The Sunbonnet Babies were now really frightened. The streets were crowded, and the drivers all seemed to be trying to get ahead of the carriages in front of them. They cracked their whips, they shouted to one another in loud voices, and they drove their horses as fast as they could make them go.

The noise and the strange faces and the stranger language might have frightened even the Overall Boys just a little, if they had been with Molly and May.

But no one needed to be frightened. The men in Naples are fine drivers, though they do like to make a great show about it. And the nervous little horses enjoy dashing through the streets to the sound of cracking whips.

Everybody was jolly and happy, so the Sunbonnet Babies soon forgot their fears and began to enjoy their first drive in Italy. The carriage passed along a busy street where there were many small shops and handsome stores.

After a few minutes Molly said, in a somewhat disappointed voice, "Why, this street looks like the streets in our city at home. I thought it would look different in Italy."

"Look up that side street," said her father. "Did you ever see a street like that in America?"

"That is not a street, father," said Molly. "That is a long flight of stairs. But why do they build stairs out of doors?"

"Yes, that is a street, and a very popular one, too," said her father. "Naples is built on the side of a hill, you know, and many of the streets that go up the hill are flights of steps like this one."

"O father, may we get out and walk a little way up the street?" asked Molly. "I want to see what all those people are doing."

"And I want to take some pictures with my camera," said May.

So they quickly got out of the carriage and began climbing the long flight of steps. It was about noon, and some of the people seemed to be eating their midday meal.

One poor old man was sitting on a step eating some hard bread and olives. Near him were two barefooted boys who had just bought a plate heaping full of macaroni. A man stood in an open doorway cooking the macaroni over a queer little stove and selling it to the people.

The boys had no knives or forks to use, but fingers were much better. They lifted the long white strips of macaroni high above their heads, then they opened their mouths very wide, and down it slipped. They didn't bite it, they didn't chew it, they just sucked the long pieces down their throats as fast as they could. They seemed to be racing with each other to see who could swallow the most in the shortest time.

Molly and May watched the boys anxiously until the macaroni was all gone. Then how they laughed and clapped their hands! They thought it was the strangest dinner and the strangest game they had ever seen.

The boys thought it was a fine dinner. They were business boys. That morning they had sold more brushes and fans than usual, so they were celebrating by having some delicious macaroni for dinner.

These boys made their own brushes and fans, and went about the streets selling them. Of course Molly and May each bought one of the fans, for they wanted the boys to have another good dinner the next day.

As the little party walked on up the steps they saw many things that were strange and interesting. Little children were leaning out of the high windows, talking and laughing with other children in the houses across the way.

Women were hanging out their washing on ropes stretched from one window to another, and talked loudly with people who were on the steps below.

One woman stood on a narrow iron balcony in front of her window and lowered a basket by a long rope. When the basket reached the steps, a small boy ran to it and took out a covered bowl in which he found two big copper pennies.

The boy carried the pennies to a man near by, who was making hot snail soup over a small stove. The man filled the bowl with some of his delicious soup, and the boy put it carefully back into the basket. Then the woman drew it slowly up, up to her high balcony.

The small boy reached the balcony almost as quickly as the basket did, for he knew that some of that hot soup was for him, and he liked snail soup almost better than macaroni.

As Molly and May watched the preparations for dinner on the little balcony, May suddenly cried, "Look! Look! They have a big dog up there!"

"No, that is not a dog, it is a goat," said her father. "I suppose it lives up there with the family and gives them milk every day. That family must have more money than most of the people who live on this street. They eat snail soup for dinner, they have a balcony in front of their window, and they keep a goat."

"Perhaps the little boy's father owns one of these small shops and makes lots of money selling macaroni, or soup, or onions, or bread, or flowers, or roasted chestnuts," said May.

"Well, shall we buy our dinner here, or shall we go to the hotel for it?" asked their father. "Wouldn't you like some snail soup, or macaroni, or onions for dinner?"

"Oh, no, no!" cried both Molly and May. "We are hungry, but we don't want snail soup or onions."

So they hurried back to their carriage and were soon driving rapidly up the hill to a fine hotel, where they were to stay for several days.

Seeing Strange Sights