"I'm awful glad to see all of you! It's ben dreadful lonesome here
without the folks, and nothin' to do to keep one busy."
"You must not suppose, Mary," replied Mrs. Le Bras, "that you will have
all the work to do for such a company. Katie will be here to-night: she
could not get away this morning very well."
The interior of the cottage was prettily furnished with straw mattings,
wicker chairs, light curtains, and other furnishings in style
appropriate for a summer residence: nothing was lacking to make it as
convenient and comfortable as possible. Mrs. Le Bras had her trunks
carried to the chamber facing the water, and told Pierre and the
children that they could make a selection of the other chambers to suit
themselves, if the boys and Sue came to no disagreement in doing so.
Johnny said he thought Felix ought to choose first, because it was his
father's cottage; but Felix insisted that Pierre should have the first
choice. Pierre said he should like the chamber looking up the road, as
that direction, being free from houses, was where he should be most
likely to see game. Since that was the most retired room, Felix seemed
to think it was the worst choice that could be made; but Pierre said he
was perfectly satisfied.
"Felix must choose next," said Johnny, "because he is the next oldest."
"Then, I'll take the room I had last summer, which looks down the beach.
To be sure, you can't see down the beach only a little way, on account
of the grove: but there's a real nice girl lives in the cottage there;
and when she could play with me, she used to hang a blue ribbon out of
that window in the corner, which is the only one you can see through the
trees. I sha'n't want to play with her this year, because I have other
company; but I was glad enough to, last year, for there wasn't a boy or
another girl in any of the other cottages around here.--And now it's
your turn, Johnny."
"I'll take the corner room next to yours, then, which has one window
toward the woods, and two towards the grounds back of the house, where
there is such a fine huckleberry pasture in view, with rocks and
juniper-trees. Now for you, Sue."
"I think I'll take the little room that opens out of mamma's, because
that looks towards the sea too; and although it isn't as big as your
rooms, if it gets too little for me any time, I can go right through
into mamma's big room. There is a real cunning balcony out of the
little room, too, and I can sit out there ever so much."
"Yes," said Felix: "there is a canopy there; and, if you draw it up, it
will make it cool and shady in the balcony any time."
"There is the north-west corner room left for company," said Johnny.
"But where will Katie sleep?" asked Sue.
"There are two splendid rooms up the next flight, a good deal like your
sky-room at home," replied Felix: "Oliver and his wife have one of them,
and Katie can have the other. Come up, and I'll show it to you."
The verdict was that Katie's room was very pleasant indeed, and had the
best landward view of any; since you could see through and over the
grove, and down the beach from the east window, and far beyond the
huckleberry pasture, to a country road in the distance, from the north
windows. It had a west window also, looking much farther west than
Pierre's room; so that, if he had not already chosen, he thought he
should have preferred that room. The boys said, however, that he must
not change; for they wanted him on the same floor with themselves. By
the time the selection was made, Mary announced dinner and; they went
down into the cool dining-room, which looked very inviting, with its
neatly set table.
Mr. Le Bras was seated before a platter of roast lamb, with a smoking
dish of potatoes by its side; while bread, green peas, and other
accompaniments were interspersed at suitable intervals.
"Mrs. Oliver has treated us very handsomely," said Mr. Le Bras;
"although we wrote that she must not put herself out, since we could
very well wait till Kate arrived, and I had a chance to go marketing."
"Where shall I go to hire a sail-boat, Felix?" inquired Mr. Le Bras when
dinner was over.
"Hire a boat? Why, we've got two boats--a row-boat and a sail-boat--of
our own!"
"I remember, now, hearing you say so; but as I saw no boat around here,
I had forgotten about it. Where are the boats kept?"
"They are down at the pier usually, when they are in use. I'll go and
ask Oliver about them."
Oliver soon came in with Felix, and stated that the boats were at the
pier which they had noticed just this side of the row of cottages; they
had been in the keeping of a man in the village who owned a boat-house,
and had not been taken out until Oliver heard Mr. Le Bras was coming;
but, the day before, he had told the man to bring them to the pier, and
he presumed they would be found there, although he had forgotten to
notice as they came past. Felix's father was intending to have a little
wharf built out in front of the cottage, but he had not been able to
attend to it yet.
