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- float: left; - margin-right: 1em } - -.align-right { clear: right; - float: right; - margin-left: 1em } - -.align-center { margin-left: auto; - margin-right: auto } - -div.shrinkwrap { display: table; } - -/* SECTIONS */ - -body { margin: 5% 10% 5% 10% } - -/* compact list items containing just one p */ -li p.pfirst { margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0 } - -.first { margin-top: 0 !important; - text-indent: 0 !important } -.last { margin-bottom: 0 !important } - -span.dropcap { float: left; margin: 0 0.1em 0 0; line-height: 1 } -img.dropcap { float: left; margin: 0 0.5em 0 0; max-width: 25% } -span.dropspan { font-variant: small-caps } - -.no-page-break { page-break-before: avoid !important } - -/* PAGINATION */ - -@media screen { - .coverpage, .frontispiece, .titlepage, .verso, .dedication, .plainpage - { margin: 10% 0; } - - div.clearpage, div.cleardoublepage - { margin: 10% 0; border: none; border-top: 1px solid gray; } - - .vfill { margin: 5% 10% } -} - -@media print { - div.clearpage { page-break-before: always; padding-top: 10% } - div.cleardoublepage { page-break-before: right; padding-top: 10% } - - .vfill { margin-top: 20% } - h2.title { margin-top: 20% } -} - -</style> -<title>AT THE BLACK ROCKS</title> -<meta name="PG.Rights" content="Public Domain" /> -<meta name="PG.Title" content="At the Black Rocks" /> -<meta name="PG.Producer" content="Al Haines" /> -<link rel="coverpage" href="images/img-cover.jpg" /> -<meta name="DC.Creator" content="Edward A. Rand" /> -<meta name="DC.Created" content="1903" /> -<meta name="PG.Id" content="40269" /> -<meta name="PG.Released" content="2012-07-18" /> -<meta name="DC.Language" content="en" /> -<meta name="DC.Title" content="At the Black Rocks" /> - -<link href="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" rel="schema.DCTERMS" /> -<link href="http://id.loc.gov/vocabulary/relators" rel="schema.MARCREL" /> -<meta content="At the Black Rocks" name="DCTERMS.title" /> -<meta content="rocks.rst" name="DCTERMS.source" /> -<meta content="en" scheme="DCTERMS.RFC4646" name="DCTERMS.language" /> -<meta content="2012-07-18T17:01:36.608100+00:00" scheme="DCTERMS.W3CDTF" name="DCTERMS.modified" /> -<meta content="Project Gutenberg" name="DCTERMS.publisher" /> -<meta content="Public Domain in the USA." name="DCTERMS.rights" /> -<link href="http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/40269" rel="DCTERMS.isFormatOf" /> -<meta content="Edward \A. Rand" name="DCTERMS.creator" /> -<meta content="2012-07-18" scheme="DCTERMS.W3CDTF" name="DCTERMS.created" /> -<meta content="width=device-width" name="viewport" /> -<meta content="EpubMaker 0.3.19b4 by Marcello Perathoner <webmaster@gutenberg.org>" name="generator" /> -<style type="text/css"> -.pageno { position: absolute; right: 95%; font: medium sans-serif; text-indent: 0 } -.pageno:after { color: gray; content: '[' attr(title) ']' } -.lineno { position: absolute; left: 95%; font: medium sans-serif; text-indent: 0 } -.lineno:after { color: gray; content: '[' attr(title) ']' } -.toc-pageref { float: right } -pre { font-family: monospace; font-size: 0.9em; white-space: pre-wrap } -</style> -</head> -<body> -<div class="document" id="at-the-black-rocks"> -<h1 class="document-title level-1 pfirst title">AT THE BLACK ROCKS</h1> - -<!-- -*- encoding: utf-8 -*- --> -<div class="clearpage"> -</div> -<!-- -*- encoding: utf-8 -*- --> -<div class="align-None container language-en noindent pgheader" id="pg-header" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> -<p class="noindent pfirst">This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the <a class="reference internal" href="#project-gutenberg-license">Project Gutenberg License</a> -included with this eBook or online at -<a class="reference external" href="http://www.gutenberg.org/license">http://www.gutenberg.org/license</a>.</p> -<p class="noindent pnext"></p> -<div class="noindent vspace" style="height: 2em"> -</div> -<div class="align-None container noindent white-space-pre-line" id="pg-machine-header"> -<p class="noindent pfirst white-space-pre-line"><span class="white-space-pre-line">Title: At the Black Rocks<br /> -<br /> -Author: Edward A. Rand<br /> -<br /> -Release Date: July 18, 2012 [EBook #40269]<br /> -<br /> -Language: English<br /> -<br /> -Character set encoding: UTF-8</span></p> -</div> -<div class="noindent vspace" style="height: 2em"> -</div> -<p class="noindent pfirst" id="pg-start-line">*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK <span>AT THE BLACK ROCKS</span> ***</p> -<div class="noindent vspace" style="height: 4em"> -</div> -<p class="noindent pfirst" id="pg-produced-by"><span>Produced by Al Haines.</span></p> -<div class="noindent vspace" style="height: 1em"> -</div> -<p class="noindent pfirst"><span></span></p> -</div> -<div class="align-None container coverpage"> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 3em"> -</div> -<div class="align-center auto-scaled figure" style="width: 54%" id="figure-41"> -<span id="cover"></span><img class="align-center" style="display: block; width: 100%" alt=" " src="images/img-cover.jpg" /> -<div class="caption figure"> -Cover</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="align-None container frontispiece"> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 3em"> -</div> -<div class="align-center auto-scaled figure" style="width: 63%" id="figure-42"> -<span id="shove-hard-but-sing-easy-page-33"></span><img class="align-center" style="display: block; width: 100%" alt=" " src="images/img-front.jpg" /> -<div class="caption figure"> -"'Shove hard, but sing easy.'" <em class="italics">Page 33</em></div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em"> -</div> -<div class="align-None center container titlepage white-space-pre-line"> -<p class="pfirst white-space-pre-line x-large">AT THE BLACK ROCKS</p> -<div class="vspace white-space-pre-line" style="height: 2em"> -</div> -<p class="medium pfirst white-space-pre-line">BY REV. EDWARD A. RAND</p> -<div class="vspace white-space-pre-line" style="height: 4em"> -</div> -<p class="center medium pfirst white-space-pre-line">LONDON, EDINBURGH,<br /> -DUBLIN, AND NEW YORK<br /> -THOMAS NELSON<br /> -AND SONS</p> -<div class="vspace white-space-pre-line" style="height: 4em"> -</div> -</div> -<div class="align-None container plainpage white-space-pre-line"> -<p class="center large pfirst white-space-pre-line">CONTENTS</p> -<ol class="left medium upperroman simple white-space-pre-line"> -<li class="white-space-pre-line"><p class="first pfirst white-space-pre-line"><a class="reference internal white-space-pre-line" href="#was-he-worth-saving">Was he worth Saving?</a></p> -</li> -<li class="white-space-pre-line"><p class="first pfirst white-space-pre-line"><a class="reference internal white-space-pre-line" href="#caught-on-the-bar">Caught on the Bar</a></p> -</li> -<li class="white-space-pre-line"><p class="first pfirst white-space-pre-line"><a class="reference internal white-space-pre-line" href="#did-the-schooner-come-back">Did the Schooner come back?</a></p> -</li> -<li class="white-space-pre-line"><p class="first pfirst white-space-pre-line"><a class="reference internal white-space-pre-line" href="#what-was-he-here-for">What was he here for?</a></p> -</li> -<li class="white-space-pre-line"><p class="first pfirst white-space-pre-line"><a class="reference internal white-space-pre-line" href="#the-lighthouse">The Lighthouse</a></p> -</li> -<li class="white-space-pre-line"><p class="first pfirst white-space-pre-line"><a class="reference internal white-space-pre-line" href="#fog">Fog</a></p> -</li> -<li class="white-space-pre-line"><p class="first pfirst white-space-pre-line"><a class="reference internal white-space-pre-line" href="#the-camp-at-the-nub">The Camp at the Nub</a></p> -</li> -<li class="white-space-pre-line"><p class="first pfirst white-space-pre-line"><a class="reference internal white-space-pre-line" href="#visitors">Visitors</a></p> -</li> -<li class="white-space-pre-line"><p class="first pfirst white-space-pre-line"><a class="reference internal white-space-pre-line" href="#that-open-book">That open Book</a></p> -</li> -<li class="white-space-pre-line"><p class="first pfirst white-space-pre-line"><a class="reference internal white-space-pre-line" href="#the-christmas-gift">The Christmas Gift</a></p> -</li> -<li class="white-space-pre-line"><p class="first pfirst white-space-pre-line"><a class="reference internal white-space-pre-line" href="#at-shipton-again">At Shipton again</a></p> -</li> -<li class="white-space-pre-line"><p class="first pfirst white-space-pre-line"><a class="reference internal white-space-pre-line" href="#on-which-side-victory">On which side Victory?