“Off to the left.”
“I don’t see anything,” Mr. Campbell said, “and I don’t dare take my eyes from the road long enough to look. What did it seem to be, Rick?”
“I don’t know—just a light, that’s all.”
“I see it, too!” suddenly cried Chot, and Ruddy roused up at the boys’ voices, and put his fore paws on the back of the front seat.
“Down, old fellow,” said Rick gently. “Don’t jump up again.”
Ruddy quieted and Mr. Campbell, slowing down the speed of the car, looked around.
“I see it,” he said. “Looks as if it were in a house, or something. Well, whatever it is, they ought to take us in. It’s dangerous to keep on in this storm.”
He drove slowly ahead and then, in the sheen from the auto headlights and the glare from the fitful lightning flashes the travelers saw a lonely cabin beside the road. From it came the cheerful gleam of light, and as the travelers drew nearer they could see that the gleam spread from a kerosene lamp on a table, about which, as they could see in through the window, were gathered three men.
“I don’t remember to have passed this place before,” said Mr. Campbell, as he guided the machine up to the door. “But maybe I didn’t notice it. Anyhow, it’s the best port we could make in this storm, if they’ll take us in. Whew! I believe it’s raining harder, if such a thing is possible!”
Indeed the storm was a regular deluge now. The thunder seemed dying away and the lightning was not so frequent and vivid, but the rain was beating down powerfully.