"But the beach comes to an end for a while, a little above here,"
continued Oliver; "and you can run a boat up there, and land by the
rocks, when you don't want to go down as far as the pier; but the pier
is a handier place to get out and in, if you've got ladies along."
Sue was very anxious then to see the pony and dog-cart which Felix said
she could use. Oliver told her he would harness the pony by and by, so
that she could drive along the beach.
"But it won't be half so nice to go alone, and the boys don't care any
thing about riding in a dog-cart."
"I shouldn't at all wonder," said Mary, who was standing in the
kitchen-door, "if Miss Julia, the young lady who lives in the next
cottage, would like to ride with you: she has asked to borrow the
dog-cart several times herself, when she's had young friends here, and
she seems to like it very much. Mr. Le Bras told her she could take it
any time she wanted it."
"I wish some one would ask her," said Sue. "Won't you, Felix?"
"Yes: if you and Johnny will come and sit in the front piazza, I'll go
and ask her to come over here and get acquainted."
Accordingly, Johnny and Sue sat down in the veranda while Felix ran off
towards the cottage. Pierre was just going up the road with his gun.
"Don't you want to get back in time for a sail about four?" asked Mr. Le
Bras. "Oliver, who, they say, is a good hand with a boat, is going to
take Mrs. Le Bras and myself out about that time, and we should like to
have you along."
"Which way shall you go?" inquired Pierre, stopping.
"We thought we would go up toward the cottages above here. Oliver tells
me there is a good landing there; and, as I have a little business with
a gentleman who lives in one of the cottages, I thought I would make him
a call."
"I am going up that way," replied Pierre; "and I will be around about
the time you arrive, and come back with you, if you are willing."
"Certainly," replied Mr. Le Bras, who was standing in the front-door:
"we will be on the lookout for you."
Presently Felix came back, accompanied by a pleasant-looking girl of
about Johnny's age: she had golden-brown wavy hair, and eyes that looked
quite blue before she came into the shade of the piazza, after which
they appeared to be of a grayish color, with a slight suspicion of brown
in them; they were very bright eyes, that seemed to take in every thing
at a glance.
"This is my cousin Johnny, Julia, and this is Sue," said Felix, as if he
thought a very slight introduction indeed would answer for a little girl
like Sue. But Sue pieced out her introduction by saying, "I'm Johnny's
sister: but I sha'n't tell that I'm Felix's cousin, because he wouldn't
say so himself; and I don't much care, because I've got a good many
relations without him."
Julia laughed heartily at this, and Felix looked a little nonplussed.
"I'm real glad there are to be so many young folks here this season,"
said Julia: "there wasn't any one here last summer, except Felix,
without I went ever so far to see them. It wasn't pleasant at all: I
was just as homesick as I could be. But now I think we can have very
nice times, unless,"--and she looked questioningly at Johnny,--"unless
Johnny is as great a tease as Felix is."
"Johnny is not a bit of a tease," said Sue: "I don't know as he ever
tried to tease me in his life; though I tease him once in a great while,
when I have what he calls one of my 'high times.'"
"He must be a new kind of a boy if he don't tease," returned Julia:
"every boy I ever knew liked to tease, but Felix is the very worst boy
to plague any one I ever saw."
Felix laughed, and made up a comic face.
"But you liked to play with him last year, or you wouldn't have hung the
blue ribbon out of the window," replied Sue.
"Now, you go and tell every thing! that's just like you!" exclaimed
Felix, with a look of vexation.
"He didn't see the blue ribbon very often," replied Julia, laughing.
"After he had teased me real hard, I wouldn't play with him for ever so
long, and that happened pretty often. I guess he wouldn't have got on
very well if it hadn't been for a boy who came up from one of the
cottages."
"I wonder if Jack is here this year?" said Felix.
"Yes: I saw him one day down by his cottage, firing pebble-stones at a
little kitten he had thrown into the water, to keep her from coming
ashore. I stopped the carriage, and told him he ought to be ashamed of
himself. Then he let the kitten come ashore; and I got out, and took up
the poor, shivering little thing, and brought it home. I saw him a
while after, and he accused me of stealing his kitten; but I did not pay
any attention to him: I didn't believe a boy had any right to a kitten
he wanted to keep just for the sake of treating it cruelly. It's a
beautiful little tortoise shell; and he'll never get it again, if I can
help it!"