</a></p> -</li> -<li class="white-space-pre-line"><p class="first pfirst white-space-pre-line"><a class="reference internal white-space-pre-line" href="#what-to-do-next">What to do next</a></p> -</li> -<li class="white-space-pre-line"><p class="first pfirst white-space-pre-line"><a class="reference internal white-space-pre-line" href="#guests-at-the-lighthouse">Guests at the Lighthouse</a></p> -</li> -<li class="white-space-pre-line"><p class="first pfirst white-space-pre-line"><a class="reference internal white-space-pre-line" href="#the-storm-gathering">The Storm Gathering</a></p> -</li> -<li class="white-space-pre-line"><p class="first pfirst white-space-pre-line"><a class="reference internal white-space-pre-line" href="#the-storm-striking">The Storm Striking</a></p> -</li> -<li class="white-space-pre-line"><p class="first pfirst white-space-pre-line"><a class="reference internal white-space-pre-line" href="#thomas-trafton-detective">Thomas Trafton, Detective</a></p> -</li> -<li class="white-space-pre-line"><p class="first pfirst white-space-pre-line"><a class="reference internal white-space-pre-line" href="#into-a-trap">Into a Trap</a></p> -</li> -<li class="white-space-pre-line"><p class="first pfirst white-space-pre-line"><a class="reference internal white-space-pre-line" href="#a-place-to-stop">A Place to Stop</a></p> -</li> -</ol> -</div> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em"> -</div> -<p class="center pfirst x-large" id="was-he-worth-saving">AT THE BLACK ROCKS.</p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 3em"> -</div> -<p class="center large pfirst">I.</p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 1em"> -</div> -<p class="center medium pfirst"><em class="italics">WAS HE WORTH SAVING?</em></p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"> -</div> -<p class="pfirst">"I might try," squeaked a diminutive boy, whose -dark eyes had an unfortunate twist.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Ye-s-s, Bartie," said his grandmother doubtfully, -looking out of the window upon the water wrinkled -by the rising wind.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Wouldn't be much wuss," observed Bartholomew's -grandfather, leaning forward in his old red arm-chair -and steadily eying a failing fire as if arguing this -matter with the embers. Then he added, "You could -take the small boat."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Yes," said Bart eagerly. "I could scull, you know; -and if the doctor wasn't there when I got there, I could -tell 'em you didn't feel well, and he might come when -he could."</p> -<p class="pnext">"That will do, if he don't put it off too long," -observed the old man, shaking his head at the fire as if -the two had now settled the matter between them. -"Yes, you might try."</p> -<p class="pnext">Bartie now went out to try. Very soon he wished -he had not made the trial. Granny Trafton saw him -step into the small boat moored by the shore, and then -his wiry little arms began to work an oar in the stern -of the boat. "Gran'sir Trafton," as he was called, -came also to the window, and looked out upon the -diminutive figure wriggling in the little boat.</p> -<p class="pnext">"He will get back in an hour," observed Gran'sir -Trafton.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Ought to be," said Granny Trafton.</p> -<p class="pnext">It is a wonder that Bartie ever came back at all. -He was the very boy to meet with some kind of an -accident. Somehow mishaps came to him readily. If -any boy had a tumble, it was likely to be Bartie -Trafton. If measles slyly stole into town to be caught by -somebody, Bartie Trafton was sure to be one catcher. -In a home that was cramped by poverty--his father -at sea the greater fraction of the time, and the other -fraction at home drunk--this under-sized, timid, -shrinking boy seemed as continually destined for -trouble as the Hudson for the sea.</p> -<p class="pnext">"I don't amount to much," was an idea that -burdened his small brain, and the community agreed with -him. If the public had seen him sculling Gran'sir -Trafton's small boat that day, it would have prophesied -ill before very long. The public just then and there -upon the river was very limited in quantity. It -consisted of two fishermen wearily pulling against tide a -boat-load of dried cod-fish, a boy fishing from a rock -that projected boldly and heavily into the water, and -several boys playing on the deck of an old schooner -which was anchored off the shore, and had been reached -by means of a raft.</p> -<p class="pnext">The fishermen pulled wearily on. The boys on the -schooner deck ran and shouted at their play. The -young fisherman's line dangled down from the crown -of the big shore-rock. The small sculler out in Gran'sir -Trafton's small boat busily worked his oar. Bart did -not see a black spar-buoy thrusting its big arm out of -the water, held up as a kind of menace, in the very -course Bart was taking. How could Bart see it? His -face was turned up river, and the buoy was in the -very opposite quarter, not more than twenty feet from -the bow of the boat Bart was working forward with -all his small amount of muscle. A person is not likely -to see through the back of his head. Closer came the -boat to the buoy. Did not its ugly black arm, amid -the green, swirling water, tremble as if making an -angry, violent threat? Who was this small boy -invading the neighbourhood where the buoy reigned as if -an outstretched sceptre? On sculled innocent -Bartholomew, the threatening arm shaking violently in his -very pathway, and suddenly--whack-k! The boat -struck, threatened to upset, and did upset--Bart! He -could swim. After all the unlucky falls he had had -into the water, it would have been strange if he had -not learned something about this element; but he had -reached a place in the river where the out-going -current ran with strength, and took one not landward but -seaward. How long could he keep above water--that -timid, shrinking face appealing for pity to every -spectator? The boys on the deck of the old schooner soon -saw the empty dory floating past, and they now caught -also the cry for help from the pitiful face of the -panting swimmer--a cry that amid their loud play they -had not heard before.</p> -<p class="pnext">"O Dick," said one of the younger boys, "there's a -fellow overboard, and there's his boat! Quick!"</p> -<p class="pnext">At this sharp warning every one looked up. Then -they rushed to the schooner's rail and looked over. -Yes: there was the white face in the water; there -was the drifting boat.</p> -<p class="pnext">The boy addressed as Dick was the leader of the -party. His black, staring eyes, and his profusion of -black, curly hair, would have attracted attention -anywhere. His eyes now sparkled anew, and he tossed -back his bushy curls, exclaiming,--</p> -<p class="pnext">"Boys, to the rescue! Attention! Man the <em class="italics">Great -Emperor</em>."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Throw this rope," was a suggestion made by -another boy, seizing a rope lying on the deck. A rope -did not move Dick's imagination so powerfully as the -<em class="italics">Great Emperor</em>. The rope was not nearly so daring -as the raft, though it would have given speedy and -sufficient help.</p> -<p class="pnext">"To the rescue!" rang out Dick's voice. "Not in a -rush! Ho, there! Orderly, men!"</p> -<p class="pnext">Strutting forward with a blustering air, Dick led -his rescue-band to the <em class="italics">Great Emperor</em>, which at the -impulse of every rocking little wave thumped against -the schooner's hull. The band of rescuers went down -upon the raft with more of a tumble than was -agreeable to Captain Dick of the <em class="italics">Great Emperor</em>. Dick -concluded that there was too much of a crew to -dexterously manage the raft in the swift voyage that must -now be made. Several would-be heroes were sent -back disappointed to the schooner, and they proceeded, -when too late, to cast the rope which had been -ignominiously spurned. It splashed the water in vain. -Bartie tried to reach it; but it was like Tantalus in -the fable striving to pluck the grapes beyond his -grasp.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Cast off!" Dick was now shouting excitedly, -pompously. "Pull with a will for the shipwrecked -mariner!" was his second order.</p> -<p class="pnext">This meant to use two poles in poling and paddling, -as might be more advantageous.</p> -<p class="pnext">In the meantime the boy fisherman on the rock had -been operating energetically though quietly. He had -seen the catastrophe, and had not ceased to watch the -little fellow who was struggling with the current -somewhere between the schooner and the shore. Bartie -had aimed to reach the shore, and the distance was not -great; but just in this place the current ran with -swiftness and power, and the little fellow's strength was -failing him. He had given several shrieks for help, -but it seemed as if he had been doing that thing all -through life; and as the world outside of gran'sir and -granny had not paid much attention to his appeals, -would the world do it now? Bart had almost come -to the conclusion that it would be easier to sink than -to struggle, when he heard a noise in the water and -close at hand. Was it the <em class="italics">Great Emperor</em>? No; its -deck was still the scene of an impressive demonstration -of getting ready to do something. The noise heard by -Bart had been made by the boy fisherman, who, stripping -off his jacket, kicking off his boots, and sending -his stockings after them, had thrown himself into the -water, and was making energetic headway toward -Bart. It was good swimming--that of some one who -had both skill and strength on his side.