The Light Keepers Part 7

If Uncle Zenas had really lost his temper because the keeper and first a.s.sistant had not answered the summons to dinner as quickly as he thought they should have done, there was no trace of anger on his fat, placid face when Captain Eph and Sidney entered the kitchen.

Mr. Peters had moved so rapidly after the cook called, that he was already at the table, apparently ready to make a vigorous attack on the food before him; but waiting for Captain Eph to ask a blessing upon the food, as was the regular custom.

As a rule the old keeper's words were few at such a time, but on this day he prayed at considerable length that the lad who had so suddenly come among them be kept from sin and bodily harm, and that the father's mind be relieved speedily from the burden of grief which weighted it.

During the unusually long prayer Mr. Peters had been moving uneasily in his chair, and no sooner was the last word spoken than he asked abruptly:

"Have we got any gasolene among the stores, Captain Eph?"

"If Uncle Zenas hasn't wasted it there should be a couple of gallons left over from the last lot I bought with our own money. It does seem strange that the Board can't be brought around to the belief that it's cheaper to use an oil stove in the summer, than be messin' with coal, which is unhandy to get into the tower, an' bad stowin' in sich small quarters as ours. Why did you ask, Sammy?"

"I was thinkin' that if we didn't speak some kind of a craft pretty soon, an' I got the lad's boat into trim, he an' I might run over to town. The way I look at it, we're bound to get that report into the inspector's hands right away, else the _West Wind_ may have gone to Porto Rico an' back before word can be sent to her captain."

"I ain't so certain but that might be a bit risky," Captain Eph said thoughtfully. "If we could leave Sonny behind, where there's no chance of his comin' to harm, it would be all right; but neither of us know how to run the motor."

"If we picked a fine day, it ought'er be done without risk to anybody, for I'm allowin' the craft could make the round trip in four hours, an'

give us time to run up to the post-office," Mr. Peters replied eagerly, and it could readily be understood that he had already arranged the details in his own mind.

"How long will it take you to put the boat in shape, Sammy?" Uncle Zenas asked, after waiting in vain for some word from the keeper.

"If the weather holds as it is now, I can have her in prime condition day after to-morrow. Think you could run her a dozen miles or more, lad?" he asked of Sidney, and the latter replied without hesitation:

"Surely I could! The motor hasn't been hurt any, and it was working all right when I came in here."

"Then this is the way I look at the sitewation, Captain Eph," the first a.s.sistant began, waving his knife in the air as if to attract attention.

"This 'ere fog mull may hang on for a week or ten days, an' since I've been on the ledge I've known the smother to last a full two weeks without liftin' enough to show a man the end of his own nose. It stands to reason we can't hail any craft that we ain't able to see."

"Are you crazy enough to drag that 'ere little shaver off in a boat while the weather is like this?" Captain Eph asked sternly. "If we had a fog-horn or even a bell, it would be a bit different; but as it is I wouldn't care to make a try at it."

"Of course I'm not quite so wild as that. Allowin' that we don't hail anything before the fog lifts, an' there ain't much chance we will.

Then say there's nothin' in sight when the smother blows off? Wouldn't it be better to strike out for the post-office, instead of waitin' on the chance of sightin' a fisherman?"

"I'm bound, as a truthful man, to say you've got the right of it, Sammy," Captain Eph replied; "but I'm wonderin' whether we're warranted in sendin' the lad on sich a voyage."

"If Mr. Peters went with me, sir, it doesn't seem as if there would be any great danger," Sidney suggested, and after a long pause the keeper announced his decision.

"Keep right at work on the boat, Sammy, an' if she's in good condition when the fog lifts, we'll argue the matter a little; but I ain't willin'

to agree off hand that it shall be done."

The first a.s.sistant appeared to be satisfied with this questionable promise. He at once began to explain in detail how he proposed to perform the necessary labor on the motor boat, and where it would be possible to get the needed materials.

Sidney listened intently until Mr. Peters had exhausted the subject, and then he asked timidly of the keeper:

"Did you say, sir, that you hadn't any fog signal?"

"Ay, lad, them was my very words. You've been over pretty much the whole of this 'ere ledge, an' I reckon you didn't see anything that looked like one, eh?"

"No, sir; but when I came in here, before seeing the tower, I heard what I thought was a fog signal, and it has been going ever since."

"True for you, my lad, but what you heard, an' are hearin' now, is the whistlin' buoy, anch.o.r.ed off here a couple of miles to the east'ard, an'

I reckon you're enough of a sailor to know what sich things are."

"I've heard them often; but never knew how the noise could be got out of a buoy which had no person to attend it."

