Pietro had been so kind they trusted him and told him he might drive them anywhere he wished. He then turned his horses away from the blue bay and up a low hill, where almost no trees or green things were growing. At the top of the hill Pietro said they must leave the carriage and each pay a lira to the gatekeeper there, and they would see something interesting.
They wondered if there really could be anything interesting on such a barren-looking hill, but they did as Pietro told them. Then a man, with a burning torch in his hand, led the way through a gate.
"Now," he said in quite broken English, "I will show you something wonderful!"
"This is not a bit wonderful," said Molly. "It looks like a big football field with a high wall of earth all around it. There isn't even a flower or a bit of green grass anywhere."
"Follow me," said their guide, "and you shall see the wonderful thing. Perhaps you will be frightened, but I will take care of you."
So they followed the guide across the bare, round field. But they had not gone far when Molly said anxiously, "How strange the ground sounds as we walk on it! It sounds hollow."
"Yes, and how hot it is!" said May. "I can feel it right through my shoes. It almost burns my feet."
"Why, it burns mine, too, May!"
"Do you hear that queer, bubbling noise, Molly? Listen! It sounds like a pudding baking in mother's oven. What do you suppose it is?"
"I will show you," said the guide. "A very big pudding is being baked in a very big oven. You are walking on the top crust of that pudding. Would you like to take a look underneath it? Here is a man who will scrape off some of the crust and let us see what is going on."