ighted, the children heard somebody coming
up these stairs. It was a party of visitors that had been down, and were
now coming up. There were eight or ten of them, and the appearance of
them as they came up, following each other in a long line, each carrying
his candle in his hand, produced a very strange and picturesque effect.

The guide who came up at the head of them exchanged a few words with
Philippe in Italian, and then Philippe went on, leading his own party
down the stairs. The stairs were wide, so that there was abundant room
for the two parties to pass each other.

After going down some way, and making one or two turnings, suddenly a
light began to appear. It was a light like the light of day. It grew
brighter and brighter, until at length Mr. George and Rollo, who were at
the head of the party, after Philippe, came out under a large circular
opening cut in the rock, through which they could look up to the open
air, and to the sky.

"This is the well," said Philippe; "the well that they were digging when
they first came upon the ruins."

The sides of the well were of solid lava, smooth and hard, just as they
had been left by the workmen in digging down.

The light which came down through the well shone upon a sort of
platform, which, as well as the walls around it, was covered with moss
and other green plants, which had been induced to vegetate there by the
rain and the sunlight that had come down through the well. Mrs. Gray
gathered some of these plants, and put them into her book.

The party then went on down another flight of steps, which led into a
series of dark, vaulted chambers, all hewn out of the rock. By holding
the candles up to the sides of these chambers, the party could see here
and there the remains of old arches, columns, and walls, which had been
buried up in the lava, but were now partially disinterred.

These remains were part of an ancient theatre; and after passing through
several gloomy passages, the party came to a large chamber, where the
whole front of the stage had been brought to view. Before it, in a
range, were the seats for the musicians. On each side there was a
massive pedestal. The guide said that there were two bronze statues on
these pedestals when the place was first excavated, but that they had
been taken away, and were now deposited in the museum at Naples.

"We shall see them there, I suppose," said Mr. George, "when we go to
visit the museum."

"I shall take g