Ruth Fielding at Lighthouse Point Part 7

"Nothing of the kind! Sometimes there are a dozen in one winter. And lots of times the surfmen go off in a boat and save ships from being wrecked. In a fog, you know. Ships get lost in a fog sometimes, just as folks get lost in a forest----"

"Or in a blizzard," cried Helen, with a lively remembrance of their last winter's experience at Snow Camp.

"Nothing like that will happen here, you know," said Ruth, laughing.

"Heavy promised that we shouldn't be lost in a snowstorm at Lighthouse Point."

"But hear the sea roar!" murmured Mary c.o.x. "Oh! look at the waves!"

They had now come to where they could see the surf breaking over a ledge, or reef, off the sh.o.r.e some half-mile. The breakers piled up as high--seemingly--as a tall house; and when they burst upon the rock they completely hid it for the time.

"Did you ever see such a sight!" cried Madge. "'The sea in its might'!"

The gusts of rain came more plentifully as they rode on, and so rough did the wind become, the girls were rather glad when the wagons drove in at the gateway of the Stone place.

Immediately around the house the owner had coaxed some gra.s.s to grow--at an expense, so Jennie said, of about "a dollar a blade." But everywhere else was the sand--cream-colored, yellow, gray and drab, or slate where the water washed over it and left it glistening.

The entrance was at the rear; the bungalow faced the cove, standing on a ridge which--as has been before said--continued far out to the lighthouse.

"And a woman keeps the light. Her husband kept it for many, many years; but he died a year ago and the government has continued her as keeper.

She's a nice old lady, is Mother Purling, and she can tell stories, too, that will make your hair curl!"

"I'm going over there right away," declared Mary, who had begun to be her old self again. "Mine is as straight as an Indian's."

"A woman alone in a lighthouse! isn't that great?" cried Helen.

"She is alone sometimes; but there is an a.s.sistant keeper. His name is Crab--and that's what he is!" declared Heavy.

"Oh, I can see right now that we're going to have great fun here,"

observed Madge.

This final conversation was carried on after the girls had run into the house for shelter from a sharp gust of rain, and had been taken upstairs by their hostess to the two big rooms in the front of the bungalow which they were to sleep in. From the windows they could see across the cove to the village and note all the fishing and pleasure boats bobbing at their moorings.

Right below them was a long dock built out from Mr. Stone's property, and behind it was moored a motor-launch, a catboat, and two rowboats--quite a little fleet.

"You see, there isn't a sail in the harbor--nor outside. That shows that the storm now blowing up is bound to be a stiff one," explained Heavy. "For the fishermen of Sokennet are as daring as any on the coast, and I have often seen them run out to the banks into what looked to be the very teeth of a gale!"

Meanwhile, the boys had been shown to a good-sized room at the back of the house, and they were already down again and outside, breasting the intermittent squalls from the sea. They had no curls and furbelows to arrange, and ran all about the place before dinner time.

But ere that time arrived the night had shut down. The storm clouds hung low and threatened a heavy rainfall at any moment. Off on the horizon was a livid streak which seemed to divide the heavy ocean from the wind-thrashed clouds.

The company that gathered about the dinner table was a lively one, even if the wind did shriek outside and the thunder of the surf kept up a continual accompaniment to their conversation--like the deeper notes of a mighty organ. Mr. Stone, himself, was not present; but one of Heavy's young aunts had come down to oversee the party, and she was no wet blanket upon the fun.

Of course, the "goodies" on the table were many. Trust Heavy for that.

The old black cook, who had been in the Stone family for a generation, doted on the stout girl and would cook all day to please her young mistress.

They had come to the dessert course when suddenly Tom Cameron half started from his chair and held up a hand for silence.

"What's the matter, Tommy?" demanded Busy Izzy, inquisitively. "What do you hear?"

"Listen!" commanded Tom.

The hilarity ceased suddenly, and all those at the table listened intently. The sudden hush made the noise of the elements seem greater.

"What did you hear?" finally asked his sister.

"A gun--there!"

A distant, reverberating sound was repeated. They all heard it. Heavy and her aunt, Miss Kate, glanced at each other with sudden comprehension.

"What is it?" Ruth cried.

"It's a signal gun," Heavy said, rather weakly.

"A ship in distress," explained Miss Kate, and her tone hushed their clamor.

A third time the report sounded. The dining room door opened and the butler entered.

"What is it, Maxwell?" asked Miss Kate.

"A ship on the Second Reef, Miss," he said hurriedly. "She was sighted just before dark, driving in. But it was plain that she was helpless, and had gone broadside on to the rock. She'll break up before morning, the fishermen say. It will be an awful wreck, ma'am, for there is no chance of the sea going down."

CHAPTER VIII

THE LIFEBOAT IS LAUNCHED

The announcement quelled all the jollity of the party on the instant.

Heavy even lost interest in the sweetmeats before her.

"Goodness me! what a terrible thing," cried Helen Cameron. "A ship on the rocks!"

"Let's go see it!" Busy Izzy cried.

"If we can," said Tom. "Is it possible, Miss Kate?"

Heavy's aunt looked at the butler for information. He was one of those well-trained servants who make it their business to know everything.

"I can have the ponies put into the long buckboard. The young ladies can drive to the station; the young gentlemen can walk. It is not raining very hard at present."

Mercy elected to remain in the house with Miss Kate. The other girls were just as anxious to go to the beach as the boys. There were no timid ones in the party.

But when they came down, dressed in rainy-weather garments, and saw the man standing at the ponies' heads, glistening in wet rubber, if one had withdrawn probably all would have given up the venture. The boys had already gone on ahead, and the ship's gun sounded mournfully through the wild night, at short intervals.

They piled into the three seats of the buckboard, Ruth sitting beside the driver. The ponies dashed away along the sandy road. It was two miles to the life saving station. They pa.s.sed the three boys when they were only half way to their destination.