"What would you do?" asked Mr. Beekman.
"I would just take a carriage," replied Rollo, "and order the coachman to drive right to the hotel."
"Very good," said Mr. Beekman, "that would do very well."
Accordingly, after breakfast Mr. George went to his room to finish his letters, while Rollo and Charlie set out on their walk, to see what they could see of Rome.
Rollo's plan of taking a carriage, in case of getting lost in a strange city, and ordering the coachman to drive to the hotel, is a very excellent one; but one thing is quite essential to the success of it, and that is, that the person lost should know the name of his hotel. Unfortunately, Rollo was going out without this requisite. Neither he himself nor Mr. George had observed the name of the hotel where the coachman whom they had employed, on their arrival, had finally left them; and in going out Rollo forgot to observe what it was. He did not even take notice of the name of the street. He did observe, however, that the hotel had a small open space, like a square, before it, with a fountain on one side. The water from the fountain flowed into a small stone basin, with curious figures sculptured on the side of it.
"Let us go and look at this basin," said Charles, "and see if it would not be a good place for us to sail little boats."
The basin was in a cool and pleasant place, being overshadowed by the drooping branches of a great tree. Rollo, however, did not wish to stay by it long.
"Let us go now and see the streets of Rome," said he; "we can come out and look at this basin at any time."
So the two boys walked along, paying little attention to the direction in which they were going.
"We shall find some of the great streets pretty soon," said Rollo, "and then we will take an observation."