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Bartie!" he shouted.</p> -<p class="pnext">What a world of hope opened before Bartie at the -sound of that voice!</p> -<p class="pnext">"Here! here! Put your hands on my shoulders, -not round my neck, you know. There! that is it. -Now swim. We'll fetch her."</p> -<p class="pnext">Fetch what? It was a pretty difficult thing to -say definitely what that indefinite "her" might mean. -The current was still strong. Bart's rescuer, if alone, -could have gained the shore again; but could he bring -the rescued? Bart's face, pitiful and pale, projected -just above the water, and as his wet hair fell back -upon his forehead his countenance looked like that of -a half-drowned kitten.</p> -<p class="pnext">A third party on the river, that of the fishermen in -their cod-laden boat moving slowly up river and -hugging the shore for the sake of help from the eddies, -had now become conscious that something was going on.</p> -<p class="pnext">"What's that a-hollerin'?" asked one of the men, -Dan Eaton, reversing his head.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Trouble enough!" exclaimed Bill Bagley, who had -also taken a look ahead. "Pull, Bill!"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Put for them two boys, Dan! one is a-helpin' -t'other."</p> -<p class="pnext">The boat began to advance as if the dead cod-fish -had become live ones and were lending their strength -to the oarsmen.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Good!" thought the rescuer in the water, who -saw between him and the far-off, level, misty sky-line -a boat and the backs of two fishermen. "Hold on -there!" he said encouragingly to Bartie; "there's a -boat coming!"</p> -<p class="pnext">The help did not arrive any too soon. Bartie's hands -were resting lightly on his rescuer's shoulders, and he -was arguing if he could not throw his arms around -the neck of his beloved object, whether it might not be -well to relinquish his feeble, tired hold altogether, and -drop back into the soft, yielding depths of the water all -about him; such an easy bed to lie down in! Life had -given him so many hard berths. This seemed a relief.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Ho, there you are!" shouted Dan, as the boat -came up. He seized Bartie, while Bill Bagley gripped -the other boy, and both Bartie and his companion -were hauled into the boat, rather roughly, and -somewhat after the fashion of cod-fish, but effectually.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Now, Dan, let us pull for that cove and land our -cargo!" said Bill. "You boys can walk home? We -have got to go to the other side and take our fish to -town."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Oh yes," said the rescuer.</p> -<p class="pnext">"I--I--can--walk!" exclaimed the shivering Bartie.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Ah, youngster, you came pretty near not walking -ag'in if it hadn't been for t'other chap."</p> -<p class="pnext">This made Bartie feel at first very sober, and then -he looked very grateful as he turned toward his -rescuers and said,--</p> -<p class="pnext">"I--thank--you all. I--I--I'll do as--much for -you--some time."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Will ye?" replied Bill Bagley with a grin. "Really, -I hope we shan't be in that fix where you'll have to."</p> -<p class="pnext">"See there!" exclaimed Dan. "There's the boat -adrift!"</p> -<p class="pnext">The Trafton boat was leisurely floating down the -stream. Bart had forgotten all about this craft. A -frightened look shadowed his face.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Don't you worry, Johnny!" said Bill Bagley kindly. -"We will land you, and then go a'ter your craft."</p> -<p class="pnext">"But I promised gran'sir to go for the doctor."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Dr. Peters?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Yes."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Wall, Dan and I are goin' near the old man's, and -we'll send him over.--Won't we, Dan?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"And I'll bring your boat up to your landing," said -his young rescuer to Bart. "So you go right home -and get warm and don't worry."</p> -<p class="pnext">A thankful look, like sunshine out of a dark cloud, -broke out of Bart's black eyes, and he shrank closer -to the sympathetic breast on which he leaned.</p> -<p class="pnext">"I'll do as much for you," he whispered to the boy -fisherman.</p> -<p class="pnext">"That's all right, Bartie," replied his rescuer.</p> -<p class="pnext">"See here!" now inquired Dan. "What are those -spoonies up to? Where are they a-goin', I wonder, -on that raft? To Afriky?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Guess that craft's got to be picked up too. She's -a-makin' for the sea in spite of all their polin'," said Bill.</p> -<p class="pnext">The <em class="italics">Great Emperor</em> was indeed moving seaward. -Captain Dick was frantically ordering his crew to -"pull her round;" but like sovereigns generally, the -<em class="italics">Great Emperor</em> had a mind of its own, and would not -be "pulled round." Deliberately the raft was making -headway for the open sea, and possibly "Afriky." It -might be a conspiracy on the part of wind and -tide to aid in this wilful attempt of the raft; but if -a conspiracy, it was no secret. The tide was openly -pressing against the raft with its broad blue shoulders, -and the wind openly blew against the boys, as if they -were so much canvas spread for its filling.</p> -<p class="pnext">"What you up to, fellers?" shouted Dick to Dab -and John Richards, who managed one of the poles. -"Bring her round and head her for the shore!"</p> -<p class="pnext">"We can't," said John pettishly.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Can't!" replied Dick in scorn. "Why can't you? -Tell me! Then we will spend the night on the -sea.-- You pull, Jimmy."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Can't!" said Jimmy Davis nervously. "She--she--won't -turn--and--"</p> -<p class="pnext">Here his pole slipped out of its hole and down he -tumbled on the raft, his pole falling into the water.</p> -<div class="align-center auto-scaled figure" style="width: 63%" id="figure-43"> -<img class="align-center" style="display: block; width: 100%" alt=" " src="images/img-018.jpg" /> -<div class="caption figure"> -"Down he tumbled on the raft, his pole falling into the water." <em class="italics">Page 16</em></div> -</div> -<p class="pfirst">"Oh dear!" shrieked Dick. "What a set! There -goes that oar! Reach after it, Dab!"</p> -<p class="pnext">Dab already was beating the water furiously with -his pole in his efforts to reach that "oar" now adrift. -It was all in vain. The conspiracy to take them all -to sea and there let them spend the chilly night had -spread to the very equipments of the <em class="italics">Great Emperor</em>.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Catch me on a raft ag'in!" whimpered John -Richards.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Catch me on one with you!" replied Dick fiercely. -"Might have got that boy if you had pulled, and now -those other folks have got him."</p> -<p class="pnext">"'Those other folks' are coming after us!" observed -Dab Richards.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Oh dear!" groaned the humiliated Dick. "Make -believe pull up river."</p> -<p class="pnext">"I won't!" said John Richards.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Pull so that they may think that we don't need -them. Now!" urged Dick.</p> -<p class="pnext">"I won't!" declared Dab.</p> -<p class="pnext">Jimmy Davis also was going to say, "I won't;" but -he remembered that his pole was in the water, and -refrained. He looked rebellious, though he said nothing.</p> -<p class="pnext">There was now not only a conspiracy among the -elements, but a mutiny among the crew. Dick sulked.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Let her drift!" he said. "I don't care!"</p> -<p class="pnext">"She won't drift long!" remarked Dab sarcastically. -"The <em class="italics">Great Emperor</em>, that started to pick up -somebody, is now going to be picked up by somebody."</p> -<p class="pnext">Yes, the fishermen were pulling out from the shore. -They picked up the boat, attached it to their own -craft, and then laboriously rowed for the vessel in the -hands of conspirators without and mutineers within.