"You can come in, but there isn't any one at home but me."
The boys followed the owner of the voice into a room at the end of the
hall, which was upon the farther side of the house. It might have been
a pleasant room in a sunny day; but being very plainly furnished, with
no books, pictures, or papers about, and only lighted by a small
kerosene-lamp, while the wind and waves howled without, it seemed to
Johnny a rather dull place for a girl to stay in alone.
Felix stared at the girl, while she looked bashfully at the boys,
saying,--
"It's too bad you've got lost, and such a bad night too! I thought it
was pretty lonesome staying here by myself, such a windy night; but it
would be worse to be lost, out of doors. Only, there are two of you. If
I had another girl here, perhaps I shouldn't be lonely at all. Sit down,
won't you? I'd get you some supper, only I don't know as my aunt would
like it. I suppose, if you're lost, you haven't had any supper. I
guess I could let you have some pilot-bread, anyway."
"What I want to know first," replied Felix, "is how you come to be here.
I was told last summer that no one lived here except the
lighthouse-keeper and his boy; and now you're here, and you tell about
your aunt."
"My mother died last spring, and I came to live here. And my uncle got
married again last winter, and that's the way I came to have an aunt
here. But Andrew isn't here now: he's gone smacking."
"Smacking!" exclaimed Johnny. "What's smacking?"
"Why, he's gone off fishing for mackerel in a smack."
"Oh! I know what that is," explained Felix; "it's a fishing-vessel; I
believe it has one mast, but is a good deal larger than a sail boat."
"Do you like to stay here?" inquired Johnny, casting another glance
about the dreary apartment.
"No," replied the girl, looking down, with a rather sad expression of
countenance; "but my mother's dead, and so I can't help it. Perhaps by
and by I can find a good place to go out to work where there are some
children: that's what my aunt wants me to do, and I think I should like
it better than staying here. My uncle is going to ask some of the
cottagers if they want a girl to help take care of children: my aunt
keeps reminding him to ask, and he keeps forgetting it, or saying he
hasn't time. Sometimes I think I will go over there and ask myself; and
I mean to, as soon as I get my new dress done; I'm sewing on it as fast
as I can."
The boys then noticed that there was a partly finished blue calico dress
lying upon the table near the lamp, and also a little thimble, a spool
of thread, and a pair of scissors.
"You can tell us the way to the cottages, then?" said Johnny; "we're in
a great hurry to get there: our folks will be very much worried at our
not getting home before this."
"I've been there once with my uncle; but we went round by the village,
because you can't get across so well with a wagon by the other road; the
end of the road isn't finished."
"You can get across with a bicycle, though," replied Felix: "and Oliver
says he is going to cut the bushes down back of our place, so we can go
right across with our team; father told him to see it was done this
year, for we don't want to have to go around by the village every time
we take folks over here to the ocean."
"I don't see how we could get across any wild place with our bicycles,
as dark as it is now," remarked Johnny, looking very sober. "When you
told of another road, I thought of course it was a real road all the way
down to the cottages."
"Well, I supposed it would be light enough for us to see. Oliver said
we should come right down back of the house, and we could get off, and
walk across right into our grounds. We can stay here all night, if
you're afraid to try it in the dark."
"I don't think I am afraid, but I don't see how we could find our way.
I think we had better try it, though, for I don't see as any thing can
happen to us: it isn't so very late, and perhaps we can find our way
very well. If we can't, we can come back here."
"Yes," said the girl: "and, by that time, my uncle will be home; I am
sure he will let you stay. He is a real pleasant man: I am not afraid
of him at all."
"Are you afraid of any one?" inquired Johnny.
"Why, no: I'm not exactly afraid. But my aunt isn't as fond of children
as my uncle is: perhaps it's because she never had any children of her
own."
"I suppose the direct road to the cottages is this one up by the edge of
the woods," said Johnny.
"Yes: my uncle always goes that way, when he cuts across."
"Are there any turns? or is it just a straight road?"
"I think it is straight, but I'm not certain."
"I think we'd better risk it, Felix. If we keep the road that leads as
much as possible in a line from here, I think we must be right, even if
there are other roads on the way."
"If you'll risk it, I will," replied Felix.
"Is your clock right?" asked Johnny of the girl.
"Yes: my uncle always keeps it right."
"It isn't eight o'clock, then. We ought to get home by nine easily,
even if we do have to go slowly. I don't know but it would be safer to
walk, Felix."
"Oh, no! it's a good road, I guess: we'd be forever getting home that
way."
"But you know I can't see as well as you can. I might get a header."
"I'll go ahead, then, and lead the way, and you follow in my track."
"Shall I get you some pilot-bread?" asked the girl. "I know I could let
you have that; but my aunt don't like to cook very well, and I don't
quite dare to get any thing out of the pantry."
"Yes, let's have some, and some water," replied Felix: "I'm most starved
to death. If there's any thing to pay, I'll settle with your uncle when
I come over here again."
"Oh! my uncle won't take any thing: he's a real nice man. I wish he was
here, and he'd give you a good supper, and take you to your cottage.
But my aunt was in town visiting to-day, and he's gone in to bring her
home. I don't believe he'll get back before nine."
After the girl had disappeared, Johnny said, "Isn't it too bad she has
to live in such a lonely place, where there are no other young folks?"
"Yes," replied Felix: "I hope she'll get a good place at one of the
cottages."
"So do I: then we could get acquainted with her, and we would introduce
her to Julia."
"Oh, no! we couldn't. She would only be a nurse-girl, and we couldn't
associate with her; and a rich girl like Julia wouldn't be introduced to
her, nor have any thing to do with her."
Johnny felt quite shocked at this statement; but before he could reply,
the girl came back bringing a plateful of pilot-bread in one hand, and a
little tin pail of water and a tumbler in the other. She placed these
on the table; and the boys sat down, and began to eat with good
appetites.
