"Quanto?" said he. Quanto is the Italian word for how much. In saying Quanto, Rollo held up the fingers of his right hand, to denote to the coachman that he was to show him by his fingers how many piastres.
The coachman said four, speaking in Italian, and at the same time held up four fingers.
"No," said Rollo, "three." And Rollo held up three fingers.
The coachman seemed to hesitate a moment; but when he saw that the boys were ready to go away and apply for another carriage unless he would take them for the regular and proper price, he said, "Si, signore," again, and once more motioned for the boys to get in. So they got in, and the coachman drove to the hotel door.
Mrs. Gray and Rosie were all ready, and when they came to see the carriage which the boys had chosen for them, they were very much pleased with it.
"I don't see but that you can manage the business, Rollo," said Mrs. Gray, "as well as any courier or valet de place that we could have."
"How could you make him understand what you wanted, without speaking Italian?" asked Rosie.
"I did it partly by signs," said Rollo.
The road to Pompeii, for the first few miles, was the same with the one to Vesuvius, which they had taken the day before. It led first through the busiest part of Naples, along by the docks and the shipping, and then through the series of towns and villages which line the shore of the bay, at the foot of the slopes of Vesuvius. After passing in this manner through one continued street for five or six miles, the road came out more into the open country, where fine views were had of the mountain on one side, and of the bay on the other. The mountain sides were generally extremely fertile, being covered with vineyards and groves, though here and there were to be seen the streams of lava which had come down within a few hundred years, and which had not yet become disintegrated and converted into soil. These streams of lava looked like torrents of brown water suddenly turned into stone, as they came streaming down the mountain side.
In one place, one of these streams of lava passed under a town. That is to say, such was the appearance. The fact was, really, that the lava had destroyed the part of the town that came in its way, and the people had built up their houses again on the top of it. The lava was cut down a little in making the road, so that you could see at the road side a portion of the stream, with the houses upon it.