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Where you chaps bound?" shouted Dan.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Bound for the bottom of the sea," said Dick -grimly.</p> -<p class="pnext">"We'll stave that off," said Bill. "Here, take this -rope! Now, we must try to git you ashore."</p> -<p class="pnext">It was rather a queer tug-boat that did the -towing---a fisherman's dory in which, sandwich fashion, -alternated piles of codfish and oarsmen rowing; Bill, -Dan, and Bart's rescuer. It was a singular fleet also -that was towed ashore--the <em class="italics">Great Emperor</em> and -Gran'sir Trafton's boat.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Who is that boy rowing with those fishermen?" -wondered Dick. "Can it be--"</p> -<p class="pnext">Then he concluded it could not be.</p> -<p class="pnext">Again he guessed. "Must be--"</p> -<p class="pnext">Then he declared it was somebody else.</p> -<p class="pnext">Finally, when this strange fleet had been beached, -Dick shouted out, "That you, Dave Fletcher?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Nobody else," answered Bart's rescuer, advancing. -"I have been nodding to you, but I guess you didn't -know who it was; and I don't wonder--the way I -look after my bath. Haven't got on the whole of my -rig yet. How is Dick Pray?"</p> -<p class="pnext">The two shook hands warmly.</p> -<p class="pnext">"I haven't seen you for some time, Dave. I have -been from home a while, going to school and so on. -I am stopping at my cousin's, Sam Whittles, just now."</p> -<p class="pnext">"And I have been here only a few days, visiting -at my uncle's, Ferguson Berry."</p> -<p class="pnext">"All right. We will see each other again then. -I'll leave the old raft here and come for it when the -tide is going up river."</p> -<p class="pnext">"And I am going to get the doctor. Oh no, come -to think of it, these men will get him for that little -fellow's folks--the one we picked up, you know."</p> -<p class="pnext">"We? You, rather. You did first-rate. Well, -who was that little shaver?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"I heard somebody call him Bartie. That's for -Bartholomew, I guess."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Oh, it's 'Mew,'" explained Dab. "Bartholo*mew*; -and they say 'Mew' for short--'Little Mew.'"</p> -<p class="pnext">"His face looked like a kitten's there in the water," -said Dick, "and he mewed pitifully. I've heard of -him. Sort of a slim thing. Well, may sound sort -of heartless, but I guess some folks would say he is -hardly worth the saving. Oh, you're off, are you?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Yes," said one of the two fishermen who were -now pushing their boat off from shore. "We must -get to town with our fish as soon as we can."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Well, friends, I am much obliged to you," said -Dick Pray.</p> -<p class="pnext">"So am I! so am I!" said several others.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Count me in too," exclaimed Dave Fletcher. -"Might not have been here without you.--Give 'em -three cheers, boys!"</p> -<p class="pnext">Amid the huzzahs echoing over the waters, the -fishermen, smiling and bowing, rowed off.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Many thanks, boys, if you will help me to turn -Bart's boat over and get the water out. I must row -it up to the rock where the rest of my clothes are, -and then we might all go along together. We can -pick up the fellows on the schooner."</p> -<p class="pnext">The remnant of Captain Dick's crew on board the -schooner gladly abandoned it when Gran'sir Trafton's -boat came along, and all journeyed in company up -the river.</p> -<p class="pnext">And where was Little Mew? He went home only -to be scolded by gran'sir because he had not brought -the doctor, and because he had somehow got into the -water somewhere. Granny was not at home, and Little -Mew dared not tell the whole story. He was sent -upstairs to change his clothes and stay there till granny -got home.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Gran'sir don't know I haven't got another shift," -whined Little Mew. "Got to get these wet things off, -anyhow."</p> -<p class="pnext">He removed them and then crept into bed. It was -dark when granny returned.</p> -<p class="pnext">From the window at the head of his bed Bartie -watched the sun go down, and then he saw the white -stars come into the sky.</p> -<p class="pnext">About that time the evening breeze began to breathe -heavily; and was that the reason why the stars, blossom-like, -opened their fair, delicate petals, even as they -say the wind-flowers of spring open when the wind -begins to blow?</p> -<p class="pnext">"They don't seem to amount to much--just like -me," thought Bartie; and having thus come into -harmony with the world's opinion of himself, he closed -his eyes, like an anemone shutting its petals, and -went to sleep.</p> -<p class="pnext">Don't stars amount to much? They would be -missed if, some night, people looking up should learn -that they had gone for ever.</p> -<p class="pnext">And granny coming home, having learned elsewhere -the full story of Little Mew's exposure to an -awful peril, went upstairs, and, candle in hand, looked -down on the motherless child in bed fast asleep.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Poor little boy!" she murmured. "I should miss -him if he was gone. Yes, I should terribly."</p> -<p class="pnext">She wiped her eyes, and then tucked up Bartie for -the night.</p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em"> -</div> -<p class="center large pfirst" id="caught-on-the-bar">II.</p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 1em"> -</div> -<p class="center medium pfirst"><em class="italics">CAUGHT ON THE BAR.</em></p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"> -</div> -<p class="pfirst">Dave Fletcher and Dick Pray were boys who -had grown up in the same town, but from the -same soil had come two very different productions. -They were unlike in their personal appearance. Dick -Pray would come down the street throwing his head -to right and left, scattering sharp, eager glances from -his restless black eyes, and swinging his hands.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Somebody is coming," people would be very likely -to say.</p> -<p class="pnext">Dave Fletcher had a quiet, unobtrusive, straight-forward -way of walking. Dick was quite a handsome -youth; but the person that Dave Fletcher saw in the -glass was ordinary in feature, with pleasant, honest -eyes of blue, and hair--was it brown or black?</p> -<p class="pnext">Dave sometimes wished it were browner or blacker, -and not "a go-between," as he had told his mother.</p> -<p class="pnext">Dave and Dick were not as yet trying to make -their own way; but they were between fifteen and -sixteen, and knew that they must soon be stirring for -themselves.</p> -<p class="pnext">They had already begun to intimate how they -would stir in after life.</p> -<p class="pnext">Dave had a quiet, resolute way. There was no -pretence or bluster in his methods. In a modest but -manly fashion he went ahead and did the thing while -Dick was talking about it, and perhaps magnifying -its difficulty, that inferentially his courage and pluck -in attempting it might be magnified. Dick's way of -strutting down-street illustrated his methods and -manners. There was a great deal of bluster in him. -Nobody was more daring than he in his purposes, but -for the quiet doing of the thing that Dick dared, Dave -was the boy. Somehow Dick had received the idea -that the world is to be carried by a display of strength -rather than its actual use; that men must be -impressed by brag and noise. Thus overpowered by -a sensational manifestation they would be plastic to -your hands, whatever you might wish to mould them -into. Dick did not hesitate to attack any fort, scale -any mountain, or cross any sea--with his tongue. -When it came to the using of some other kind of -motive power--legs for instance--he might be readily -outstripped by another. Among the boys at Shipton -he had made quite a stir at first. His bluster and -brag made a sensation, until the boys began to find -out that it was often wind and not substance in -Dick's bragging; and they were now estimating him -at his true value. Dave Fletcher was little known -to any of them save small Bartholomew Trafton; -but Dave's modest, efficient style of action they had -seen in the saving of Little Mew, and they were -destined to witness it in another impending catastrophe.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Uncle Ferguson, who owns that old schooner off -in the river?" asked Dave one day, as he was eating -his way through a generous pile of Aunt Nancy's -fritters. It was the craft to which had been tied the -<em class="italics">Great Emperor</em>.