"I didn't know before that pilot-bread was so good," remarked Felix.
"I did," said Johnny: "I always liked it. We have it quite often at
home, instead of crackers; because Sue and I like it so well. And this
is excellent pilot-bread."
The girl seemed very much pleased at this praise of the refreshment;
and, after the boys had emptied the plate, she offered to get some more
bread and water. But they assured her they could not wait any longer.
They did not say they could not eat any more, for they were still
hungry.
As they were about to go out again into the dark, windy night, Johnny
asked the girl what her name was; and she replied, "Ruth Anderson."
After some difficulty, they found their bicycles, and walked along the
road with them until they were so far from the shore that the wind no
longer made it impossible to mount. The light from the lighthouse was a
great help to them for some distance; but, the farther they receded from
the beach, the darker it became; and finally, as a slight turn to the
right brought the woods between them and the light, they were again in
darkness. As soon as their eyes became accustomed to the change,
however, they were able to proceed tolerably well; although, from their
ignorance of the road, they did not dare ride rapidly. Felix kept
ahead, and Johnny followed at a little distance behind. Before they had
proceeded more than a mile, it began to rain. This complicated matters.
Although it did not rain very hard at first, it was evident that a storm
was setting in.
"It won't do for us to get soaking wet," said Johnny, "since we are not
sure of finding our way home. If it rains real hard, we had better stop
at a house, if we come to any."
"I don't believe we shall come to any," returned Felix: "we haven't seen
any sort of a building yet."
They rode on now as rapidly as they dared, and all the time the drops
were coming faster and heavier. Presently it began to pour, and the
wind rose so that they had to give up their bicycles again. The wind
continued with such violence, that, after they were upon their feet,
they could walk only in the direction in which it was blowing. But, as
Johnny said, that was in the direction of home. They were obliged to
leave their bicycles, after drawing them to one side of the road, as
well as they could judge of that location in the darkness. There seemed
to be some tall grass at the side of the road. After proceeding some
distance farther, stumbling into puddles, and occasionally into the
stone wall that bordered the side of the road, Felix announced that he
was certain there was a house or barn just off at the right.
"For here's an opening in the wall," he continued: "this shows there is
some kind of a place along here."
As for Johnny, he declared he could not see any thing. But under
Felix's directions, he felt where the wall ended, and walked in that
direction. By this time they had lost the road, and could not find it
again; and Felix was not as sure as before that they were near a house.
"I know one thing," said Johnny: "we're in a sort of rough piece of
land; we'd better get back into the street, if we can."
They finally took hold of each other's hands, for fear of losing each
other in the thick darkness. They were drenched to the skin. Felix
began to cry.
"We'll have to wander about here all night," he sobbed in a piteous
tone, "and we shall, like enough, be half dead before morning." Johnny
thought, with aching heart, of his mother's distress, and of what a
sorrow it would be to her and his father and Sue if he should be found
dead or dying. He thought of the horror of Felix's dying, too, of the
double grief to his own parents, and of the despair of his uncle and
aunt at the loss of their only child. Still, he did not really think
that being out in the wind and rain all night could kill them. "I guess
we could live through it, Felix," he returned cheerily: "boys are not
killed so easily. Let's try and feel for the road once more."
As Johnny spoke, he put down his hand to see if he could make sure of
the nature of the ground, and his head came violently in contact with
some obstacle.
*CHAPTER X.*
*TROUBLE.*
After Mr. and Mrs. Le Bras had returned to the pier in the sail-boat,
Oliver said he should be just in time to go to the station for Kate.
"How far is the town from the village?" inquired Mrs. Le Bras.
"About six miles, ma'am."
"I think, then, that I will ride to the village with you; and, after we
have taken in Kate, you may drive into town. I don't know what I shall
do in this quiet place, Frank, without more to take up my mind: so I
think I will get some oil-colors, and try painting again; there are such
lovely views about here. It will amuse me, and help to keep up my
painting, which is getting very rusty indeed. If I can succeed pretty
well, the views will be pleasant souvenirs of our summer vacation here."
"I should like that very much," replied Mr. Le Bras. "I would accompany
you to town were it not for returning so late. Some one must be here to
see to the children: Felix is so thoughtless that I have not the
confidence about leaving them that I used to have in leaving John and
Sue."
"Oh, no! the children must not be left. But suppose you go, Frank, and
get the paints. I am sure you can do it quite as well."
"No: I should be sure to make some mistake. And Pierre and I were to try
a little fishing off the rocks. He has some ducks for dinner, and we
thought we might capture some porgies or blackfish for breakfast."
"I'll go up and git the carriage, then," said Oliver. "Here's a nice
pavilion you can sit in, ma'am, till I git back: I sha'n't be long."
The pavilion was a large canvas roof, supported by a frame placed on the
shore near the pier. There were seats under it, upon which nurses and
children were sitting, and also several ladies and gentlemen. Mr. Le
Bras seated his wife upon one of the vacant benches, and he and Pierre
sat down by her side.
"Those rocks, down yonder, look like a pretty good fishing-place,"
remarked Pierre, glancing at a cluster of rocks projecting into the
water, some distance below the cottages.
"Yes: we will try that place. I believe you said you had lines and
hooks with you."
"Yes: they are in my pouch. I thought I might try fishing up at the
Point, if I did not succeed in getting the ducks; but ducks are very
plenty there."
After they had sat conversing for a while, Oliver arrived with the
carriage; and Mrs. Le Bras got in, and rode off towards the village. Her
last words were,--
"You will have to give an extra good-night kiss to the children, for me,
Frank. I am afraid I shall not be at home in time; for I am sure they
will be very tired, and wish to go to bed early."
