The Light Keepers Part 11

"Do you mean to say I can't go ash.o.r.e with him?"

"Not a bit of it, Sammy. In fair weather there's no reason why both of us shouldn't leave the light, so long as Uncle Zenas stays on duty; but Sonny don't go away from this ledge without me, until his own father comes after him, an' then all hands of us'll be sorry to part with the little shaver."

Captain Eph spoke in a tone which told his comrades that he would not listen to any argument, and Mr. Peters looked as if he was on the verge of a fit of the sulks, when Uncle Zenas said placidly, probably with the idea of restoring good humor:

"I think it would be a proper plan for both of you to go; by startin' in the mornin' after the lantern is cleaned, you should be back by noon, an' if two are ash.o.r.e, we can get a lot of shoppin' done. There are a good many things I'm needin' that the Board don't furnish."

Captain Eph suggested that a list be made of the articles needed, and Sidney wrote as the others directed, until Mr. Peters forgot that he had been displeased at the idea of Captain Eph's making one of the party, and laid so many plans for the "outing" that a full week would not have sufficed to carry them all into execution.

That night Sidney tried to persuade the keeper to sleep in his own room, and let him use one of the beds on the upper floor; but Captain Eph was so emphatic in his refusal that the lad could do no less than hold his peace.

He did not sleep very soundly on this night, however, because of being eager to go on watch with the keeper. It seemed as if he awakened every ten minutes, and strained his ears to detect any sound which betokened the changing of the watches, while twice he crept softly to the head of the stairs to make certain Captain Eph was yet in bed.

It seemed to the lad like a piece of rare good luck that he chanced to be awake when it was time for the keeper to go on duty, and then, dressing hurriedly, he crept up to the watch-room, enjoying it hugely when the old man started in surprise as his footstep sounded on the floor.

"Didn't think I could waken, did you?" he cried gleefully, and Captain Eph took him in his arms as he replied:

"I didn't allow you should, if I could help it, because there's no reason for you to turn out so early."

"But I had rather; it makes it seem as if I was of some use here, instead of being a loafer."

"Bless your soul, Sonny, you'd be of use if you didn't do more than let us old sh.e.l.l-backs look at you," and Captain Eph seated himself in the chair, rocking the lad as if he had been a baby. "You never can know how much good it has done us to have you here. If it wasn't for the sore heart I know your father has this minute, I'd thank G.o.d you got lost in the fog, an' pray that you might never find your way off this 'ere ledge so long as I lived."

"You're mighty good to me," Sidney said, at a loss for words.

"It's me who's gettin' all the good out of it," Captain Eph replied with a vain attempt to speak in a careless tone. "Say, you don't mind if I rock you here on my knee while there's n.o.body by to see us, do you, Sonny? You put me in mind of a little shaver who spent a good many hours in my lap an' it kind'er makes me feel better to put my arms around you."

"Mind it, of course I don't, except that I'm glad to have you hold me,"

Sidney cried, guessing something of that which was in the old man's heart, and laying his head on the keeper's shoulder.

The clock which regulated the flashing of the light ticked loudly; the boom of the surf against the black reef sounded like distant thunder; but Captain Eph heard nothing save the soft breathing of the lad after he fell asleep, and saw nothing save the face of the "little shaver"

against which he pressed his lips from time to time, while his eyelids glistened in the lamp-light as if they had been wet with dew.

CHAPTER VI.

THE VOYAGE.

Mr. Peters was not mistaken as to the time when he would finish the task of repairing the motor boat, and at the dinner-table on the day after Captain Eph and Sidney had had such a narrow escape from being run down in the fog, he announced that his work was at an end.

"She's in as good a condition as I can ever put her, an' outside of a reg'lar ship carpenter, I'd like to see the man who would do a neater job. When she's had a coat of paint, it would puzzle a Quaker lawyer to make out to tell that she'd ever been stove."

"There's one thing I like about our Sammy," Uncle Zenas said in a confidential tone to Sidney. "He'll never be hung because of not blowin'

his own horn loud enough, an' that's really the fact."

"On this 'ere ledge a man has got to speak for himself, else there's danger of forgettin' whether or no he's alive," Mr. Peters replied in a placid tone. "It ain't often I get a chance for horn-blowin', owin' to the noise you an' Cap'n Eph make about yourselves. What do you say to havin' a try at the motor, Sonny?"

Sidney looked toward Captain Eph inquiringly, and the latter replied.

"I can't see as there's anything to hinder, pervidin' you don't run outside the cove. All you want to know is whether it's in workin' order, an' that shouldn't take many minutes. If it so be that we do run over to the mainland, it's my opinion that the voyage can be begun within the next twenty-four hours, for this 'ere fog storm is about at an end, 'cordin' to the looks of things."

Therefore it was that as soon as Sidney had eaten dinner he went to the narrow opening in the rocks where the motor boat was moored at such a distance from the foot of the ways that there could be no danger the waves would dash her against the timbers.