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Why, David?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Because some of us boys want to go there and -stay a night or two. We take our provisions with -us, and each one a couple of blankets, and so on, and -we can be as comfortable on the schooner as can be. -Would you and Aunt Nancy mind if we went?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Mind if you went? No; I don't know as I do.--What -do you say, Nancy?"</p> -<p class="pnext">Uncle Ferguson was a middle-aged man, with -ruddy complexion and two blue eyes that almost -shut and then twinkled like stars when he looked -at you.</p> -<p class="pnext">Aunt Nancy was a plain, sober woman, with sharp, -thin features, and bleached eyes of blue.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Don't know as I mind," declared Aunt Nancy. -"If you don't git into the water and drown, you -know."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Oh, that's all right," said the nephew.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Only you must see the owner of the schooner," -advised the uncle.</p> -<p class="pnext">"The owner?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Yes; Squire Sylvester. He is very particular -about anything he owns."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Oh, I didn't know the thing had an owner," said -Dave, laughing. "It seems to lie there in the stream -doing nothing. The boys didn't say anything about -an owner."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Squire Sylvester is very particular," asserted Uncle -Ferguson. "He got his property hard, and looks -after it."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Yes, he is very pertickerler," added Aunt Nancy.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Well, we will see him by all means. We boys--"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Didn't think; that is it, David. Now, when I -was a boy we always asked about things," said Uncle -Ferguson.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Well, husband, boys is boys, in them days and -these days. I remember your mother used to say her -five boys used to cut up and--"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Well," replied Uncle Ferguson, rising from the -table, "this won't feed the cows; and I must be -a-goin'. I would see Sylvester, David."</p> -<p class="pnext">"All right, uncle."</p> -<p class="pnext">Dave announced his intention to Dick half-an-hour -later.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Well, go, if you want to. We fellows were not -going to say anything to anybody. Who would be -the wiser? The thing lies in the river, knocking -around in the tide, and seems to say, 'Come and use -me, anybody that wants to.'"</p> -<p class="pnext">"If we owned the schooner we would prefer to -have it asked for, if she was going to be turned into -a boarding-house for a day or two."</p> -<p class="pnext">"I suppose it would be safer to ask. If we didn't -ask, and the owner should come down the river sailing -and see us, wouldn't there be music?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"We will save the music, Dick. I will just ask him."</p> -<p class="pnext">As Dave neared Squire Sylvester's office he could -see that individual through the window. He was a -man about fifty years old, his features expressing -much force of character, his sharp brown eyes looking -very intently at any one with whom he might be -conversing. Dave hesitated at the door a moment, -and then summoning courage he lifted the latch of the -office door and entered.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Good-day, sir."</p> -<p class="pnext">The squire nodded his head abruptly and then -sharply eyed the boy before him.</p> -<p class="pnext">"We boys, sir--"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Who are you?" asked the squire curtly.</p> -<p class="pnext">"David Fletcher. I am visiting at my uncle's, -Ferguson Berry."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Humph! Yes, I know him."</p> -<p class="pnext">"We boys, sir, wanted to know if you would let -us--"</p> -<p class="pnext">"What boys?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Oh, Jimmy Davis, John Richards--"</p> -<p class="pnext">"I know those."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Dick Pray---"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Pray?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"He is visiting his cousin, Samuel Whittles."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Oh yes; I've seen him in the post-office. Curly-haired -boy; struts as if he owned all Shipton."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Just so."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Well?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"John Richards's brother--that is all. We want -to know if you will let us stay out in the old schooner -for a while. We will try to be particular and not -harm the vessel."</p> -<p class="pnext">"How long shall you want to be gone?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Oh, two or three days and nights."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Humph! Well, you can't have any fire on board. -Got a boat?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Yes, sir."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Of course, for you can't wade out to her. Put it -out there on purpose so folks couldn't paddle and -wade out to her, such as tramps, you know. Well, if -you have a boat you can cook on shore."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Yes, sir."</p> -<p class="pnext">"You may have a lantern at night. No objection -to that."</p> -<p class="pnext">"We will remember."</p> -<p class="pnext">"All right, then."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Oh, thank you! Good-day, sir."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Good-day."</p> -<p class="pnext">The squire's sharp brown eyes followed Dave as he -went out of the door, and then watched him as he -tripped down the street laughing and whistling.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Like all young chaps--full of fun. Rather like -that boy."</p> -<p class="pnext">Dave announced the result of the conference to -several boys anxiously waiting for him round the -corner.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Got it?" asked Dick Pray.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Yes; tell us what he said," inquired Dab Richards.</p> -<p class="pnext">The boys pressed eagerly up to Dave, who announced -the successful issue of his application. A -burden of painful anxiety dropped from each pair of -shoulders, and the boys separated to collect their -"traps," promising to meet at Long Wharf, where a -boat awaited them. Did ever any craft make a -happier, more successful voyage, when the boat -received its load two hours later and was then pushed -off?</p> -<p class="pnext">"Everything splendid, boys!" said Dick. "Won't -we have a time while we are gone, and won't we -come back in triumph?"</p> -<p class="pnext">The return! How little any of the party anticipated -the kind of return that would end their adventure!</p> -<p class="pnext">"There's the schooner!" shouted Dave. "I can -read her name on the stern--<em class="italics">RELENTLESS</em>. Letters -somewhat dim."</p> -<p class="pnext">"She is anchored good," said Dab Richards. "Got -her cable out."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Anchor at the bottom of it, I suppose," conjectured -Jimmy Davis.</p> -<p class="pnext">"We will find out, boys, won't we? We will just -hoist her a bit, as the sailors say, and see what she -carries," said Dick, in a low tone.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Nonsense!" said Dave. "Sylvester has our word -for good behaviour."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Oh, don't you worry!" said Dick, in a jesting -tone. "Let's see! Shall we make our boat fast -round there? Where shall it be?"</p> -<p class="pnext">The best mooring was found for the boat, and then -a ladder with hooks on one end was attached to the -vessel's rail, and up sprang the boys eagerly.</p> -<p class="pnext">The <em class="italics">Relentless</em> was an old fishing-schooner. She -had been stripped of her canvas, and portions of her -rigging had been removed. There were the masts, -though, still to suggest those trips to distant -fishing-grounds, when the winds had filled the canvas and -sent the <em class="italics">Relentless</em> like an arrow shot from one -curving billow to another. There was the galley, empty -now of its stove, and showing to any investigator only -a rusty pan in one corner; but the wind humming -round its bit of rusty funnel told a story of many a -savoury dish cooked for a hardy, hungry crew. And -the little cabin, so still now, save when a hungry rat -softly scampered across its floor, had been a good -corner of retreat to many when heavy seas wet the -deck on stormy nights and sent the spray flying up -into the rigging.</p> -<p class="pnext">The boys transferred their cargo of bedding and -eatables to the deck, and then scattered to ramble -through the cabin or descend into the dark, musty -hold. They came together again, and lugged their -baggage into the cabin, save the dishes and eatables, -which were stowed away on shelves.</p> -<p class="pnext">"This is just splendid, Dick!" declared Dave, leaning -over the vessel's rail. "It is going to sea without -having the fuss of it."</p> -<p class="pnext">"That's so, Dave. You don't have any sea-sickness, -any blistering your hands with handling ropes, any -taking in sail--"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Oh, it's huge, Dick. Now you want to divide up -the work."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Not going to have any; all going to have a good -time."</p> -<p class="pnext">"But who's going to cook, and bring water, and--"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Oh, I see! Forgot that."</p> -<p class="pnext">A division of work was finally pronounced sensible. -Dave became "cook," Jimmy Davis was elected -"water-boy," Dick took charge of the sleeping -arrangements, and the brothers Richards were -constituted table-waiters and dish-washers--"without pay," -Dave prudently added. All that day, up to twilight, -life in the old fishing-schooner was smooth and happy -as the music of a marriage-bell. Dave's cooking was -adjudged "splendid," and between meals there were -spells of story-telling, of games like hide-and-seek -about the ancient hull, and of fishing from the deck, -though there sometimes seemed to be more fishermen -than fish.</p> -<p class="pnext">At twilight most of the boys were seated in the -stern of the vessel, looking out to sea and watching -the light fade out of the heavens and the warm -sunset glow steal away from the waters.</p> -<p class="pnext">"There's the light starting up in the lighthouse -near the bar," said Dab Richards.</p> -<p class="pnext">Yes, Toby Tolman, keeper of the light at the -harbour's mouth, and not far from a dangerous bar, ever -changing and yet never going, had kindled a star in -the tall lantern as the western clouds dropped their -gay extinguisher on the sun's dwindling candle. -Between the boys and the outside, dusky surface of ocean -water stretched a line of whitest foam, where the -waves broke on the bar.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Getting chilly," said Dave. "Hadn't we better -go into the cabin and light our lantern?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Guess Dick is looking after that," said Jimmy.</p> -<p class="pnext">No; Dick was looking after--meddling, rather, -with something else. He had whispered to John -Richards, "Come here, John," and then led him to -the bow of the vessel.</p> -<p class="pnext">"See here, Johnny."</p> -<p class="pnext">"What is it, Dick?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Wouldn't it be nice to see this old ark move?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Move! what for?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Oh, I've got tired of seeing it in one place."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Why, what do you mean? How?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Why, just have it go on a little voyage, you -know."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Voyage?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"You booby, can't you understand?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Understand? No," replied John good-naturedly. -"Don't see how we can have a voyage without sails, -and the masts are bare as bean-poles when there ain't -any beans on 'em."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Oh, you're thick-headed. Don't you see this -anchor?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Don't see any. I suppose there is one -somewhere--covered up, you know, down on the bed of the -river."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Only water covers it, and it could be raised, and -we could have a sail without any sails."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Come on!" said John, who was the very boy for -any kind of an adventure. "But," he prudently -added, "how could we stop?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Drop the anchor again. Why, we could stop -any time."</p> -<p class="pnext">"So we could."</p> -<p class="pnext">"We could sail, say a hundred feet to-night--tide -would drift us down--and then we could drop anchor; -and to-morrow, when the tide ran up river, we could -sail back again and drop anchor, just where we were -before."</p> -<p class="pnext">"We could keep a-going, couldn't we, Dickie?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Certainly. I don't know but we could go quarter -of a mile and then back again. We should have, of -course, to go with the tide; but the anchor would -regulate us."</p> -<p class="pnext">"So we could. Just the thing. Let's try it. -Shall I tell the fellers?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"No; let's surprise 'em."</p> -<p class="pnext">"But they'll hear us."</p> -<p class="pnext">"No; they are quarrelling about something, and -they won't notice anything we do here."</p> -<p class="pnext">"But how can you manage the anchor?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Raise it."</p> -<p class="pnext">"But how raise it?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Johnny, I believe you have lost your mind since -coming here. What is this I have got my hand on?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"The capstan."</p> -<p class="pnext">Dick here laid his hand on a battered old capstan, -around which how many hardy seamen had tramped -singing "Reuben Ranzo" or some other roaring song -of the sea.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Don't you know how this works?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Not exactly."</p> -<p class="pnext">"I will tell you. You see this bar?"</p> -<p class="pnext">Dick with his foot kicked a battered but stout -bar lying at the foot of the capstan.</p> -<p class="pnext">"There! one end of the cable to which the anchor -is hitched goes round this capstan, you see. Now, if -I stick this bar into that hole in the capstan and -shove her round--I mean the bar--the capstan will -go round too, and that will wind up that cable and -draw on the anchor. Don't you see?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Yes, I see."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Well, now we are ready. I will sing something -like real sailors."</p> -<p class="pnext">"The boys will hear us."</p> -<p class="pnext">"No: they are fighting away; they won't notice."</p> -<p class="pnext">It was a tongue-fight, but that may be as -absorbing as a fist-fight.</p> -<p class="pnext">"You know 'Reuben Ranzo'?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Yes."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Well, sing in a whisper and pull."</p> -<p class="pnext">The bar was inserted into the capstan, and the -boys, as they shoved on the bar, sang softly,--</p> -<blockquote> -<div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="line">"O poor Reuben Ranzo!</div> -<div class="line">Ranzo, boys, Ranzo!"</div> -<div class="line"> </div> -</div> -</div> -</blockquote> -<p class="pfirst">"That's the chorus, Johnny. Sing the other part. -Shove hard but sing easy."</p> -<blockquote> -<div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="line">"Oh, Reuben was no sailor.</div> -<div class="line"><em class="italics">Chorus</em>--O poor Reuben Ranzo!</div> -<div class="line">Ranzo, boys, Ranzo!</div> -<div class="line">O poor Reuben Ranzo!</div> -<div class="line">Ranzo, boys, Ranzo!"</div> -<div class="line"> </div> -</div> -</div> -</blockquote> -<p class="pfirst">"Sing another verse, Johnny. That shove just -took up the slack-line, and the next will pull on the -anchor. Hun-now, Johnny! You're a real good -sailor. Sing easy, but shove."</p> -<blockquote> -<div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="line">"He shipped on board of a whaler.</div> -<div class="line"><em class="italics">Chorus</em>--O poor Reuben Ranzo!</div> -<div class="line">Ranzo, boys, Ranzo!</div> -<div class="line">O poor Reuben Ranzo!</div> -<div class="line">Ranzo, boys, Ranzo!"</div> -<div class="line"> </div> -</div> -</div> -</blockquote> -<p class="pfirst">The last tug at the bar came hard, but the boys took -it as an encouraging sign that the anchor too was -coming. They were not mistaken. Another minute, -and Johnny eagerly exclaimed,--</p> -<p class="pnext">"Dick, I do believe she's going!"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Good! That's so. I knew 'Reuben Ranzo' -would bring her."</p> -<p class="pnext">Yes, the <em class="italics">Relentless</em> had relented before the -fascinating persuasion of "Reuben Ranzo," and without -a murmur of resistance was softly slipping through -the dark sea water.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Can you stop her any time, Dick?" asked Johnny -in tones a bit alarmed.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Easy. Just let the anchor slip back again, you -know."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Shan't we tell the boys?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Wait a moment. We want to surprise 'em. -They'll find it out pretty soon."</p> -<p class="pnext">The boys at the stern had been discussing a subject -so eagerly that every one had lost his temper, and -when that is lost it may not be found again in a -moment. It was like starting the <em class="italics">Relentless</em>--a thing -quite easily done; but as for stopping her--however, I -will not anticipate. The boys were quarrelling about -a light on shore, and wondering why that illumination -was started so early, when it did not seem dark -enough for a home light. In the course of the -discussion a second light, not far from the first, came -into view. Over this the controversy waxed hotter -than ever, and led to much being said of which all -felt heartily ashamed.</p> -<p class="pnext">No one heard the creak of the capstan-bar at the -bow or the devoted wooing of the <em class="italics">Relentless</em> by the -fascinating "Reuben Ranzo."</p> -<p class="pnext">"That's funny," said Dave, after a while. "One -of those lights has gone. They have been approaching -one another, I have noticed. Look here, fellers: -I believe this old elephant is moving!"</p> -<p class="pnext">"She is," exclaimed Jimmy Davis.</p> -<p class="pnext">They all turned and looked toward the bow. The -figures there were growing dim in the thickening -twilight, but they could see Dick and Johnny waving -their hats, and of course they could plainly hear them -shout, "Hurrah! hurrah!"</p> -<p class="pnext">"What's the matter?" cried Dave, rushing across -the deck.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Having a sail," said Dick.</p> -<p class="pnext">"And without a sail too," cried Johnny triumphantly.</p> -<p class="pnext">"What do you mean?" asked Dab.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Why, we just hoisted the anchor, and the tide is -taking us along," replied Dick. The party at the -stern did not know how to take this announcement.</p> -<p class="pnext">"But," said Dave, advancing toward the capstan, -and remembering his promise to Squire Sylvester -that he would be "particular," "we are adrift, man!"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Oh, we can stop any time--just drop the anchor--and -the next tide will drift us back where we -were before."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Y-e-s," said Dave, but reluctantly, "if we don't get -in water too deep for our anchor. I like fun, Dick, -but--"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Oh, well," replied Dick angrily, "we will stop -her now if you think we need to be so fussy.--Just -let her go, Johnny."</p> -<p class="pnext">Johnny, however, did not understand how to "let -her go." It seemed to him and the others as if "she" -were already going.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Oh, well, I can show you, if you all are ignorant," -said Dick confidently. "Just shove on this bar--help, -won't you?--and then knock up that ratchet -that keeps the capstan from slipping back--there!"</p> -<p class="pnext">The weight of the anchor now drew on the capstan, -and round it spun, creaking and groaning, liberating -all the cable that had been wound upon it; but when -every inch of cable had been paid out, what then?</p> -<p class="pnext">"There! The anchor must be on bottom, and she -holds!" shouted Dick in triumph.</p> -<p class="pnext">"No--she--don't," replied Dab. "We are in deep -water, and adrift."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Can't be," asserted Dick. "All that cable paid -out!"</p> -<p class="pnext">Dick leaned over the vessel's rail and tried to pierce -the shadows on the water and see if he could detect -any movement. "Don't--see--anything that looks -like moving, boys. Surely the anchor holds her," he -said, in a very subdued way.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Dick, see that rock on the shore?" asked Dave.</p> -<p class="pnext">A ledge, big, shadowy, could be made out.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Now, boys, keep your eyes on that two or three -minutes and see if we stay abreast of it," was Dave's -proposed test.</p> -<p class="pnext">Five pairs of eyes were strained, watching the -ledge; but if there had been five hundred, they would -not have seen any proof that the vessel was stationary.</p> -<p class="pnext">The ledge was stationary, but the <em class="italics">Relentless</em>--</p> -<p class="pnext">"Well," said Dick, scratching his head, "I don't -think we need worry. We--we--"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Can drift," said Dab scornfully.</p> -<p class="pnext">"It is of no use to cry over spilled milk," said Dave, -in a tone meant to assure others. "Let's make the -best of it, now it's done, and get some fun out of it if -we can. All aboard for--Patagonia!"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Good for you," whispered Dick. "The others are -chicken-hearted. We shall come out of it all right; -though I wish the schooner's rudder worked, and we -might steer her."</p> -<p class="pnext">The rudder was damaged and would not work.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Say, boys, we might tow her into shallow water!" -suggested Dave. "Come on, come on! Let's have -some fun. And see--there's the moon!"</p> -<p class="pnext">Yes, there was a moon rising above the eastern -waters, shooting a long, tremulous arrow of light -across the sea. The boys' spirits rose with the moon, -and as the light strengthened, their surroundings--the -harbour, the lighthouse near the bar, the shores on -either hand--were not so indistinct.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Not so bad," said Dick in a low tone to Dab. -"There's our boat, you know. We can get into that -and let this old wreck go. We can get ashore. We -will have a lot of fun out of this."</p> -<p class="pnext">The situation was delightful, as Dick continued to -paint its attractions. They could have a "lot of fun" -out of the schooner, and at the same time abandon -the source of it when that failed them. Dave talked -differently.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Come, boys, we must try to get the old hulk -ashore," he said. "I believe in staying by this piece -of property long as we got permission to use it; but -we will make the best of our situation. All hands -into the boat to tow the schooner into shallow -water!"</p> -<p class="pnext">The boys responded with a happy shout, and -climbed over the vessel's side, descending by the -ladder that still clung to the rail.</p> -<p class="pnext">"What have we got to tow with?" asked Jimmy Davis.</p> -<p class="pnext">"That is a conundrum!" replied Dave. "Didn't -think of that!"</p> -<p class="pnext">"May find something on the deck," suggested Dick.</p> -<p class="pnext">A hunt was made, but no rope could be found.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Boys, we have got to tow with the boat's painter; -it's all we have got," said Dave, in a disgusted tone. -This rope was about ten feet long. It was attached -to the schooner's bow, and how those small arms did -strain on the oars and strive to coax the <em class="italics">Relentless</em> -into shoal water!</p> -<p class="pnext">"Give us a sailor's song, Dick," said Jimmy Davis.</p> -<p class="pnext">"I will, boys, when I get my breath," replied Dick, -puffing after his late efforts and wiping the sweat -from his brow. "I'll start 'Reuben Ranzo.'"</p> -<p class="pnext">The boys sang with a will, and their voices made a -fine chorus.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Reuben" had been able to coax the schooner -away from her moorings, but he could not win her -back.</p> -<p class="pnext">True to her name, she obstinately drifted on.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Don't you know anything else?" inquired Dave.</p> -<p class="pnext">"I know 'Haul the Bow-line.'"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Give us that, Dick."</p> -<p class="pnext">"I'll start you on the words, boys,--</p> -<blockquote> -<div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="line">'Haul the bow-line, Kitty is my darling;</div> -<div class="line">Haul the bow-line, the bow-line haul.'</div> -</div> -</div> -</blockquote> -<p class="pfirst">Sing and pull, boys."</p> -<p class="pnext">The boys sang and the boys pulled, and there was -a fierce straining on that bow-line; but no soft words -about "Kitty" had any effect on the <em class="italics">Relentless</em>. It -seemed as if this obdurate creature were moved by an -ugly jealousy of "Kitty," and drifted on and on.