The Light Keepers Part 14

"That you did, an' the cap'n has brought what'll last six months, even if you sit up nights tryin' to work it inter somethin' that we're bound to eat 'cause we can't get anything else."

"Way enough, Sonny!" Captain Eph cried at this moment, and Sidney shut off the supply of gas, thus bringing the screw gradually to a standstill.

A moment later Uncle Zenas seized the bow of the little craft, dragging it up on the ways, and the voyage had come to an end within six hours of its beginning.

"Hold on there!" Mr. Peters cried excitedly when Uncle Zenas would have taken from the boat the packages which had been stowed with such care.

"Don't touch anythin' here; your stuff is midships."

"But what are these?" and again Uncle Zenas made a movement as if he would have taken up one of the packages; but the first a.s.sistant was so frantic in his efforts to prevent him, that Sidney could not restrain his mirth, for the battle-scarred veteran looked much like an old hen defending her chickens.

"What in the name of goodness, Sammy, have you got there?" Uncle Zenas asked in surprise, and he looked inquiringly at Captain Eph.

"I don't know anything about it," the keeper said in reply to the mute question. "He's acted jest that way ever since we took the stuff aboard--wouldn't let Sonny or me so much as put our fingers on it."

"But you must have seen what he bought," the second a.s.sistant cried as he eyed the packages suspiciously.

"He was too sharp for us, an' when I saw that he was at some kind of underhanded work, I let him have full swing, by goin' out of the shop.

Lend a hand with this 'ere stuff which we ain't ashamed to show, an'

then we'll have a chance to stretch our legs a bit. I'm pretty well cramped up with sittin' still so long."

While Uncle Zenas obeyed this command, Mr. Peters carried his goods into the tower, giving no heed to his comrades, and by the time the motor boat had been run up on the ways to the door of the boat-house, he came out looking exceedingly well pleased with himself.

Uncle Zenas had prepared an unusually appetizing dinner for the voyagers, and while they were giving evidence of their appreciation of his efforts by eating heartily, Captain Eph said with a long-drawn sigh of content:

"I declare it does seem good to get home! It'll be many a long day before I can be coaxed ash.o.r.e agin, unless it so be that Sonny has to go on business of his own."

This remark reminded Uncle Zenas of the main object for which the voyage had been undertaken, and in answer to his questions the keeper explained what had been done.

"Then I s'pose we can look for his father almost any day?" the cook said inquiringly, and Captain Eph explained why, as Mr. Peters had presented the matter, some considerable time must necessarily elapse before any information could be received concerning Captain Harlow's movements.

"I'm allowin', since Sammy put me right on the matter, that the first word we get will come from the inspector," the keeper said as if to dismiss the subject, "an' we can count on keepin' about as we're goin'

for some time yet."

By this time the meal had come to an end, and when Uncle Zenas refused all offers of a.s.sistance in stowing away the goods which had been brought from the mainland, Captain Eph went into the watch-room, followed by Sidney, for Mr. Peters had slipped out of the tower as if afraid some one might take note of his movements.

"Well, Sonny," the keeper said when he was alone with the lad, "what do you reckon you an' I had better do jest now?"

"I was watching the buoys as we went into the harbor, and wondered how it was you knew so well on which side of them the channel was to be found."

"I've been expectin' you'd ask that same question jest as soon as you'd got well inter this 'ere light-house business, an' it strikes me you'll know more about it by readin' somethin' I've put by here, than if I spent the whole day tryin' to tell it in my clumsy way," the keeper said as he gave to Sidney an open book, from which the lad read that which follows:

"The buoy is to the seaman by day what the light is at night, and what the fog signal is in thick weather. It tells him by its size, form, color, and number how to avoid rocks and shoals, and shows the way in and out of harbor.

"The buoy service has its own code of laws, State and national, a fleet of small steamers for its maintenance, and a corps of contractors to attend to the buoyage of coves and inlets impracticable to the steamers.

It has its depots for the storage of iron buoys, where they are painted and numbered, or repaired, and also where wooden buoys are made ready for service. It has its own directory printed yearly, in thirteen volumes, distributed gratuitously for the benefit of commerce, in which each one is mentioned by name, located by station, and described by size, color, number, and vicinity.

"Congress prescribed, by act of September 28, 1850, that red buoys, with even numbers, be placed on the right-hand side, and black buoys, with odd numbers, on the left-hand side of channels approached from seaward; that buoys placed on wrecks and other obstructions, having a channel on each side, be painted with red and black horizontal stripes; that those buoys placed in mid-channel, and which indicate that they must be pa.s.sed close-to to avoid danger, be painted with white and black perpendicular stripes; and, finally, that perches, with b.a.l.l.s, cages, etc., when placed on buoys, will indicate a turning-point, the color and number of the buoy showing the side on which they are to be pa.s.sed.

"Iron buoys are hollow, with air-tight compartments, and are made of three shapes, called nun, can, and ice-buoys. The nun-buoys are almost conical in form; the can-buoy is in shape the frustum of a cone, nearly approaching a cylinder, and the ice-buoy is found much like a spar-buoy, of great length, slight thickness, and of the largest diameter near its middle. Each shape is cla.s.sified by size, and diversified by color and number. They were once made of wooden staves, like barrels, but their rapid destruction by submarine worms caused the subst.i.tution of boiler-iron.