They had all been talking so fast that Johnny, who was always careful
not to interrupt, and who never forced himself into notice, had not said
a word, except to bow, and say "Good-morning," when he was introduced.
"Why don't you say something, Johnny?" whispered Sue in his ear, as
Felix went on talking about Jack, saying he was a pretty good fellow to
have a gay time with, and he thought he should look him up before long.
"I haven't had a good chance," Johnny whispered back: "I'm waiting for
Felix to get through."
"He never will get through," returned Sue: "when he makes a little
pause, you just say something as quick as ever you can."
"What if I should set Clyde on the kitten?" said Felix to Julia.
"You'd better not, young man: I'll never forgive you if you do!"
"Just let me get a sight of her, that's all," returned Felix, running
off in the direction of the cottage in which Julia lived, looking back,
and laughing roguishly as he ran. "Come, Clyde!" he called back; and
Clyde, who was lying in the piazza, jumped up and followed him.
"I sha'n't please him by running after him," said Julia: "but if he does
set Clyde on the kitten, I've a mind not to have any thing to do with
him all summer; he is one of the most annoying boys I ever saw; I only
came over because I wanted to get acquainted with the rest of you."
"Felix has been pretty good at our house this season," replied Johnny,
"and I don't believe he will tease you this year if father finds it out;
for father don't believe in teasing, and he has charge of Felix this
summer."
"Then, you don't tease!" returned Julia, with a pleased look. "I am so
glad! I think I can have some nice times with you and your sister."
Sue then asked Julia if she would go to ride in the dog-cart with her.
"Yes, indeed! I should like to go very much, any time."
Felix soon came back, saying he could not find the kitten this time, but
he should be on the lookout for it.
"I should like to stay longer, if Felix had not begun to tease," said
Julia; "but since he has, I think I will go home:" and she rose, and
began to go down the steps.
"I wish you wouldn't go yet: I haven't more than half got acquainted,"
said Sue.
"I'll go home with you, and see if I can find the kitten," remarked
Felix, beginning to walk down the steps also, and laughing.
"No, you won't!" replied Julia, sitting down on the steps. "I declare,
Felix Le Bras, I won't come over here another time, if you are going to
act like this!"
It happened that Mr. Le Bras, who had been sitting in a balcony over the
piazza, had heard most of the conversation between the children. He now
appeared at the door, and said, "Is this the young lady who lives near
us?"
"Yes," replied Johnny: "she came to make us a call."
"And Felix is teasing her," said Sue.
"How is that, Felix?" asked Mr. Le Bras, in a tone of feigned surprise.
"I hope you would not be so ungentlemanly, and towards a visitor too!"
"Oh! I'm only joking with her a little," returned Felix.
"Is the joke amusing to you or to her?"
"Why, to me."
"And it is very annoying to me," said Julia.
Mr. Le Bras came out, sat down in a chair on the piazza, and began to
talk with Julia. She seemed much pleased, and conversed with him very
prettily.
"I want you to come in now, Julia, and see Mrs. Le Bras," he said, after
they had conversed for about ten minutes, "so that we shall all be
acquainted with you." He then took Julia up into the balcony where Mrs.
Le Bras was sitting.
"I think you've been a good deal of a tell-tale this morning, Sue," said
Felix, looking quite cross.
"I haven't told any thing but the truth," replied Sue, quite decidedly.
"But you know, Sue," said Johnny, "that you shouldn't tell any thing any
one would not like to have told, unless there is some very necessary
reason."
"I didn't think when I told about the blue ribbon," replied Sue: "and I
told papa, because I thought Felix ought not to tease Julia; but I won't
tell any more, unless Felix is very troublesome indeed."
"All the fun there is in being with girls is to tease them: every one
knows that," replied Felix. "I don't tease you, Sue, because you are
not as old as I am; but it's all right to tease Julia, and she don't
care half as much as she pretends."
"But you wouldn't really set Clyde on her kitten, would you?" asked
Johnny.
"Why, of course I would! What harm would it do? It would only scare
the kitten a little, and make her bristle up her tail, and run up a
tree."
