CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SIX
“GIDDY-UP!” shouted the drivers as the gangplank clattered onto the quay. And off they scooted, bashing their way through the crowded port.
Julius was amazed at the road – it was so straight and long!
“Aren’t the Roman roads fantastic?” remarked Cornelius. “There’re no bumpy twists and turns to churn your stomach with these chaps.”
As they zipped along, Julius barely had time to take in all the grand, shiny buildings lining the road. Instead of the drab scrubland he was so used to, here was a world of magnificent trees and luscious grass.
“After I’ve watched this stupid circus, I’m going to eat like a king!” said Julius, sticking his tongue out of the cage to lick the grass as it flew by.
The hills and fields were littered with stone trunks, with people standing on them. Julius waved at a few of them, but none waved back.
How rude! he thought.
Dotted everywhere were other stone trees holding up the roofs of houses and even some of the roads.
“The Romans are a clever lot,” exclaimed Cornelius. “That road on trees is a river in the air, which carries water to the city. It’s called an aqueduct!”
“Wow. An Aqua Duck…” whispered Julius in awe.
“And all those stone trees,” continued Cornelius, “are columns for holding up heavy buildings!”
Half an hour passed and, as Julius tried to take it all in, suddenly a huge wall with a great doorway loomed up in front of them.
Dead Bird Hat Man dashed ahead on his horse. “Come on! What’s the hold-up?” he shouted. “Shift these carts! Emperor Hadrian himself is waiting! We can’t be late!”
A soldier guarding the archway stood in front of him, blocking his way. “You can’t bring these carts through here.”
“WHAT?! WHY NOT?” screamed Dead Bird Hat Man.
“You know the rules, Centurion. No carts through the city after sunrise. Especially on a Saturday. Nothing to stop you walking the animals through the street, though…”
Dead Bird Hat Man paused for just a moment. “Ridiculous idea,” he barked. Then he turned to his men. “Let’s do it! Right, you lot! Grab these animals – COME ON! CHOP CHOP!”
“STOP YER MOANING! GET THEM ANIMALS OUT OF THE CARTS. I WILL NOT BE LATE FOR THE EMPEROR!”
As Julius was hustled through the crowds of Rome – on the shoulders of a hairy brute in a toga – it really dawned on him how far from home he was. The watering hole seemed like a long-distant dream.
“’Ere, Cornelius,” he called out. “Are you sure this circus is going to be fun? Some of the things that lion was saying don’t exactly make it sound that way.”
“Trust me!” Cornelius shouted back. “That juggling monkey is a legend round our parts!”
Julius turned to the lion, who was being carried rather tentatively by a petrified cart-driver. “See, lion, you’re talking COBBLERS! How can a jolly circus not be fun, eh? You need to lighten up!”
“No, Debra, I will NOT lighten up!” roared the lion, before sinking his teeth into the driver carrying him.
The cart-driver dropped the lion like a hot potato and clutched his sore bottom.
And with that, the lion disappeared into the panicking crowd.
“STOP THAT LION!” screamed Dead Bird Hat Man. But the beast was long gone.
Over the hubbub of the crowded streets, a huge roar went up and what sounded like the noise of two hundred elephants parping.
“Ooh! That’s exciting!” said Cornelius. “That’ll be the circus – we must be getting nearer!”
“Forget that!” said Julius, who was really starting to worry now. “What was that lion going on about? Maybe we should make a run for it, too…”
“Listen,” whispered Cornelius, getting all serious. “I’ve heard about certain, shall we say unpleasant, things that go on in Rome, but they only involve lions and other nasty beasties. We’ll be all right.”
Julius wasn’t convinced. That lion seemed to know something the rest of them didn’t. But before he could say anything, a jaw-dropping vision towered up in front of him and took his breath away. “Wow,” he whispered.