After the carriage had driven off, Mr. Le Bras and Pierre procured some
bait at a little fish-market near the shore, and then proceeded to the
rocks. By half-past six they had caught several blackfish and a
sea-bass: it had by that time become very cloudy and windy, and was
getting dark.
"I think we shall have to make the blackfish answer for breakfast," said
Mr. Le Bras. "As for the bass, that will make a good first course for
dinner. We shall not have much more than time to get back to supper. I
will not have it put off again until seven. I did it to accommodate
John and Felix about going to the Point in the cool of the day.
Hereafter, they can take morning for bicycling, as usual: I thought I
would indulge them for once."
Mr. Le Bras was somewhat surprised, on reaching home, to find that
Johnny and Felix had not returned. Sue and Julia were sitting in the
veranda, talking merrily; but Sue's face fell a little when she found
her mother would not be home until late.
"It would have been sort of lonely when I got back, if it hadn't been
for Julia," she said.
"I supposed the boys would be at home by this time," replied Mr. Le
Bras. "But they will doubtless arrive very soon."
As supper was not quite ready, Mr. Le Bras and Pierre went out by the
barn to dress the blackfish, which required skinning, having told Mary
that she need not ring the supper-bell until the boys came. But after
the fish were dressed, and the gentlemen had washed their hands, and
brushed their clothes, there was no further excuse for delaying supper.
Yet there were still no boys in view.
"I do not understand this," said Mr. Le Bras. "But we will have supper
now, Mary. As for those young truants, they will deserve nothing better
than bread and water when they make their appearance. I should suppose
that cloud would have warned them home, even had I not told them to be
here by seven. If they do not come soon, I fear they will get a
wetting."
"It's Felix's fault, some way, I'm sure," said Sue. "You ought to hear
Julia tell what pranks he cut up here last summer: she said he wouldn't
mind his father and mother at all, and was always getting into some
scrape or other, or getting some one else in. He and that Jack, who
stoned her kitten,--his kitten, I mean, that's hers now,--they were
great friends: only they were always fighting and quarrelling with each
other. Dear me! how sleepy I am! I can hardly keep my eyes open long
enough to eat my supper."
"That must be what ails the boys," said Pierre, laughing, as Sue leaned
back in her chair, holding her knife and fork in a very languid manner,
as if the dissection of the sardine on her plate was a great task to be
undertaken. "They have been overcome by the exercise and seaside air,
and fallen asleep by the side of their bicycles."
Just then the rain began to dash against the panes of the dining-room
windows. Mr. Le Bras rose from the table, and, going out at the
front-door, looked up the road; but it was now too dark and foggy to see
any distance. As he came back to the table, he said rather gravely,--
"It is pretty dark now for the boys to make their way home. I hope they
will not try it on the beach-road; for they might ride into the water,
Felix is so heedless, and Johnny so near-sighted."
"I think I heard Felix say they were coming back on the other road,"
replied Pierre: "I'll go and look out the back way."
So Pierre went to the back-door, and looked out: in fact, he went far
out into the huckleberry pasture behind the barn. But nothing could be
seen or heard but rain and darkness and the sighing of the wind.
"What can be done?" asked Mr. Le Bras, as Pierre came in with his
report.
"I might take one of the horses, and ride up to the quarrymen's houses
at the Point, and see if they are there all right. I think I can keep
the shell road easily, even in the darkness; and I will give the horse
the lead across the cart-path. When we get to the other road, I will
turn to the left; and the horse will go on without any trouble till we
get to the houses."
"But you will get badly wet."
"That is nothing: I am used to it. Besides, I have a rubber coat."
"Is there a saddle at the barn?"
"If not, it will not make much difference."
"Yes, there is, sir," said Mary, who had just come into the dining-room
with a fresh supply of dry toast. "Isn't it dreadful those children
ha'n't come? If Mrs. Le Bras was here, she'd be worried enough."
"Yes: that is the worst of it," replied Mr. Le Bras. "I would go and
look for them myself, were it not for fear she would be back before I
was. I must try to keep it from her, if possible."
"I will go right out, then, and saddle the pony," replied Pierre.
"You'll find the saddle hanging up just at the left of the door, as you
go in," said Mary. "An' I'll go and light you a lantern."
By this time, Sue was fast asleep in her chair at the table. Her father
took her in his arms, and carried her up to her room. Mary said she
would come right up and undress her.
"If she wakes up enough to ask any questions, don't tell her about the
boys not being home, if you can help it," said Mr. Le Bras; "for she
might hear her mother when she comes, and tell her the trouble: although
I hope they will be back before then."
Mr. Le Bras gave Sue two kisses very soberly as he laid her on the bed,
and then hurried down to see Pierre off. As Pierre rode up the shell
road, in the darkness and wind and rain, Mr. Le Bras called out, "If you
come back alone, go quietly around to the back-door, and I will be on
the lookout for you. My wife will probably be home by that time."
In fact, Mrs. Le Bras reached the cottage before Pierre had been gone
more than a half-hour. Oliver had put his horses to their best speed on
account of the storm. Kate went into the kitchen with Mary, who was
delighted to have a companion for the whole summer, and knew, by the
first glance she gave at Kate's, good-humored, intelligent face, that
they should be great friends. Mrs. Le Bras went immediately to her own
room, saying she was never more tired in her life, "and all in having a
good time," she added. "I have got my paints all right, and the
brushes. It is really a very nice little town, with stores up to the
times."
"Did you go to a restaurant and get some supper?" inquired Mr. Le Bras,
trying to look unconcerned.
"No: we dared not wait so long. We stopped at a baker's, and got some
refreshments, which we ate on the way home. I bought some cookies for
the children too. I suppose they came home all tired out?"
"Sue was so tired that she went to sleep at the supper-table," replied
Mr. Le Bras.
"And of course Johnny and Felix got home before the rain?"
"I told John to be home by seven, you remember."
"And Johnny is always so prompt. What a good boy he is! Did you give
them the extra kisses, my dear?"
"I am afraid they were both lost on Sue, because I carried her up to bed
fast asleep."
"I believe you are as sleepy as I am, my dear: your face looks an inch
longer than usual, and you have scarcely looked at me all the time I
have been talking. Why don't you get ready to go to bed?"
"I must go down and lock the doors first; and I must see Pierre, too,
and talk up some plans for to-morrow morning."
"Hasn't Pierre gone to bed?"
"Oh, no!"
"I think I'll just look in on Sue a minute."
Mrs. Le Bras took the lamp, and, stepping softly to Sue's door, opened
it, and looked in.
"Just as pretty as ever. I have a great mind to go and look at Johnny
in his new room."
"No," said Mr. Le Bras, taking the lamp: "you had better go directly to
bed, and let me take the lamp. I am afraid Pierre is waiting for me."
"Very well," replied Mrs. Le Bras, lying down. "You'll be up before
long, won't you?"
"Yes. Go to sleep now."
Mr. Le Bras placed the lamp in the lower hall, and then, opening the
front-door a little way, put out his head, and listened. He could hear
nothing but the wind and rain. Mary stole in from the kitchen, and
said, "I haven't told Kate, as you said; but hadn't I better tell
Oliver?"
"You get Kate off to bed, and I will tell Oliver."
When Kate had gone, Mr. Le Bras went into the kitchen, and consulted
with Oliver. Oliver was sure the boys were safe in some house at the
quarry. "An' that's what Pierre'll tell you when he gits back, sir."
"I think so too," said Mr. Le Bras.
At that moment the door opened, and Pierre entered the room.
"Did you find them at the quarry?" asked Mr. Le Bras breathlessly.
Pierre shook his head.
"The men said they took the wrong road, according to the account of the
folks at the village, who saw two boys on bicycles turn off the road at
the left, just this side of the houses, which leads over by the
lighthouse. It seems they asked one of the quarrymen what road to take
to come back the other way; and one of them said, 'Turn off at the first
road you come to,' supposing they would know enough to turn to the
right, and not to the left. But the men say it's all right: the boys
would have come out by the lighthouse about the time it began to rain
hard, and would stay there, of course, on such a wild night."
"Yes, I suppose they are there," replied Mr. Le Bras. "Even if there
could be any less consoling supposition, the storm is now too wild for
any further attempt to find them. It is a wonder to me that you got to
the Point and back in the wind and darkness. Go to your room at once;
and I will come up, by the time you are in bed, and give you some hot
ginger-tea."
Pierre said he never took cold, but went to his room, while Oliver went
out and put up the horse.
It was agreed that Oliver should get up at daybreak, and go over to the
lighthouse, and, if the boys were not there, inquire at any other houses
where they could possibly have taken refuge, so that their safety might
be known before Mrs. Le Bras awoke in the morning. As for Mr. Le Bras,
he spent a sleepless night. But he was grateful for one thing,--his
wife slept soundly. He arose early, and, as Mrs. Le Bras was still
sleeping, stole downstairs to escape having any questions to answer
before Oliver came back from his expedition. Pierre, too, was
down-stairs, looking anxious and uneasy. It was a very bright morning
as far as the weather was concerned.
"Suppose we walk over towards the lighthouse ourselves," said Mr. Le
Bras; "the suspense is getting unendurable; although, of course, they
are all right."
So Mr. Le Bras and Pierre started off across lots; and shortly after,
Mary and Kate came down to prepare breakfast.
About half way to the lighthouse, they met Oliver coming back, looking
blank and sober.
"Haven't you found them?" said Mr. Le Bras, with a sinking heart.
"They was at the lighthouse all right; but they left there about
half-past seven, in all that 'ere wind and rain. There wasn't any one
at the lighthouse but a little gal, a niece of the keeper; an' she says
the smaller of them, that's Johnny, said they must try and git home, and
that, if they didn't, they'd come back to the lighthouse: and so they
s'posed they was home all right."
"What houses are there about?" inquired Pierre; for Mr. Le Bras seemed
unable to speak.
"There ain't none on this road, nor a barn; an' how they could a got
away from the road in the storm, an' over the stun walls with their
bicycles, I don't see nohow. There's that house, way over yonder;
that's the nearest house to this 'ere road: now, 'pears to me they
couldn't a got there without flyin' over all them walls."
"If they came this road, they couldn't have got into the water," said
Pierre: "I shouldn't wonder if they made their way clear to the end down
by the other cottages."
"That may be," said Mr. Le Bras: "let us go right down there. You can
go home, Oliver, and Pierre and I will continue the search. If Mrs. Le
Bras comes down before we come back, tell her--indeed, what can you tell
her? I must try to be back myself. Let us make haste, Pierre!"
Mr. Le Bras and Pierre made inquiries through the whole row of cottages,
with all the haste possible; but no one had seen or heard of the missing
boys. As they returned home, along the shell road, Mr. Le Bras was
silent. He was pale, and walked rapidly. Pierre tried to think of some
bright probability regarding Felix and Johnny; but although it seemed
unlikely that they could have perished, like the babes in the wood, in a
single night, he could picture no place of refuge which they had not
searched. The farmhouse only was left; but, as Oliver had said, it
would have been next to impossible for them to go across lots and over
stone walls to any definite place, that dark and stormy night. Still,
he finally suggested to Mr. Le Bras that he might hurry over there and
inquire.
"No," replied Mr. Le Bras: "we will go home first, and inform my wife;
it cannot be kept from her any longer. And then you and I and Oliver
will scour the region in different directions. If nothing serious has
happened to the boys, however, they will make their appearance
themselves before long. What I am afraid of is that they have been
overcome by fatigue and exposure, having been out all night, and are now
lying helpless somewhere in the fields or woods."