"How would you like to have a great, savage-looking animal run after
you?" replied Johnny.
"Perhaps I shouldn't like it. But what has that to do with it?"
"The kitten wouldn't like it, either," said Sue.
This putting himself in the place of a kitten, imagining her terrors,
and pitying them, was an entirely new idea to Felix; but he was not
willing to admit that he saw any force to the argument. "Oh! girls have
queer notions," he said, "and Johnny's just like them. For my part, I'm
going to do as other boys do: I ain't going to be a girl-boy. I shall
tease Julia some; and if Sue wants to keep on being a tell-tale, she
can."
Julia then came running down-stairs.
"I've had a splendid visit," she said, "and I'm going home to tell mamma
about it. Now, don't you follow me, Felix!"
She ran down the steps and towards home like a flash. Possibly it might
have been Felix's intention to follow her with Clyde; but as his uncle
appeared at the door just after Julia left, he sat still on the steps.
"That is a nice, bright girl," said Mr. Le Bras: "you are very lucky to
have such a neighbor, children."
Mr. Le Bras then returned to the balcony, and Sue accompanied him.
Felix whistled to Clyde, and went to the barn to see Oliver. But Johnny
continued sitting in the piazza for some time, looking at the light
waves that curled up over the beach in front of the cottage, and gazing
off at the blue expanse, here and there dotted with a white sail. He
was interested, too, in the flight of the sea-gulls, of which a great
many were darting about over the water. For once, when alone, he forgot
to wish for a book to read.
*CHAPTER IX.*
*LOST.*
They all started out, about four o'clock, on pleasure excursions, that
first day of their arrival at the cottage. Mr. and Mrs. Le Bras walked
down to the pier, and embarked in the sail-boat with Oliver. Sue and
Julia went riding in the dog-cart, first going to the pier to see the
party set sail, and then riding on down the beach to the village. Felix
and Johnny, having found their bicycles at the baggage-house, near the
depot-building, went up the beach. As they came through the village,
they met Julia and Sue, who were driving leisurely about the streets.
"Don't you wish you could ride on a bicycle, Julia?" said Felix, as he
shot past at his best pace.
"No," called back Julia, "not with you!"
Johnny, who came after at a slower rate, lifted his hat politely,
saying, "I hope you will have a very pleasant ride."
"I like your brother ever so much," said Julia to Sue. "I think he is
very manly and polite."
"Felix thinks he is the manliest," replied Sue.
"I don't," replied Julia, with emphasis.
As the boys passed the cottage, Clyde, who had been commanded to stay at
home by Felix, ran towards them, barking loudly.
"You can come on now, Clyde," said Felix; and the dog bounded happily
after them up the road.
"It will be fun to go on up this way," remarked Felix; "because I've
never been any farther than the cottages, where the shell road ends.
We'll have to go across through a kind of cart-track after we get there,
in order to cross over to the regular country road, which is a good deal
back from the water. You can see the road when we get to the cottages,
and it leads to the Point, where they blast rocks. They're to work there
all the time, Oliver says. I didn't explore this region much last year,
because I hadn't a bicycle; as for a pony-cart, it isn't worth any thing
for exploring; but if you are on a bicycle, you can go over stone walls,
if you want to, and then set your wheel up again and go on."
For the whole length of the shell road, the white-sanded beach was just
at their left, with waves dashing gently in and retreating. The expanse
of water beyond extended a long distance, and was bounded by a blue,
misty strip of land that looked almost like a dark cloud lying along the
horizon. There were many sail-boats visible, and now and then a yacht,
a schooner, or a steamboat.
"We can see no end of yachts by going down to the Harbor," said Felix.
"Where is the Harbor?"
"Oh! they generally take the cars, and go away down below the village,
you know: but we could go on our bicycles well enough; it isn't so very
far. If you go down to the town, you can see all sorts of vessels:
sometimes there's a whale-ship in. And there are two or three big
steamboats that go from there. There are propellers and tugs and barges
and schooners, and lots of excursion steamers, and a school-ship, and
some of the cunningest little steamers, not much bigger than a real big
sail-boat, which run between the Harbor and the town; they only charge
you ten cents each way; it's a fine sail, too, past the fort and up the
river."
