ight line for ten or fifteen miles, like a white
ribbon.

Sometimes Mr. George and the two boys descended from the carriage, and
walked for a while, in going up these hills; but generally they remained
in their seats and rode. Indeed the men who came with the extra horses
or oxen often rode themselves. When oxen were employed, the man used to
ride, sometimes sitting on the yoke between them, and facing backward,
so that he could watch them and see how they performed their work. He
kept them up to their work by means of a small whip, which he had in his
hand.

After reaching the top of the ascent, Vittorio would stop, and the man
would detach his oxen from the team. Vittorio would pay him for his
services, and then the man would come and hold out his hat to Mr.
George and Rollo for a _buono mano_ from them. Rollo always had it
ready.

The party stopped every day at noon for breakfast, as Vittorio called
it. The coffee, and eggs, and bread and butter, which they had early in
the morning, was not called _breakfast_; it was called simply _coffee_.
The _breakfast_, which came about noon, consisted of fried fish,
beefsteaks, or mutton chops, fried potatoes, all hot, and afterwards
oranges and figs. With this there was always what they called wine set
upon the table, which tasted like a weak mixture of sour cider and
water. Every thing, except the wine, was very good.

Mrs. Gray, however, always called this meal the dinner, and all the rest
of the party were very willing to have it called so; and when they
stopped at night, all that they required was tea and coffee, with bread
and butter.

The inns where the party stopped were very quaint and queer. They
looked, Josie said, precisely as he had imagined the inns to look which
he had read about in Don Quixote. The entrance was generally under an
arched passage way, where the horses and carriage could go in. From this
passage a flight of broad stone steps led up into the house. The lower
floor was usually occupied for stables, sheds, and other such purposes,
and the one above for kitchens and the like. Higher up came the good
rooms.

The apartment which was used by the party for their sitting and eating
room was usually a large hall, with a brick or stone floor, and a
vaulted ceiling above, painted in fresco. The walls of the room were
usually painted too. There was generally a small and very coarse carpet
under the table, and sometimes one before the fireplace. The doors