The Light Keepers Part 24

"That is because I've been trying hard to find out just how it should be done," Sidney said laughingly, but decidedly pleased by the words of praise. "You've all been so good to me, that I'd be a pretty poor kind of a boy if I didn't do my best at the little jobs that come my way."

"It may seem as if you was gettin' the best end of the trade, Sonny; but you're way off mistaken. We old sh.e.l.l-backs are the ones who's havin'

all the fat, 'cause it brightens us up wonderfully to have you 'round."

Sidney was at a loss for a reply to this remark, and changed the subject of the conversation by asking Uncle Zenas of what service a certain cylinder of thin bra.s.s, which entirely encircled the chimney of the lamp, could be in the general arrangement of the light.

"I reckon you've noticed that this 'ere light seems to die away once in every forty seconds, eh?" the old man asked as he raised and lowered the cylinder. "Well, this cover of bra.s.s is what does it, an' the clock keeps it movin'. You see the clock is made fast to the bra.s.s cylinder, an' as the wheels go 'round it is raised till the whole of the flame is uncovered, an' then lowered till it's nearly shut out. The whole thing is simple enough, but it took a mighty clear-headed man to think it up.

When a vessel comes off this coast, an' the cap'n sees Carys' Ledge light growin' dim an' then brightenin' up, he counts the number of seconds that go by from one bright flash to another, an' says to himself, says he: 'That 'ere is a forty-second flash, an' she's about so an' so off the coast.' Then he dives inter the cabin, hunts up his list of lights, sees which one answers to the description he's got in mind, an' says to himself, says he: 'That's Carys' Ledge, an' I'll make the course a leetle more southerly.' If that 'ere clock should happen to break down on account of not bein' properly cared for, we'd have to take turns grindin' a crank to keep the bra.s.s cylinder movin' up an' down 'cordin' to the rules an' regerlations, else there'd soon be another s.h.i.+p piled up on the rocks alongside the _Nautilus_."

By the time Uncle Zenas had come to an end of his explanation, the necessary work had been performed, and he said with a sigh of satisfaction as he began to descend the stairs:

"Now I reckon we can be gettin' at the serious part of the business! It allers makes me feel lonesome to know that the kitchen hasn't been set to rights, for that's the first place a visitor gets into when he comes to the light, an' he's liable to judge everything by what he sees there."

"There isn't any great need to bother your head about visitors," Sidney said with a laugh. "People don't come out to this ledge every day."

"True for you, Sonny; but s'posen the kitchen was lookin' like all possessed on that pertic'lar day? I keep it put to rights as much of the time as I can, an' then I don't stand any chance of bein' caught nappin'."

Then Uncle Zenas went to work with a will, positively refusing all offers of a.s.sistance from Sidney, and, finally, the lad went into the watch-room, where he read about lenses and the refraction of light until he despaired of ever thoroughly understanding the subjects.

At noon there were no signs of the keepers' return, but Uncle Zenas declared the dory would "heave in sight" within the next two hours, and proposed that they "have a bite to stay their stomachs," deferring a regular dinner until all the crew were together once more.

"I don't want even a bite now," Sidney said decidedly. "Do you suppose Captain Eph would be displeased if I carried the gla.s.ses into the watch-room?"

"Not a bit of it, Sonny. Use 'em wherever you please, an' I'm allowin,'

if you keep a sharp lookout, you'll see the dory inside of half an hour."

Then Sidney climbed the narrow stairs with the gla.s.ses held carefully under his arm, and twenty minutes had not elapsed before he could see, far away in the distance, what looked like a toy boat manned by a miniature crew.

"They're coming, Uncle Zenas! They're coming!" he shouted, and the cook replied:

"I reckoned it was about time they'd be showin' up, an' have jest put on the potatoes. Dinner'll be ready when they get here."

Sidney watched through the gla.s.ses until he could distinguish the features of both the keepers, and as he gazed Captain Eph waved his hand to show that he had seen the little lad in the window of the tower.

Then Sidney ran down-stairs and out on the ledge, standing at the head of the narrow cove as the dory rounded the rocks, while Mr. Peters shouted:

[Ill.u.s.tration: SADDLE BACK LIGHT.]

"I'll tell you what it is, Sonny, we must have our motor boat in runnin' order before next spring, for pullin' a pair of oars when a man can jest as well sit still an' let a screw do the work is all nonsense.

I've found a fellow who claims he can put your machinery in prime order for us, an', what's more, he's comin' out here to get it, when the wind hauls 'round to suit him."

By the time Mr. Peters had thus imparted his news, the dory's bow was on the ways, and Captain Eph had leaped ash.o.r.e to take the lad in his arms as if they had been parted many days.

"Been lonesome, Sonny?" the keeper asked anxiously, and Sidney replied laughingly:

"No sir, though I was glad when you came in sight. Have you had a good time?"