"I should like to go to the town some day," said Johnny, who was quite
captivated with this description, as he had never had an opportunity to
see much shipping, except from a distance.
"We can go down there most any time: there are some things I want to
buy, and they have all kinds of shops there."
So the boys talked, on one subject and another, as they rode up the
shell road; and at length they reached the cottages, just beyond which
the road ended.
"Let's get off here, and wait until father and mother come up," said
Johnny; for Felix had wheeled around, as if to go back a distance, after
they had reached the end of the road, which terminated very abruptly.
"I'm going back to the cart-path," replied Felix. "Didn't you see it as
we came by?"
"Yes: I noticed some tracks of wheels going across a pasture."
"That's it. I guess we sha'n't have any trouble getting along through
it to the road. If we do, we can get off and walk across. Let's just go
and try it a way, and then we can come back and wait."
Accordingly, the boys rode back to the cart-path, which was a little
distance below the cottages. As it had been considerably travelled,
they found a very good road for their bicycles in the middle of the
track, which had been worn by the feet of the horses and oxen.
"We may have to get off in that rocky place," said Johnny; "but I think
we can get along very well. How far is it to the road?"'
"Oliver said it is a short half-mile."
As they were about to turn back from the lane, after their exploration,
they observed a sail-boat coming toward the shore.
"There they are!" said Felix. "I saw that sail-boat as we were coming
along; but it was so far off, I couldn't be sure they were in it, as
there were so many boats around."
The boys rode back to a little wharf between the two cottages, and
alighted. There was a row of bathing-houses back on the beach at one
side of the wharf, against an end of which they leaned their bicycles.
They then went and sat down on the wharf, with their feet hanging over
the side. The sail-boat was still some distance off.
"What enormous cottages these are!" remarked Johnny: "there must be
large families in them, to need so much room."
"No: that largest one has only two folks in it besides the servants,--a
man and his wife,--unless they have company; and there are only four
persons in the other family,--a man and his wife and two grown-up
daughters. But the men who own the houses are millionnaires, and my
father says they build big houses to use up some of their money: they
don't know what else to do with it."
"I should feel lonely in such a great house, unless it had a good many
folks in it," replied Johnny. "I think I should look up some folks to
enjoy it with me, or else I should think of some other use for my
money."
"I would build a great, magnificent ship, and sail around the world in
it," said Felix.
"That wouldn't be bad; only I don't see any use in having the ship so
large, unless you wanted to take a great many friends with you."
"So here are the bicyclers!" said a voice behind them; and turning
quickly, they saw Pierre just crossing the road.
"What luck?" asked Johnny.
"I have merely a brace of wild-ducks for to-morrow's dinner. After I
had secured them, I did not look any farther for game: I have been
talking with the men over at the Point."
"That is where we are going," replied Felix; "but we thought we would
wait until the boat got in. You're going back in the boat, aren't you?"
"Yes: I think so. I have walked about enough for one time."
Pierre sat down by the boys, and showed them the ducks, which he had
shot down by the Point.
After the boat landed, Mr. Le Bras went up to the larger of the
cottages.
The gentleman who lived in the cottage was one of Mr. Le Bras' clients.
Mrs. Le Bras said Oliver could take the boys for a little sail, if they
wished; so they and Pierre got on board, and sailed about until Mr. Le
Bras came out of the cottage.
"Did you have a nice time?" asked Johnny, as his father joined them at
the wharf.
"I had a pleasant call; but I should be very lonely if I lived in that
great house, with no young persons around."
"Yes," said Mrs. Le Bras: "put some children in there, and as many more
grown folks to look out for them, and it would be quite a fine place."
It appeared the gentleman was off in his yacht, and no one was at home
but his wife: she stood in the piazza to see them off, and bowed
politely. She was a somewhat sober-looking lady. Mr. Le Bras said she
was very kind and pleasant, and he was glad to have made her
acquaintance. Mr. Le Bras, having promised her husband, Mr.
Frothingham, that he would let him know when he arrived at the beach,
had concluded to call and inform him in person. Mr. Frothingham was
anxious that Mr. Le Bras should take a trip with him in his yacht; but
Mr. Le Bras had decided that he should not be able to go at present,
since he wished to see his family fully domesticated at the cottage
first. Mrs. Frothingham said she and her husband intended to come down
to call upon their new neighbors as soon as possible.