"The cost of these buoys varies with the price of iron, and they have been sold to the Government for $41.81 in the case of third-cla.s.s buoys, up to $150 for those of the first-cla.s.s.

"Buoys are exposed to many dangers, not the least of which is that of being run down and ripped open by pa.s.sing steamers. As the iron buoys are made with compartments, they are rarely sunk, but their line of floatation is often lowered, and their usefulness accordingly decreased.

"Spar-buoys frequently lose a portion of their length, which is cut off by strokes of colliding propeller-blades. Despite state and national statutes forbidding it, vessels will sometimes make fast to buoys, thus gradually dragging them off their bearings. A buoy has sometimes been set adrift that a reward might be obtained for its recovery; but this is not a profitable operation, as the reward paid is varied with the circ.u.mstances of each case.

"The buoy's worst enemy, however, is ice, when moving in ma.s.s, and with a tide or current. A well-made, well-moored buoy at the mouth of a narrow river can create an ice-gorge; but usually, when the ice moves in force, the buoys met have their mooring-loops torn out, their mooring-chains broken, or their mooring-anchors weighed; and in each case the buoys are carried out to sea, when the buoy tenders give chase, and, if successful in their capture, return them to position.

[Ill.u.s.tration: CAPE ELIZABETH.]

"The sea-going qualities of the large buoys are shown by their volunteer voyages. One is now anch.o.r.ed off the coast of Ireland, where it was picked up, about six weeks after it had been wrenched from its place in New York harbor, and turned over to the Irish light-house establishment, by which it was reported to the United States Light-House Board, when it was presented to the Irish Board, who simply added to its former marks their own, and moored it near the point where it came ash.o.r.e, in commemoration of its peculiar voyage.

"The iron ice-buoy is made of boiler-iron, and is divided into compartments, so that any one may be pierced without sinking the buoy.

One of the first-cla.s.s costs $275, is fifty feet long, and stands twenty-two feet out of water. One of the second-cla.s.s costs $181, is forty feet long, and stands seventeen feet out of water. As with wooden spar-buoys, the ice pa.s.ses over them without carrying them away; but, unlike the wooden buoys, they break the propeller blades which strike them, instead of being broken, and, thus defending themselves, last many times longer than spar-buoys, and, though costing more at first, are more economical in the end."

Captain Eph had remained patiently near the window during all the time Sidney was reading that which has been given here, and a smile overspread his face as the lad said when he closed the book:

"It seems as if I ought to know all about buoys, after reading so much, and I'll try not to forget it."

"The longer you stay with us, Sonny, the bigger idee you'll get of the money it costs to keep the waters of this 'ere country in proper trim for sailors. I reckon there ain't more'n one landsman in twenty who, when he sees a light-house, could give any reasonable guess as to the bigness of the service."

"There's a lot to learn about it," Sidney said with a sigh, and Captain Eph replied laughingly:

"Indeed there is, Sonny, an' you ain't forced to wade through it all unless your curiosity leads that way. There's a big fleet of steamers to be talked about yet, an' they must surely cost a lot of money."

The keeper was interrupted by the voice of Uncle Zenas from the kitchen:

"Ephraim Downs, I want to know if your losin' your senses entirely?"

"Now Uncle Zenas, what seems to be the trouble with you?" the keeper called down through the door. "Has the cookin' gone wrong, or didn't we buy all the gim-cracks you wanted?"

"In case you haven't lost your senses, why is Sammy allowed to make a jumpin' jack of himself all over this 'ere ledge? If anybody should see him, it would be told everywhere on the mainland that we'd gone crazy, an' then goodness only knows what might happen!"

"I didn't know Sammy was up to any capers, Uncle Zenas; but I'll look into the matter, an' if he's doin' anything agin the rules an'

regerlations, I'll straighten him out in short order. Don't worry about his bein' seen, for there isn't so much as a fisherman's dory in sight."

"He'd be cavortin' 'round jest the same if a whole fleet had hove to off here," Uncle Zenas cried, and without waiting to make any reply, Captain Eph hurried to one of the windows, from which Sidney was already gazing out with a look of wonderment on his face.

"What in the name of goodness has come over Sammy?" the old keeper cried to no one in particular; but Sidney replied in a tone of perplexity:

"It looks as if he was nailin' up a lot of sticks, sir."

"But he can't nail 'em to the rocks, an' whatever he puts up there will be carried away by the first wave that breaks over the ledge!"

Mr. Peters certainly was acting in a very peculiar manner. He had in his arms five or six strips of boards or planks, which had the appearance of having been washed up from some wreck, and was striding to and fro, evidently trying to find some place where he could place them in a sort of frame-work, for, during the short time Captain Eph and Sidney watched from the window, he made two unsuccessful attempts to secure them in an upright position.

The old keeper watched his first a.s.sistant narrowly for some time, evidently losing a tiny bit of his temper each moment, and presently it was impossible for him to remain silent any longer: