Near the column of Trajan was a large sunken space, in the middle of the square, with a railing around it. In the bottom of this sunken space was a pavement, which looked very old, and rising from it were rows of columns with the tops broken off. The old pavement was eight or ten feet below the level of the street.
"This must be some old ruin or other," said Rollo; "a temple perhaps."
"Only I do not see," said Charles, "why they built their temples down so low."
"But, Rollo," said Charles, "I think it is time for us to begin to try to find our way home. I don't see how you are going to find the way at all."
"If I only knew the name of the hotel, or even the name of the street," said Rollo, "I should know at once what to do."
"And now," said Rollo, "the first thing is to find somebody that can speak French or English, for us to inquire of."
"What good will that do?" asked Charles, "as long as we don't know what to ask them for?"
"True," said Rollo. "That's a real difficulty. I wish we just knew the name of the hotel. At any rate, we will walk along until we find a carriage, and I will be thinking what we had better do."
The boys walked along together. Charles kept silence, so as not to interrupt Rollo in his thinking.
"All I know," said Rollo, after a short pause, "is, that the long, straight street that we came through, is the Corso. I have heard of that street before. If we could only find our way to the Corso, I believe that I could follow it along, and at last find the mosaic shop, and so get back to our hotel."
"Or, we might get into a carriage," said Rollo, "and direct the coachman which way to drive by pointing."
"So we could," said Charles. "And I should like that, for I am tired of walking so much."
"Then we will get a carriage," said Rollo. "We will take the first one that we see. You shall get inside, and I will mount upon the box with the coachman, and show him which way to go."
"No," said Charles, "we will both get inside, for we can stand up there and point."
There are carriages to be found almost every where in the streets of Rome, especially in the neighborhood of the most interesting ruins. It was not long before Rollo and Charles came in sight of one. The coachman was looking toward them, and was cracking his whip to attract their attention.