When they reached the cottage, they entered the front-door. Just then
the breakfast-bell rang. Mr. Le Bras paused in the hall to compose
himself for the sad task before him. He took off his hat, and wiped his
forehead: he tried to look cheerful and unconcerned. Mrs. Le Bras came
tripping down-stairs with Sue, in the best of spirits.
"What a lovely morning after the rain!" she said. "How blue the sky and
water are! How cheerful the cottage looks! What a delicious sea-breeze!
What an appetite we shall have for your blackfish! Isn't it a lovely
place, my dear?"
Mr. Le Bras suppressed a groan: he turned away his face, but she did not
notice. Sue ran ahead to the dining-room.
Mr. Le Bras had just taken his wife's arm to lead her aside into the
parlor, and there break the startling news to her as gently as possible,
when Sue was heard saying,--
"You were very bad boys! You didn't get home at seven last night, as
you promised; and I am sure papa will make you pay a penalty."
Mr. Le Bras felt giddy, almost faint; but he had presence of mind enough
to lead his wife into the dining-room instead of the parlor, and there
at the table in their places sat two rosy-cheeked, happy-looking boys,
with their eyes brimful of fun and expectancy; although a keen observer
might have noticed a shade more of gravity upon Johnny's face than upon
Felix's daring countenance.
Pierre, who was standing in the front-door, thinking gloomily, all of a
sudden, of the pond just this side of the lighthouse, of which a man at
the Point had spoken as a good place to get water-lilies, and wondering
if the boys could have stumbled into it, heard Sue's clear, merry voice
also; and his heart bounded joyfully as he turned and joined the group
in the dining-room.
After grace had been said, Mr. Le Bras began to serve, without saying a
word.
"Didn't you get home until after seven?" Mrs. Le Bras asked the boys, as
she began to pour out the coffee.
"No, ma'am," replied Johnny, looking curiously at his father: "we didn't
get into the house until this morning. We got caught in the rain."
"And so we lodged away from home," added Felix, who could not wait for
Johnny to tell it all himself; "but, as it happened, we didn't have to
pay any thing for lodging."
"Why!" said Mrs. Le Bras, looking at her husband with some surprise:
"why didn't you tell me the boys were staying away from home?"
"As I could not tell you exactly where they were staying, my
dear,--although I supposed, that, having got caught in the rain, they
were safe with some good family hereabouts,--I thought it best not to
tell you until this morning, for fear you would be anxious, and worry
about them."
"I presume I should, and you were very kind; although generally I think
I should prefer to know, in such a case. But how did it happen, boys,
that you were belated, and so did not get home before it rained hard? I
am sure I heard Johnny's father tell him to be back by seven. And where
did you stay all night? Just to think of it! Why, Johnny was never
away from both me and his father for a night before! Yes, I should have
been very nervous if I had known it!"
"You had better begin at the beginning, boys," remarked Mr. Le Bras,
"and then, by the time you have finished the account, you will have
answered all your mother's questions. Let Felix begin first; and when he
has got as far as the lighthouse, Johnny may take up the narrative, and
complete it."
"What do you know about the lighthouse?" asked Felix.
"Never mind, my boy: tell your story first."
Felix began, and gave the narration with tolerable accuracy. When he
came to Johnny's asking him what time it was, Mr. Le Bras said,--
"Was your watch right, Felix?"
"I didn't know whether it was right then, or not; but it couldn't have
been right, we found out afterwards."
"You supposed it to be right, then?"
"Why, I knew, as soon as I took it out, that it had stopped; but I
couldn't tell for sure but what it had stopped just about that time. I
didn't tell Johnny it had stopped; because he didn't ask me what time it
was, but what time it was by my watch; and so I really told him what
time it was by my watch, and then I wound it up. I didn't tell a lie
anyway, you see; and I didn't know but what the watch had just stopped,
and so it was the right time."
"I think we must have a little talk together, by and by, about the watch
business, Felix," said Mr. Le Bras rather gravely. "But go on now with
your account."
When Felix got as far as their knocking at the lighthouse door, the
story was turned over to Johnny, who gave a very interesting account, to
begin with, of their visit with Ruth.
"I must get acquainted with Ruth, just as soon as ever I can!" exclaimed
Sue; "and I want to see the blue dress. That will be two girls,--Julia
and Ruth; and it will be a nice ride to the lighthouse for Julia and me,
in the dog-cart."
When Johnny came to their wandering about in the storm on foot, having
lost the road, and being so drenched and despairing, Mrs. Le Bras
exclaimed,--
"Why, this is perfectly dreadful! My dear, how could you rest easy with
these boys away from home? If you had told me, I should have insisted
upon some one being sent to look for them. They might have taken their
death-cold. Are you certain, boys, that you feel quite well? I am not
sure but you ought to be put to bed this minute, with hot drinks, and
wrapped in blankets."
The boys laughed at this: they said they never felt better in their
lives.
"I think it will not, apparently, endanger their lives to finish the
account before going to bed; as I judge that Johnny is nearly through
now," replied Mr. Le Bras, smiling.
"Well," continued Johnny, "we were feeling about, trying to find the
road again, when I knocked my head against something. I felt of it, and
found it was some sort of a building. We both examined it with our
hands, and concluded it was a barn; as it was smooth, and didn't have
any windows as far as we could reach. We felt our way around to the
other side, and came to a door which we managed to open. We went in,
and pulled the door together, to keep out the rain, and felt our way
around for the hay-mow. We couldn't find any mow, but we came across a
lot of nice clean straw on the floor; and we lay down in it, and covered
ourselves up with it, and, after talking a while, we fell asleep."
"You said your prayers first, didn't you?" said Sue.
"Why, no!" replied Johnny, as if the omission had just occurred to him;
"I don't believe I did; I guess we were so excited that we forgot to say
our prayers. We didn't say them, did we, Felix?"
