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 the best 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."
[Illustration: _"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 reached the 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 where they 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.
[Illustration: _They 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 of the 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.
[Illustration: _She 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 he threw 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 a _good_ pirate," 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."
[Illustration: _The 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?"
[Illustration: _Molly 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."
[Illustration]
[Illustration: The Humpbacked Island]
[Illustration]