"So you are going to the Point, boys?" said Mr. Le Bras, when he and his
wife and Pierre were seated in the boat, and Oliver was preparing to put
off from the wharf.
"Yes, sir," replied Felix: "we want to see them blast rocks."
"I don't know about that," said Mrs. Le Bras, looking rather anxious.
"That is all right," replied Mr. Le Bras. "Johnny knows enough about
gunpowder not to go into any danger, and the men will look out for them
too. Felix, you'll be careful, won't you? Don't go anywhere unless
Johnny goes with you."
"All right," said Felix.
Mrs. Le Bras said no more, although the shade of anxiety had not wholly
vanished from her face.
After the boat had put off, the boys mounted their bicycles, and rode
down to the cart-track. They were able to proceed for some distance
without dismounting; but finally, coming to a place where there were a
good many stones, they alighted, and walked some distance, wheeling
their bicycles by their sides. At length the path became smooth again;
and they resumed their wheels, which they were able to keep for the rest
of the distance to the road. The street was level and quite broad, and
although not smooth, like the shell road, was sufficiently so for
comfortable wheeling.
"We don't have to turn into any other road to get to the Point, do we?"
said Johnny.
"No: we keep right on, for about two miles."
There were frequent farmhouses on the road; and just before they reached
the Point, they came to a small village.
"I shouldn't wonder if the men who work in the quarry live here,"
remarked Johnny.
"Yes: see what good stone steps there are at the doors."
"It's very nice granite too. Notice what an even grain. I heard father
and Pierre talking about it; and they said this stone is sent to New
York and Philadelphia for very fine buildings, and that nice monuments
are made of it."
Presently the water appeared before them, but as yet no quarry, only
green fields ending abruptly against the blue of the water. But after
proceeding a very little farther, they found themselves overlooking a
very different scene. They were at the top of a gradual incline to the
water's brink, covered over with stone ledges broken into quarries,
among which a large number of men were working busily. Near the water,
the rock was worn by the waves into very fantastic shapes; and, as there
was a steep ascent from the shore, it formed natural steps and terraces
in many places.
"Let's go down there by the water," said Felix: "it's always great fun
walking about among such holes and windings in the rocks, where the
waves keep rolling up to catch you. It's as good as a game of tag."
"Yes: I would like to go down there presently. I never saw rocks so much
worn by water as they are. It has taken Nature a good many hundred
years to do all that chiselling, but she's made handsomer work of it
than these men have. There's going to be a blast now. See those men
running this way. Let's go and find what luck they've had, when it's
over."
The boys got off of their bicycles, and, a moment after, there was a
loud report. The men then went back to the place where the explosion
had taken place, and the boys followed them. They found the stone very
evenly split.
"This granite don't give you much trouble about splitting evenly," said
Johnny to the men.
"If it did, we shouldn't be at work here, year after year."
"I didn't know there was any difference in granite," said Felix.
"There's just as much difference in granite as there is in boys,"
replied the other man, winking at his companion: "you know there's good
boys and bad boys, dull boys and smart boys, and boys all the way
between."
"I know of a granite quarry," remarked Johnny, "where they don't get out
any stone better than is used for making the cellars and underpinnings
of common houses, and for walls and rough buildings."
"There's plenty of that kind of stone for miles around," replied one of
the men: "the stone just here at the Point is all there is that's worth
much of any thing, all along this part of the State."
"I'd like to know how that happened," said Johnny; "but perhaps even a
geologist couldn't tell, for sure."
"What's the use of knowin'?" returned the man: "the rock's here, and
that's all there is to it."
"Let's go down by the water now," said Felix.
"Very well," replied Johnny: "only we mustn't stay too long, because
father told us to be back before dark. What time is it by your watch?"
It happened that Felix had not wound his watch at the proper time; so
when he took it out to look at it, he saw it had stopped. "It is a
quarter-past five," he replied, beginning to wind the watch.
"Then, it is a good deal earlier then I supposed: I thought it must be
pretty near six. We came over the road faster than I thought, or else
the time at the wharf seemed longer than it was: I'll go down a little
while, then."