"No. Let's see: one of the last things I said was to remind you of what
you said, one day, about there couldn't be any fire, unless the carbon
and hydrogen had oxygen to combine with it, and I asked you how it
happened, then, that the men at the quarry rammed the powder down in a
hole, with a lot of stuff jammed on the top of it, as if they were
trying to keep the air out on purpose."
"Oh, yes!" said Johnny; "and then I said that was what they were trying
to do; because there was a lot of oxygen in the saltpetre that was in
the powder, which furnished a plenty to unite with the sulphur and
charcoal, and then, when they began to unite, all in an instant, because
every thing was all mixed just right, there'd got to be ever so much
more room for the expansion of the gas, and that forced the rock apart."
"Yes," added Felix; "and then I said, 'Oh! that's it. I'm glad you can
tell a fellow every thing he wants to know, except how to find his way
home on a dark night.' And that's the last we said."
"So Johnny says his prayers to be kept safe when he's all nice at home,
and when he's lost way off somewhere, he forgets all about them,"
remarked Sue, as she buttered her roll.
"But we got along all right, just the same," said Felix.
"Probably that's because some of the prayers you said before had enough
about being kept safe to last over one night," explained Sue.
"I protest against this digression!" exclaimed Pierre. "Here's Johnny
come to the most interesting part of his story, and then he leaves off
just at the critical part, just like the sensational papers."
"That was what I was going to say. I will talk with Johnny about
forgetting his prayer, to-night," said Mrs. Le Bras. "And now go on, my
son."
"I am very curious to know what barn they slept in," remarked Mr. Le
Bras.
"So am I," said Kate, who having come in with some hot rolls, when Felix
began the story, had been standing spell-bound ever since, with her
salver in her hand.
"I believe Felix said he awoke once in the night," continued Johnny,
"and saw someone with a light, putting up a horse; but I didn't wake up
until morning."
"I didn't see the man nor the horse," explained Felix; "but I saw a
light, and heard a horse stepping about; and then I saw the light
vanish, and heard the man fasten a door. I don't think I had been
asleep long then, for I felt pretty wet and a little cold; and I pulled
some more straw up over me."
"Go on, Johnny," said Mr. Le Bras.
"When I awoke in the morning, I was pretty well surprised to find we
were in our own barn. I woke Felix up, and we had a good laugh. Then
we went out, and found that the reason we couldn't find the road was
because we had come to where it turned into another road running down
towards the cottages, and the stone wall had ended there. We had left
our bicycles in a kind of marshy place, by the side of the road, full of
tall reeds: we could hardly find them, they were so covered up with the
reeds."
"That is the reason we did not see them, Pierre," remarked Mr. Le Bras.
"We rolled our bicycles back to the barn, and put them up, and then came
into the house. Mary and Kate had just come down to get breakfast; and
Mary said father and Pierre were afraid we were lost, and Oliver had
gone to look us up, but we needn't say any thing to mother and Sue, as
they didn't know any thing about it. I told Mary and Kate to let father
and Pierre know we had come home; and then Felix and I went to our rooms
to change our clothes. They were all dry, but they looked pretty well
tumbled and muddy; and we needed a good washing ourselves. Before we
were ready, Oliver came up, and said my father and Pierre were in a
great fright, and had gone down to the cottages to inquire for us. We
told him to hurry off, and let them know we were all right. After he
had been gone a little while, the breakfast-bell rang, and we came
down."
"Oliver missed your father and Pierre," said Kate; "for he went down on
the back road, while they were coming up on the shell road. And he and
Mary are in a great state to hear how it all happened; so, now I know,
I'll go to the kitchen and tell them."
By this time, breakfast was finished; and Mrs. Le Bras was still
anxious, for fear the boys would take cold from their exposure.
"Go to your rooms, boys, and go to bed," said Mr. Le Bras, "and let Mrs.
Le Bras roast and dose you, and rub you down with alcohol, to her
heart's content. That will be a salutary as well as a sanitary
punishment, to begin with. Since Johnny don't seem to have been much to
blame, except in yielding his judgment that a place situated on the
right could not, in the nature of things, be found by taking a road
which turned to the left, I think a morning's imprisonment in bed will
suffice for him. But as for you, Felix, since you were somewhat unfair,
and considerably reckless, you will have to pay another penalty, I
think. Young people under my care and instruction have to pay penalties
for any serious fault of demeanor or judgment. But we will have that
talk together this afternoon, and adjust the matter."
The boys laughingly protested against being sent to bed, but neither Mr.
nor Mrs. Le Bras would let them off. They went up to their rooms still
laughing and protesting, Johnny mildly, and Felix quite vociferously,
holding his sides with laughter; while Mrs. Le Bras went to the kitchen
to prepare the hot drinks. As for Sue, as soon as she was released from
the table, she had run over to tell the whole story to Julia.
Mr. Le Bras went out, and sat down in the veranda, accompanied by
Pierre.
"This beats all!" he said. "I wouldn't have had such a fright for a
hundred dollars! But there's one thing to be thankful for,--my wife
escaped it: if she had known beforehand, it would have made her down
sick. Yes! let the boys go to bed! There they are, laughing still, the
scamps! and never will know, until they have children of their own, what
I have suffered since eight o'clock last night!"
"It's the greatest cheat of a time I ever heard of," said Pierre,
sitting down on the steps, and beginning to laugh as only those can
whose laughter has been long pent up. "I didn't want to let the boys
know I thought it was amusing, they were so inclined to treat it lightly
themselves: but, ha, ha, ha!--to think of all the racing and talking and
surmising, and scouring the country, and dead boys in ponds, and those
youngsters all the time reposing peacefully right out here in the barn!
Ha, ha, ha! ho, ho, ho!"
