"Then, if I'm good, I'll see that my little one is quite strong before she is taken on a long, hard tramp, with plenty of singing and dancing wherever we meet people."
He kept his word. In spite of Pappina's impatience to be off, it was several days before he would consent to start.
As the wardrobe of the three consisted principally of the clothes on their backs, there was little to do but lock the door of their humble two–roomed home, take the Punchinellos, and start out of Naples, through the noisy, bustling east suburb.
Along the busy streets Guiseppe marched, as though walking for a wager—past various markets, with fish, vegetables, and carts of oranges standing outside; past houses where women sat in the sun mending fish–nets or spinning from distaffs; through crowds of unwashed, ragged children, beggars, carts, red–capped fishermen and sailors; on through the wild confusion of horses, donkeys, drivers, and people such as one sees nowhere in the world but in this part of Naples.
Guiseppe had promised himself to stop at the villas, but here he was going past villas and palaces, gardens and vineyards, down the country roads that lead to Vesuvius and Pompeii, without any apparent notice of anything they were passing. He looked neither to right nor left, but with bowed head walked mechanically on. Marta and Pappina followed close behind their stolid leader. No one spoke.
Just at the outskirts of the city, they passed the macaroni factories, where Pappina saw long strips and strings of macaroni hung out on poles in the street to dry. She gazed longingly at the food.
"I want some, Marta. Tell Guiseppe I want some macaroni," she said, but before Marta could reply, they turned a bend in the road and Pappina saw for the first time Vesuvius, puffing out great volumes of smoke against the clear blue sky. Visible as this mountain is from some parts of Naples, Pappina had not seen it before. The tall tenements of gloomy San Lucia, with lines upon lines of garments everlastingly hanging out to dry between the balconies or from poles thrust out, completely hide the volcano from the view of those living where the Piernos had their home.
"O—oh, Marta!" Pappina exclaimed, pausing abruptly. "Marta! Look! See! What is it?" she cried, pointing to attract Marta's attention.
Marta was hastening along to keep up with Guiseppe and hardly glanced at the smoke–crowned mountain, which was an old sight to her.