"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."
[Illustration]
"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 ruined city, but they saw only a few whitewashed
houses which did not look ruined at all.
[Illustration: _Molly 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 walked down 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 thousand years ago who did not
want to soil their pretty shoes.
[Illustration: _It 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."
[Illustration: _The 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 Babies touched
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.
[Illustration: _Molly 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.
[Illustration]
[Illustration: A Long Drive]
[Illustration]