Mr. Peters hauled the little craft in so that the lad could leap aboard from the rocks, and while he examined the motor according to the instructions of the _West Wind's_ engineer, Captain Eph and Uncle Zenas came down on the reef as spectators.

It was not necessary to spend many minutes in order to learn if the machinery was in working order. When Sidney applied the spark which ignites the gas, the screw immediately began to revolve, and he had no difficulty in sending her ahead or astern at will.

"I reckon there's no great need of your spendin' very much time over that end of the business," the keeper said in a tone of satisfaction.

"You an' Sammy had better give the engine a thorough cleanin', an' when that has been done I'll try to answer the questions you asked this mornin' about the light, if you come up into the lantern."

Then Captain Eph went back to the tower, and when the two were busily engaged obeying orders, Mr. Peters asked curiously:

"What did the cap'n mean, Sonny, about answerin' your questions?"

"I wanted to know about the lens," Sidney replied. "I can't understand why it is any better to have all those gla.s.s rings around the light, which make so much work for the cleaners, than it would be if it was one solid globe."

"So Cap'n Eph thinks he can explain all that, does he?" Mr. Peters said with a queer gurgle in his throat, much as if he were choking. "Wa'al, all I can say is, if he does, it'll be a good deal more'n I've ever heard of his doin' yet. He'll spin a lot of stuff 'bout bendin' the rays, an' after he gets through you won't know quite as much as you did before."

Because he did not understand the meaning of Mr. Peters' remark, Sidney remained silent, and shortly after, the motor having been cleaned thoroughly, he went into the lantern, where he found the keeper awaiting him.

Captain Eph had before him several open books, as if he had been refreshing his memory on the subject of lenses, and immediately Sidney appeared, he said, in an apologetic tone:

"I don't count on bein' able to give you the idee as to the work of the lenses sich as a man ought'er; but I'll try my best, an' if I fail you won't be any worse off than you are now. In the first place this 'ere is what is known as a light of the first order, meanin' the most powerful in the service, an' the lens alone cost about eight thousand dollars.

The middle part of the lens is made up of what's known as 'refractors,'

which, 'cordin' to my way of tellin' it, are rings of gla.s.s makin' a hollow cylinder six feet in diameter, an' thirty inches high. Below it, as is printed here," and Captain Eph pointed with his thumb to one of the open books, "are six triangular rings of gla.s.s, ranged in a cylindrical form, an' above it, a crown of thirteen rings of gla.s.s, formin' by their union a hollow cage composed of polished gla.s.s, ten feet high, an' six feet in diameter, like this 'ere," and Captain Eph waved his hand toward the brilliant apparatus before them, a picture of which is given here.

"But what is the need of making it out of so many pieces?" Sidney asked.

"Why wouldn't it be just as well to cover the lamp with a globe, such as is on a house-lamp?"

"That, Sonny, is the hard part of explainin' the business, because I don't know so much about it as I ought'er; but I've heard the inspector talk somethin' like this: The flame of the lamp sends its rays in all directions--up, down, an' sideways; an' what's wanted is to get the light streamin' out in a straight line all around, so the top an' bottom of this 'ere gla.s.s cage is put on to bend the rays till they go in the same direction as those in the middle of the flame. 'Cordin' to the inspector, when a ray of light strikes a prism of gla.s.s, it turns toward the base, as you'll see in this--wa'al, I don't hardly know what to call it--that I've been drawin' so's you'll understand what the inspector means by bendin' the rays. You'll notice that, except in the middle, the prisms are each set at a different angle, an' with a s.p.a.ce between 'em, which allows of catchin' every ray from the lamp--"

"Are you ever comin' down to your supper, or do you count on lettin' all this 'ere food, that's taken me so long to shape up, go to waste jest because you want'er talk 'bout what you don't understand?" was the cry from the kitchen, and Captain Eph said hurriedly as he gathered up the books:

"I reckon we'll have to finish this 'ere talk some other time, for Uncle Zenas does surely seem to be gettin' nervous. He's a mighty handy man 'round a light-house; but I do wish he'd get over bein' so dreadful particular about all hands settin' down to the table the very instant a meal is ready. There are times, like this, when I'd rather linger a little; but I don't dare to on account of his bein' so particular."

Although Captain Eph and Sidney made all possible haste to descend, the cook called out twice more before they could get into the kitchen, and the keeper said soothingly:

"Now, now, Uncle Zenas, you must give a man time to come down-stairs, an' Sonny an' me couldn't have got here any sooner unless we'd tumbled down, which wouldn't have been convenient or comfortable."

"I like to have folks at the table when things are ready," Uncle Zenas replied tartly, and Captain Eph said with a wink at Sidney:

"Then you ought'er give us a little warnin'. Sing out when you begin to put things on the table, an' you'll find us here an' waitin', the same as Sammy is now."

Uncle Zenas made no reply to this remark, and it surely seemed as if the incident was closed when Captain Eph asked that the food might be blessed to them.