"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."