"I was wis.h.i.+n' every minute that I'd staid at home an' let Uncle Zenas go; but I don't reckon it would have done any good if I'd coaxed him all night to take my place. He's kind'er shy 'bout knockin' 'round in a boat since he's growed so fat. We'll haul the dory up, an' then you shall see what I've brought in the way of an outfit."

Captain Eph had no more than ceased speaking before the cook called them to dinner, and in such a peremptory tone that the old keeper said hurriedly:

"I reckon we'd best put off seein' the things till after we've pacified Uncle Zenas by eatin' what he's been cookin'. It does beat all how nervous that old man gets if all hands ain't ready to sit down at the table the minute he says the word, an' 'twixt you an' me, he's growin'

worse every year of his life."

"Wa'al, Ephraim Downs, I hope this is the end of your gallivantin' for a good long spell," Uncle Zenas cried when the keeper and Sidney entered the kitchen. "It don't seem as if you'd been at home more'n one hour out of every ten for the past five days."

"I reckon you can count on my stickin' pretty close to the ledge till next spring," Captain Eph said in a soothing tone as he took his place at the table. "When this spell of weather breaks, we're likely to get it so heavy that there won't be a chance for an honest man to stick even the end of his nose outside the tower."

"That's jest the way I figger it," Mr. Peters added as he seated himself opposite Captain Eph, "an' so I've made up my mind to have a look at the wreck before sunset."

"Haven't you pulled a pair of oars long enough for one day?" the keeper asked in surprise, and Mr. Peters replied:

"I can't say that I ain't a bit tired; but it stands to reason the wreck won't stay on the shoal a great spell, an' I want to see her."

"What did you get for Sonny?" Uncle Zenas asked, interrupting Mr. Peters without the slightest compunction.

"We bought what Sammy an' me both allowed was the proper kind of an outfit for a boy who counted on spendin' the winter on Carys' Ledge, an'

you'd seen the whole lot by this time, if you hadn't been in sich a pucker for us to come to dinner," Captain Eph replied, much as if he felt in some way injured because the meal had been served so promptly.

"The sooner you eat what's set before you, the sooner we'll see what you brought," Uncle Zenas said sharply, and, thus admonished, Captain Eph asked that the food be blessed to them.

The meal was not prolonged; as soon as his hunger had been satisfied the old keeper went out to the dory for the several packages which had been stowed in the bow of the boat, and Uncle Zenas stood in the doorway that he might have the first opportunity of examining the goods.

It did really seem to Sidney as if Captain Eph and Mr. Peters had purchased twice as many articles of wearing apparel as he needed; but Uncle Zenas talked as if he thought they had been n.i.g.g.ardly in selecting the outfit.

There were two full suits of clothes, neither of them very expensive or stylish, but stout and serviceable; under garments, stockings, boots, oil-skins which were somewhere near small enough for him, and, what pleased the lad hugely, a sou'wester--meaning a waterproof hat--which fitted him to a nicety.

After the wardrobe had been examined critically by Uncle Zenas, who declared that he would be obliged to "sew up every seam, else they'd fall apart the first time Sonny looked at 'em hard," Captain Eph unwrapped a large paper box, saying as he removed the cover:

"I know that little shavers are powerful fond of candy, so I bought what I reckon will last Sonny quite a spell. Least-ways, here's all there was in the shop, so we couldn't have got any more, no matter how much he might have wanted it."

"You must have as much as ten pounds there, Ephraim Downs, an' it's a downright shame to give Sonny that kind of truck when, if he wanted sweets, I could have made him plenty of wholesome mola.s.ses candy," and Uncle Zenas helped himself liberally from the box.

"I reckon he'll soon be needin' the mola.s.ses candy if you're goin' in so steep," Captain Eph said with a laugh, as he covered the box and placed it on a shelf behind the stove.

"What's to hinder Sonny from comin' with me to see the wreck, now that you've showed up all the a.s.sortment?" Mr. Peters asked, and the old keeper looked inquiringly at the lad.

"I'd like to go, sir," Sidney said in reply to the mute question. "I have never seen a wrecked vessel."

"All right, Sonny; but I'm goin' along too, for I couldn't trust you alone with Sammy," Captain Eph cried cheerily, and Uncle Zenas grumbled:

"I knew it would turn out this way, when you went ash.o.r.e with Sonny.

You're gettin' a bad habit of roamin', Cap'n Eph, an' I'll count myself lucky if I find you at meal time."

"You'll reach me then, Uncle Zenas, so long as you have your tongue left," Captain Eph replied with a hearty laugh at his own wit as he went hurriedly out of the tower, beckoning Sidney to follow. Not until the lad had put on the coat made from the keeper's uniform would the cook allow him to leave the kitchen, and by the time he gained the head of the little cove, Mr. Peters had the dory ready for the voyage.

With each of the men using a pair of oars, and Sidney in the stern-sheets steering, it was not a long journey to an outlying spur of Carys' Ledge on which the _Nautilus_ foundered. The stern of the vessel had been carried away, and the timbers completely shattered forward of the main-mast; but from that point toward the bow she remained comparatively intact.