After they had clambered among the ragged and tortuous rocks, covered
with sea-mosses and mussels, dodging the inrunning waves merrily for
about fifteen minutes, Johnny said it was time to go.
"But this is great fun," replied Felix. "Let's go down by that long
gully."
"No: we shall be late home. Besides, we can come here earlier, almost
any day, and stay as long as we please."
"Anyhow, let's sit down here a minute, and watch those wild-ducks by the
shore: see how splendidly they swim."
"Yes. I think Pierre must have shot at them in the water. I'll sit
down just a minute."
At the end of a minute, Johnny was up and on his way to the place where
he had left his bicycle. Felix followed slowly, calling him
"Grandfather Prim" for being so particular about getting home early.
"I say, Johnny, there aren't any pickpockets or kidnappers about here!
What's the matter if we don't get home till after dark? It's going to
be bright moonlight to-night."
Johnny made no reply, but walked on, and regained his bicycle.
"Are you going home with me?" he said, as Felix sat down on a block of
granite, still laughing, and trying to tease him.
"Oh! I an't in any hurry, and it wouldn't take me long to overtake you
if you were half way home. Besides, Oliver told me of a nearer way, and
so I can cut across and get home before you."
"If there is a nearer way, we had better take it; for don't you see it
is clouding up? I don't believe we shall have any moonlight to-night."
As he said this, Johnny mounted his bicycle.
Felix now noticed, for the first time, that it was growing suddenly
darker, and that a heavy cloud was rising from the waterside. He did
not care about going home in total darkness and a rain-storm, with the
wind blowing from the ocean: he had seen enough such storms the year
before, to know what they meant.
"You saw that other road we passed, just the other side of the
quarrymen's houses?" he said, stepping upon his bicycle.
"Yes, I noticed it. But come on: we can be talking while we ride, and
there is no time to lose."
The quarrymen were now beginning to leave work.
"I don't understand why the men are leaving work," continued Johnny: "it
isn't six o'clock, and it won't rain right off."
One of the men was just passing him; and Johnny said, "Do you always
stop working before six o'clock?"
"It's after six," replied the man. "If you live far off, you'd better
make haste; for there's a hard storm coming up."
"We are staying in a cottage down the shell road," said Johnny. "We
came up the shell road, and then crossed over to the other road by a
cart-path. Can you tell us of a nearer way home?"
"Yes: keep on this road till you come to the road that turns off, and
then keep on that till you get home."
"It's just as I told you," said Felix, going rapidly ahead of Johnny.
"Oliver told me all about it. It's that road we saw as we came along."
By this time Johnny was ahead of the man, who had stopped to speak with
another of the quarrymen. He hurried on, and overtook Felix. "I don't
understand," he said, "why our road turns to the left from this road,
when we are going to the cottages on the right."
"It doesn't go much to the left; and Oliver said it is a slant road that
turns and comes right out on the shell road, just this side of the lower
cottages."
The boys now rode at their best pace, Felix keeping so far ahead of
Johnny that he was some distance upon the other road when Johnny reached
the turn, and quite out of sight; for the road made a sharp angle at
this point, and the space between was filled with trees and underbrush.
Johnny hastened as much as possible, and soon came in sight of Felix,
who was going slower, now that he was sure Johnny had followed around
the turn; for he had been rather afraid he would go back on the old road
rather than trust to his guidance, even though he had quoted Oliver's
advice.
"I hope you're all right about the road," called out Johnny; "but, you
see, your watch was wrong; and this road slants in the wrong direction,
unless it turns and crosses the other one somewhere.
"You'll find it will turn before long," replied Felix: "yes, here it
turns now!"
It was true: it did turn very slightly to the right at a point just
ahead, while another road branched off of it to the left. This was
enough to quiet Johnny's fears, and they proceeded rapidly on their way,
Felix accommodating his pace to Johnny's for the sake of the company;
for it was now quite dusky on account of the clouds, and the wind was
beginning to blow hard.
The woods, which had been quite thin at their right when they entered
the road, soon became thicker, and presently there were woods upon each
side: they were passing through a strip of forest. It was so dark here
that they could not see distinctly, and were obliged to ride slowly for
fear of getting out of the road, or coming across some obstacle in their
track.