Pierre then told Mr. Le Bras of his dreadful surmise about the pond by
the lighthouse.
"I am thankful I was spared the knowledge of there being a pond about
here!" replied Mr. Le Bras fervently.
"You see, why they didn't see the house was because Mary had put all the
lamps she could muster on the west side to help guide me on my way back
from the Point," said Pierre. "So they must have gone into the barn
while I was off up that way; for, after that, there were lights in the
kitchen, which they couldn't help but have seen."
*CHAPTER XI.*
*GOING FOR RUTH.*
The penalty, added to the morning's imprisonment; for Felix was that he
should read to Pierre an hour after breakfast every morning, he having
nothing to say as to what he should read, but Pierre making all the
selections. Felix tried to get the sentence commuted to half an hour,
but his uncle was inexorable: he said the prevarication about the time
was a very serious matter, and besides that, as the evening readings had
been given up for the summer on account of the unpleasantness of having
lamps lighted during the warm weather, Felix would lose all the progress
he had made in reading, if he did not practise regularly for some time
to come. As Pierre began by selecting easy and interesting stories,
however; Felix found, on trial, that he rather enjoyed his daily penalty
than otherwise. The readings were carried on in Felix's room, where
there was nothing to divert his attention.
Sue was very anxious to go over in the dog-cart to see Ruth. Julia had
promised to accompany her. Julia had been to the lighthouse in her
father's carriage quite often with friends from the city, and she was to
show Sue the way around by the village, which, although the longer way,
was much the pleasanter and smoother road; since, for some time before
reaching the lighthouse, it was within view of the ocean and of the
surf, which dashed high upon the shore. Mrs. Le Bras said, if the next
Thursday were pleasant, Sue might go over to the lighthouse in the
morning, and she should like very much to have her bring Ruth home to
dinner, if her uncle and aunt were willing. Mrs. Le Bras also said,
that, if Ruth could stay until toward night, she would carry her back
herself in the carriage, as she would like to see the lighthouse and the
ocean-side herself.
Thursday proved to be a very pleasant day, much to Sue's delight; and
Oliver harnessed the pony into the dog-cart immediately after breakfast.
Felix and Johnny had planned to accompany the girls on their bicycles,
and Felix was rather vexed when he found they were going before his hour
with Pierre was over. He went to his uncle, and tried to get off for
that morning; but Mr. Le Bras said it was a bad plan to make any break
in what ought to be a regular custom, unless it were either very
advisable or absolutely necessary, neither of which was the case in this
instance. Felix then tried to get the girls to change their plans; but
they argued, that, if they waited, it would bring them back in the heat
of the day, which both Mrs. Le Bras and Julia's mother wished them to
avoid. As a last resource, Felix asked Johnny not to go until his hour
was up. Johnny would have assented to this good-naturedly, although he
rather wanted to go with the girls, but Julia opposed it strongly: she
said she wanted Johnny to go with them very much; and she added,
naughtily, to Sue, and so loudly that Felix could hear her, "I think it
will be nicer to have Johnny alone than to have Felix too. Felix will
be with us when we come home, and that is enough."
Felix's face grew very red. "You are the most disagreeable girl I ever
knew, Julia Peterson!" he said. "I won't go with you, either going or
coming; and I am not sure I will come over to the lighthouse while you
are there!"
Oliver had just brought the dog-cart around to the door. The girls and
Johnny were on the veranda. Felix had been standing in the door on his
way up to Pierre's room; but he now ran up-stairs noisily, shouting
back, "Go along with her, Johnny, if you want to! Perhaps I sha'n't come
to the lighthouse at all!"
The girls got into the cart. Julia was laughing; and Sue said, "Felix
isn't used to being snubbed, Julia, and I'm awful sorry for him. If I
were you, Johnny, I'd wait for him."
"But I don't believe he'll come at all, now," replied Johnny, looking
wistfully at his bicycle, which was leaning against the veranda. It was
such a fresh, pleasant morning, and he liked Julia very much; although
he was sorry she had spoken so to Felix.
"It won't hurt Felix a mite to be snubbed; it's my opinion it is just
what he needs: you ought to have seen how he teased me last year, and I
always meant to pay him off, if I could get a good chance; besides, he's
too conceited for any thing," continued Julia.
"I can't help it, anyway," said Sue resignedly, as she gathered up the
reins. "I suppose you might as well come, Johnny; for I shouldn't
wonder if Felix would be cross all day, and make it unpleasant for you
if you stay at home to please him."
Johnny hesitated.
"I'll tell you what I'll do," he said: "I'll ride over with you, and, if
we go pretty fast, I shall have time to come back again, and see if
Felix is ready to go over."
"If you must try to be so awful obliging, when he wouldn't think of
putting himself out that way for you," replied Julia.
Felix had stopped in the upper hall, and looked out of the window over
the front-door. As the window was open, although the blinds were closed,
he heard every word of the conversation, and was angrier than ever.
"Where are you, Felix?" called out Pierre. "You are fifteen minutes
behind time. Come! I shall have to report you if this occurs again."
Felix went into Pierre's room, and took up his book with a jerk. "I
hate girls!" he said, "especially that conceited, mean Julia Peterson!"
The dog-cart moved off briskly along the shell road, with Johnny on his
bicycle by its side. Johnny was wishing heartily that Felix was with
them, and every thing pleasant as usual; but as he could not help it, he
tried to enjoy himself, which was not at all difficult.
When they came to the long row of cottages, some boys were out on the
pier fishing.
"What are you catching?" called out Johnny.
"Scup!" shouted back one of the boys.
"Having good luck?" returned Johnny.
"Catch 'em by the pailful," replied another boy.
Johnny then noticed several pails and baskets by the side of the boys,
and that there were also some strings of fish in sight. He said he
would go and see the scup, and then rejoin the girls.
