Jack and Annie ran up to the front entrance of thevilla. Jack pushed the door open.
"Go in. Hurry," said Annie.
They slipped into the main hall.
"Hello!" Annie called.
There was no answer. The place seemed empty.
The main hall had a large opening in the ceiling.
Below it was a small stone pool filled with water.
Jack looked at it carefully.
"Oh, I bet rain comes through the hole," said Jack.
"Then it lands in that pool so they can use it for theirwater."He started to take out his notebook to make a note.
"There's no time, Jack!" said Annie. "We have tolook in all the rooms for books!"10"Okay, okay, calm down," said Jack. He put awayhis notebook and followed Annie.
"Books? Books?" she said, peering into a room offthe hall. She moved to the next room. "Books?
Books?" Then she moved on to the next.
Jack trailed behind her. Even though she hadalready checked the rooms, he took a quick peek ineach of them. He wanted to see what a house inRoman times looked like. He'd write notes later.
The first two rooms had wooden beds. The wallshad pictures painted on them. The floors werecovered with tiny pieces of colored stoneThe third room had a low table with silver disheson it. Three sloping couches were placed around thetable. The couches were covered with pillows.
"This must be the dining room," said Jack. "Peoplefrom Roman times lay down on couches while theyate. Did you know that?"He looked around for Annie. Where was she?
"Jack! Come here!" Annie called.
Jack followed her voice. She was in a garden off thedining room. It had a stone patio, palm trees, andgrape vines. In the middle was a pond with amermaid fountain.
Goldfish swam in the water.
"Look, there's another room!" said Annie. Shemoved to the door of a room off the garden .
She opened the door and peeked insideJack looked with her. Along the walls of the roomwere long shelves with rolls of paper on them"Rats!" said Annie. "No books." She closed the door.
"No books in this whole villa. Let's get out of here.""Just a minute," said Jack. "I have an idea."He pulled out his book on Roman times. He found asection called WRITING. He read:
Romans used pens made of small reeds. Their inkcame partly from the black ink of octopuses. Theywrote their "hooks" on scrolls of papyrus (puh-PI-rus)paper.
"Aha!" said Jack. "That's a library of scrolls! I betour ancient lost story is in there!" |