"If father and mother would not be so frightened, we had better go back
to the village at the quarry, and stay till the storm is over, or until
morning," said Johnny anxiously, after they had proceeded some distance
through the woods.
"I an't going back through these woods," replied Felix, "not if I once
get out of them; and don't you see that kind of opening ahead?"
Johnny had been looking down to see, if possible, where he was riding;
but now, glancing forward, he saw a lightish spot in the distance at the
left.
"If that is the opening in the road, this road don't lead anywhere near
home," replied Johnny; "but I guess it must be, for I think I can see
that the road turns around just ahead of us. Don't you see how thick
and dark it is, right ahead, like thick woods?"
"Yes, I noticed that; and that's what made me think the light spot you
see over there through the trees was where the road comes out of the
woods. We might just as well go out there, and ask to stop at some
farmhouse, as to try to go back to the village through the woods."
"I don't see what makes that place look so light," said Johnny: "I
shouldn't suppose that just the difference between the woods and outside
would make it as light, unless it has cleared off; and if it has, I
should think we could see some of the light here in the woods."
"We'll find out pretty soon: here we are at the turn, now."
As they passed on around the turn, and beyond, it became much lighter:
they could see their way with tolerable distinctness. As they
approached the bright spot, which was now plainly the end of the woods,
the light increased.
"The sun is certainly shining," remarked Felix, "and so we can get home
some way: though I don't intend to go through these woods again."
When they came out of the woods, they found themselves facing a meadow,
with the view just beyond obstructed by a thick fog. The sky was dark
with heavy clouds; and the road they were on led, at the left, directly
down upon the beach, upon which the surf was rolling heavily. Just
outside the woods, the road continued to the right, at nearly right
angles with that upon which they had been travelling. Close by the
water, and almost within reach of the boiling surf, was the lighthouse,
which explained the mystery of the bright spot which had so puzzled
Johnny. The wind here was blowing a gale. It was no longer possible
for them to guide their wheels. They dismounted, and stood shivering in
their light garments before the gale.
"It seems to me that if we take this road at the right, it might lead us
home," said Johnny.
"You don't get me trying any more roads, until I am sure," returned
Felix: "I don't see how Oliver came to get us into such a fix. Let's go
over to the lighthouse, and ask the way home. If we've got to go
through those woods again, we'll have to stay till morning. I guess we'd
better stay, anyhow, if they're willing."
"No," returned Johnny firmly. "I must get home to-night, if possible:
it would frighten my mother almost to death, I am afraid, if we didn't
get back. But, of course, we had better go to the lighthouse, and
inquire our way. Let's leave our wheels here in the road; for we must
come back here on our way home, probably."
Being relieved of the bicycles, they proceeded to the lighthouse as
rapidly as the wind, blowing from the sea, would allow, and soon reached
the keeper's dwelling, which was a stone building attached to the
lighthouse. They stood for some time upon the steps, buffeted by the
strong wind from the ocean at the left, the spray from the waves dashing
in their faces as the breeze blew it towards them. They were only a few
yards from the shore.
"We didn't rap loud enough," said Felix, pounding with both hands upon
the door: "the waves and wind make such a noise, they can't hear us."
"I wondered how the wind came to make such a strange noise, when we were
coming through the woods," said Johnny: "it was the rush of the surf."
"I came over here several times with my father, last year," said Felix:
"we used to come over whenever we had company, to show them the ocean
and lighthouse. I have seen the man who keeps the lighthouse so many
times, that I think he will remember me."
Still no one came to the door.
"They can't hear, on account of the surf," said Johnny.
"Let's both pound together, then."
So both of the boys rapped as loudly as they could upon the door, with
both hands.
"The lighthouse-keeper has a boy about seventeen years old," said Felix.
"He told me there was an awful undertow here. I hope he will come to
the door, for I am sure he will remember me."
"Who is it?" asked a youthful voice inside the door. At first the boys
could not distinguish the words; but after shouting back, and putting
their cars close to the door, they soon made out the repeated inquiry,
although it sounded very faint.
"We're two boys who have lost our way!" called back Johnny.
"I'm Felix Le Bras, from one of the cottages on the beach!" sang out
Felix, in a loud tone. "I know the folks here, and I want to come in and
inquire the way home."