Rollo in Naples Part 19

"Pay no attention to all these people, uncle George," said Rollo, "but follow me."

So saying, Rollo pushed forward, followed by his party, until he reached a place where he could see the carriages. There were a great number of them. They were harnessed with three horses to each. They were there to take travellers on excursions along the coast, and among the neighboring mountains. They were ready to go to Sorrento, or to Paestum, or to Amalfi, or wherever any travellers wished to go.

Rollo paid no attention to the clamor, but quietly surveyed the carriages which were standing in the street before him. The coachmen of some of them were on the sidewalk; those of others stood up in their carriages, shouting all the time to Rollo, and cracking their whips.

Rollo at last selected the one which he thought would be best for the purpose, and went quietly to it. Partly by signs, and partly by disconnected words in Italian, he made a bargain with the man to take them to Sorrento and back; and then the carriage drove up to the sidewalk, and all the party got in. Rollo also selected a guide. The guide mounted on the box with the coachman. Josie took a seat inside.

The party enjoyed a magnificent ride along the coast for eight or ten miles. The road was excellent. It was built on the declivities of the mountains, which here crowd close upon the sea. It was very smooth and hard, and was finished with a sidewalk, and with avenues of trees, almost all the way. On one side it looked down upon the blue and beautiful bay, and on the other upon the mountains, which were almost every where terraced up to form vineyards and olive groves, and presented to view a perpetual succession of villas, convents, churches, summer houses, and gardens.

At length they came in sight of the valley of Sorrento. It lay broadly expanded before them, full of groves of orange and lemon trees, among which were to be seen every where lofty walls of enclosure running in all directions, and roofs of houses, and villas, without number, rising among the trees. Towards the sea the ground terminated in a range of cliffs that were almost as smooth and perpendicular as a wall.

The carriage gradually descended into this valley, and then went on across it. Rollo and his party, in thus riding along, had the lofty walls of the orange gardens on each side of the way, while here and there there appeared a house, a shop, a church, or a hotel. After traversing this region for nearly half an hour, the carriage stopped in the stable yard of an inn, and the party descended. The guide was going to show them the way to a garden where they could go in.

They walked along some way, still between lofty walls, with branches of orange and lemon trees, full of fruit, seen every where above them, until at length the guide stopped before a ma.s.sive gateway, where he knocked loud and long, by means of an ancient-looking iron knocker.

Presently a man came down a sort of road, which led through the garden, and unlocking the gate, let the party in.

The road led to a house which was in the centre of the garden. The man who opened the gate, however, knew very well that the visitors came, not to see the people in the house, but to gather and eat some oranges. So he led the way towards the part of the garden where the fruit was the most abundant and the sweetest. After a while he came to a place where there was a seat. The party took their places on this seat, while the guide brought them oranges from the neighboring trees.[E]

[Footnote E: See Frontispiece.]

He supplied them very abundantly. He brought them not only all that they wanted to eat, but gathered also a large number in cl.u.s.ters on the branches, for them to carry to the carriage and take home.

The party remained in this garden for more than an hour, and then giving the gardener a small piece of money,--the guide told them how much it was proper to give,--they went away. They rambled about some time longer in Sorrento, and visited the brow of the cliffs which overhung the sea.

At length they went back to the carriage, and set out on their return to Naples, with all the vacant s.p.a.ces in the carriage filled with the cl.u.s.ters of oranges which they had gathered in the garden.

The next day after this, Mr. George and Rollo closed their visit in Naples, and set out in the diligence for Rome.

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