"When you have the time there's nothin' to hinder your readin' what the Board says about whistlin' buoys; but I won't promise that you'll be any the wiser after doin' it, for in all these years I haven't been able to get it through my head, though I've figgered out a gen'ral idee of how she works. The top of the buoy is shaped a good deal like a pear, an'

measures about twelve feet across the widest part. Inside the upper part, an' runnin' down into the sea to a depth of thirty-two feet, is an iron pipe thirty-three inches across it. Right at the very top of the pipe, an' showin' above the whole thing, is a 10-inch locomotive whistle, connected with some little tubes, which the inspector says make a piston-and cylinder movement, whatever that may be.

"Of course these 'ere buoys are anch.o.r.ed in deep water, an' it stands to reason that they rise an' fall on the waves, consequently the water inside the big pipe pumps up an' down, compressin' the air till it jest nat'rally has to escape through the whistle, makin' the noise. The whole thing was invented by a man named Courtenay, an' I'm bound to say he must have had a big head on his shoulders to think out sich a contrivance. It may be, lad, that you'll understand it better by readin'

from the report; but I can't tackle the big words, an' don't know a piston or an apex from the Queen of Sheba, consequently it don't do me any great amount of good to puzzle over 'em.

"The Government has got eighty-eight whistling buoys in position, an'

every blessed one of 'em cost nigh to eleven hundred dollars. Then there are one hundred an' thirty-nine bell-buoys which cost three hundred dollars apiece, an' five thousand one hundred an' eighty-three other buoys costin' different prices, so you see, lad, that outside the light-house part of the service, it takes a big pile of money to buy buoys an' keep 'em in position."

"An' that's only one little end of the expense," Uncle Zenas added in a tone of solemnity. "When you come to figger up the whole business it'll be easy to see how much responsibility we of Carys' Ledge carry on our shoulders, which reminds me that it's time you folks got up from the table an' let me have a chance to put the kitchen to rights."

"And I'll help you to do it!" Sidney cried gleefully, for it pleased him to have an opportunity of a.s.sisting those who had been so kind to him.

"You needn't raise a finger, lad," the cook replied quickly, and he added with a glance at his comrades, "I must say, though, that this is the first time in all the years I've served as second a.s.sistant of this 'ere light, that anybody has offered to lend a hand, no matter how much work there was to be done."

Captain Eph peered through the window much as though it was in the highest degree necessary he should gaze out upon the fog just at that moment, and Mr. Peters scuttled down the ladder to his work of boat-repairing, as if the moments had suddenly become very precious.

Despite Uncle Zenas' protests, Sidney did his full share toward putting the kitchen to rights, and when that had been done he began to realize that he needed yet more sleep.

"Gettin' sand in your eyes, eh?" Captain Eph asked with a laugh, as he noted the expression on the boy's face. "Wa'al, I kind'er allowed you'd find out before a great while that you hadn't staid in bed long enough, an' now, seein's you'vre put in a tolerable hearty dinner, I'd recommend that you turn in for the night."

"But it is only noon," Sidney protested feebly.

"It wouldn't make any difference if it was only sunrise, for you need a heap more sleep than you've had, an' it'll do you a world of good to snooze from now till mornin'. Stay in bed even if your eyes are wide open, an' you'll feel the better for it to-morrow."

"Ain't it about time that you made up your mind where the lad is to sleep?" Uncle Zenas asked, and Captain Eph replied as if astonished because such a question had been asked:

"He's to have my bed, of course; where else should he sleep?"

"But what are you to do?"

"There are two beds for three of us, an' one is on watch all the time, so there's no call for much figgerin'."

"A blanket on the floor will be enough for me," Sidney cried, distressed at the idea of depriving the keeper of his bed; but Captain Eph said in a tone of authority:

"You must leave me to run this 'ere light, lad, 'cordin' to my own idees, seein's how the Government put me in charge, an' I say that you're to use my room so long as you stay with us."

Then the keeper led the way up-stairs, and Sidney could do no less than follow him. Ten minutes later the visitor was sleeping soundly, and Uncle Eph was creeping softly down the iron ladder to insist that the first a.s.sistant cease work on the boat temporarily, lest he disturb the tired lad.

"I'll have to stop if you say so, Cap'n, for you're the boss here; but it does seem as if I might keep putterin' 'round so long as I don't use hammer or axe," Mr. Peters said pleadingly. "This 'ere work is mighty important if we count on gettin' word to the lad's father."

"You mustn't take any chances of wakenin' him, Sammy," the keeper said impressively. "I'm allowin' that the chief thing is to get him inter shape, an' sleep is what he needs, so put up your tools an' come inter the kitchen, where we'll have a friendly smoke."

Mr. Peters obeyed, because he did not really dare to do otherwise, knowing from past experience that the keeper was jealous of his authority, and soon the three were sitting in Uncle Zenas' quarters, conversing in whispers lest Sidney's slumbers be disturbed, as they smoked their pipes in peaceful content.