"Scup are of no consequence," said Julia; "you can catch them as easy as
nothing; and after you have caught them, they are not worth cooking, if
you can get any other fish, because they are so full of bones."
Johnny rode down on the pier, however, and looked at the scup. "They
are very handsome little fish," he said. "Do you cook all you catch?"
"Oh!" replied one of the boys, "sometimes we cook them, and sometimes we
throw them back into the water: I've thrown back almost all I've caught
this morning, because we've got plenty of better fish at home."
"My mother likes them, if they are bony, because they are so sweet,"
said another boy: "we fry them real crisp, and we like them."
"I don't think it is right to catch them, unless you can make some use
of them," remarked Johnny. "I think I will come down and catch a few
to-morrow, just to try them."
"Say!" remarked the boy who had said he threw back his fish: "where's
Felix Le Bras? You live up at his cottage, don't you?"
"Yes: I am his cousin. But he is staying at home this morning: at
least, he is at home now."
Johnny then hurried back to catch up with the dog-cart.
"Did you know who that boy was you were talking with?" inquired Julia.
"Which? The one in a sailor-suit?"
"Yes."
"No."
"That's Jack, the boy who threw stones at my kitten."
"At his kitten, you mean," said Sue.
"Why, the kitten that's mine now: a kitten belongs to the folks who can
be kind to it."
This peculiar law regarding the ownership of kittens was new to Sue.
She thought she would ask her father about it, but she made no reply to
Julia.
"Oh! that's Jack, is it?" said Johnny. "I might almost have known it,
by his saying he caught the fish just for the fun of it, and then threw
them back into the water."
"That isn't so bad as about the kitten," replied Sue; "for, if I were a
fish, I would rather be thrown back in the water, than fried in a
spider."
"But it isn't right," said Johnny; and then he rode on a little ahead,
to escape arguing the matter further with Sue, who was apt to get the
best of him sometimes, even when she was on the wrong side.
After reaching the village, they crossed through it, according to
Julia's directions, and came out into a country road bordered at
intervals with farmhouses. Shortly they came in view of the ocean, and
soon in full view of the surf. The road wound gradually nearer and
nearer the shore, until they were almost at the lighthouse, and was
separated from the white-sanded beach only by a narrow strip of land
covered with the tall, rank grass which grew along the shore. A fresh
wind was blowing from the sea, and the surf washed the rocks at the base
of the lighthouse. The side of the keeper's house was almost upon the
street; indeed, it was at a corner; as the road upon which Felix and
Johnny had reached it was in front, running down to the shore.
"I wish there were lines here," remarked Johnny, "so we could come over
and bathe in the surf. Oliver says there is such an undertow here, it
would be unsafe without lines."
A little way up the road which led past the woods, and on the opposite
side from the woods, a man was at work in a large vegetable garden which
bordered a cornfield.
"There is Mr. Shepard," said Julia: "he is the lighthouse keeper. Shall
we go and see him, and ask if we can go up in the lighthouse? Or shall
we call at the house first, and ask to see Ruth?"
"Let's see Ruth first," replied Sue, "'cause that's what we came for;
and we want to give our invitation to dinner, so she will have time to
get ready while we are in the lighthouse."
"I don't believe we had better ask to see the lighthouse, until we come
with some grown persons," said Johnny: "perhaps they won't want to take
that trouble for all the children who come over."
"But we aren't all the children," replied Julia.
"We haven't any better right to ask than any other children have; and
so, if they let us go, they might have to let others, or have them
bother by asking," returned Johnny.
"Very well, if you and Sue don't care: I've been up there so many times,
I don't care about climbing up again; and you can't see any thing when
you get up there, because it's all full of the lamp."
Johnny laughed at this. "Why, the lamp is just what I should go to see.
I've studied about that kind of lamp, and I want to see one very much: I
want to notice the way the glass is formed and arranged to collect and
refract the rays, so as to make the most of them in sending the light
out to sea. But I think I would rather go up with Pierre or my father,
who can help me understand it better; and besides, if there is some
grown person with me, I can stay longer, and Mr. Shepard will take more
pains to tell all he knows about it. Nobody takes pains to explain
things to boys."
"There is a good enough reason for that," said Julia: "how much would
such a boy as Felix or Jack listen to explanations? I think you are a
kind of a man, Johnny: you only look like a boy. And you don't look so
very much like a boy when you have your glasses on. I think I shall
call you Professor, as Sue and Felix do."
"It's great if a boy must be called a man and a professor just because
he likes to understand about matters! But you just wait till I'm as
tall as my father, and wear a stove-pipe: then see if you don't notice a
difference."
Julia and Sue laughed at this dignified picture of Johnny as a man. By
that time they had turned into the other road, and stopped in front of
the keeper's house.
"The house is built right on to the lighthouse, and is of the very same
kind of stone," remarked Sue.
"Yes," replied Johnny; "and they can go up in the lighthouse, Oliver
says, without coming outside; although there is a door, you see, in the
outside. I wonder what that building off the other side of the
lighthouse is for?"
"That's the place where the steam fog-whistle is," replied Julia. "I
was over here in a fog with my father once, and you never heard such a
noise as it made."
"I heard it in the distance the other night, and it was bad enough at
that," said Johnny. "My father said it was the fog-whistle, but I didn't
know it was here at the lighthouse. I must see that, too, and
understand about it, some day, when Pierre can come with me."
They were now standing on the stone steps, and Johnny found there was a
bell in a little niche at one side of the door. "Why, here's a bell!"
he said. "Uncle Sam means to be up with the times, in his buildings,
even if they are out in the country. Felix and I pounded away with both
hands the other night."
Just after Johnny rang the bell, the door was opened by a rather
severe-looking young woman, with sharp gray eyes, and a look that seemed
to say, "Tell your business as soon as possible, and have done with it."