men in boat waving
girls watching donkey caryying bundles of sticks
The Humpbacked Island
girls with island in distance
"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 villageof 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.