</p> -<p class="pnext">"It's of no use!" declared Dick. "I move we -untie our rope and go ashore and let the old thing go. -We have done what we could to get ashore."</p> -<p class="pnext">He did not say that he had done what he could to -get the <em class="italics">Relentless</em> adrift, and had fully succeeded. -Dave did not twit him with the fact, but he was not -ready to abandon the schooner.</p> -<p class="pnext">Some of the boys murmured regrets about their -"things." They did not want to forsake these.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Well, boys," said Dick, with a boastful air, "I'll -get you out of the scrape somehow. We might go -on deck again, and hold a council of war and talk the -situation over."</p> -<p class="pnext">Any change was welcomed, and the boys scrambled -on deck again. Dick was the last of the climbing -column.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Hand that painter up here and I'll make it fast," -said Dave. "Then come up and we will talk -matters over."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Oh!" said Dick, who was half-way up the -ladder, "I forgot to bring that rope up."</p> -<p class="pnext">He descended the ladder and reached out his foot -to touch the boat, but he could not find it! When -he had left the boat, a minute ago, he gave it -unintentionally a parting kick, and--and--alas! The -boat was now too far from the schooner's side to be -reached by Dick's foot.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Get something!" he gasped. "Bring a--pole--and--get -that boat!"</p> -<p class="pnext">The boys scattered in every direction to find a--they -did not know what, that in some way they -might reach after and capture that escaping boat. -Their excitement was intense but fruitless. There -were now two vessels adrift--a schooner and a -dory--serenely floating in the still but strong current, -steadily moving seaward, and the moonlight that had -been welcomed only revealed to them more plainly -the mortifying situation of the party.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Ridiculous!" exclaimed Dick.</p> -<p class="pnext">Most of the boys looked very sober. Dave put his -hands in his pockets and whistled.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Well, boys, don't you worry! I'll get you out of -this in good fashion yet," cried Dick. "We can't go -far to sea, and then the tide will bring us back again -in the morning."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Far to sea!" said Dab mockingly. "There's the -lighthouse on the left, and it looks to me as if we -should hit the bar!"</p> -<p class="pnext">The bar! The boys started. At the mouth of the -river the sand brought down from the yielding shores -would accumulate, and it formed a bar whose size and -shape would annually change, but the obstacle itself -never disappeared. There it stretched in the -navigator's way, seriously narrowing the channel; and of -how many catastrophes that "bar" had been the -occasion! The breakers above were soft and white, -and the sand below was yielding and crumbling; and -yet just there how many vessels had been tripped up -by that foot of sand thrust out into the harbour! -The boys laughed and tried to be jolly, but no one -liked the situation. It was a very picturesque -scene,--the moonlight silvering the sea, the calmly-moving -schooner and boat, that lighthouse like a tall, stately -candlestick lifting its quiet light; but, for all that, -there was the bar! Either the night-wind was -growing very chilly, or the boys shivered for another -reason.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Don't worry, fellows," said Dick, putting as much -courage as possible into his voice. "When this old -thing hits, you see, we shan't drift right on to the -bar, but our anchor will catch somewhere on this side. -That will hold us. I can swim, and I'll just drop -into the sea and make for the light and get Toby -Tolman's boat, and come and bring you off."</p> -<p class="pnext">He then proceeded to hum "Reuben Ranzo;" but -nobody liked to sing it, and Dick executed a solo for -this unappreciative audience.</p> -<p class="pnext">"How--how deep is the water inside the bar?" -said chattering Jimmy Davis. He felt the cold -night-air, and he shook as if he had an ague fit.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Pretty deep," solemnly remarked Dab Richards.</p> -<p class="pnext">The musical hum by the famous soloist, Dick -Pray, ceased; only the breakers on the bar made -their music.</p> -<p class="pnext">Dick began to doubt seriously the advisability of -dropping into that deep gulf reputed to be inside the -bar. It was now not very far to the lighthouse, and -the surf on the bar whitened in the moonlight and -fell in a hushed, drowsy monotone. People by the -shore may be hushed by this lullaby of the ocean, but -to those boys there was nothing drowsy in its sound; -it was very startling.</p> -<p class="pnext">"I--I--I--" said Jimmy.</p> -<p class="pnext">"What is it, Jimmy?" asked Dave.</p> -<p class="pnext">Jimmy did feel like wishing aloud that he could be -at home, but he concluded to say nothing about it. -Steadily did the <em class="italics">Relentless</em> drift toward that snow-line -in the dark sea.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Almost there!" cried Dave.</p> -<p class="pnext">"May strike any moment!" shouted Dab.</p> -<p class="pnext">Yes, nearer, nearer, nearer, came the <em class="italics">Relentless</em> to -that foaming bar. The boat had already arrived -there, and Dave saw it resting quietly on its sandy -bed. Did he notice a glistening strip of sand beyond -the surf? He had heard some one in Shipton say -that at very low tide there was no water on portions -of the bar. This fact set him to thinking about his -possible action. It now seemed to him as if the -distance between the stern of the vessel and the bar -could not be more than a hundred feet. The bow of -the vessel pointed up river. She was going "stern -on." How would it strike--forcibly, easily?</p> -<div class="align-center auto-scaled figure" style="width: 58%" id="figure-44"> -<img class="align-center" style="display: block; width: 100%" alt=" " src="images/img-034.jpg" /> -<div class="caption figure"> -"Nearer and nearer came the '<em class="italics">Relentless</em>' to that foaming bar." <em class="italics">Page 43</em>]</div> -</div> -<p class="pfirst">"Ninety feet now!" thought Dave. "Will the -shock upset her, pitch us out, or what?"</p> -<p class="pnext">Sixty feet now!</p> -<p class="pnext">"The bar looks sort of ugly!" remarked Johnny -Richards.</p> -<p class="pnext">Thirty feet now!</p> -<p class="pnext">"Wish I was in bed!" thought Jimmy Davis.</p> -<p class="pnext">Twenty feet now!</p> -<p class="pnext">Had the schooner halted? The boys clustered in -the bow and looked anxiously over to the bar.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Boys, she holds, I do believe," said Dave.</p> -<p class="pnext">"All right!" shouted Dick--"all right! The -anchor holds!"</p> -<p class="pnext">It did seem an innocent, all-right situation: just -the quiet sea, the musically-rolling surf along the bar, -the stately lighthouse at the left, and that schooner -quietly halting in the harbour.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Now, boys," exclaimed Dick, "we can--"</p> -<p class="pnext">"I thought you were going to swim to the lighthouse?" -observed Dab.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Oh, that won't be necessary now," replied Dick. -"We are just masters of the situation. The moment -the tide turns we can weigh anchor and drift back -again just as easy! Be in our old quarters by -morning, and nobody know the difference. Old Sylvester -himself might come down the river, and he would find -everything all right. Ha! ha!"</p> -<p class="pnext">Dick's confidence was contagious, and when he -proposed "Haul the Bow-line," his companions sang -with him, and sang with a will. How the notes -echoed over the sea! Such a queer place to be singing in!</p> -<p class="pnext">"Mr. Toby Tolman," said Dick, facing the lighthouse, -"we propose to wake you up! Let him have -a rouser. Give him 'Reuben Ranzo!'"</p> -<p class="pnext">While they were administering a "rouser" to -Mr. Toby Tolman, somebody at the stern was dropping -into the sea. He had stripped himself for his swim, -and now struck out boldly for the bar. Reaching its -uncovered sands he ran along to the boat, lying on -the channel side of the bar and not that of the -lighthouse, leaped into the boat, and, shoving off, rowed -round to the bow of the schooner. There was a pause -in the singing, and Dick Pray was saying, "This place -makes you think of mermen," when Dab Richards, -looking over the vessel's side, said, "Ugh! if there -isn't one now!"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Where--where?" asked Johnny.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Ship ahoy!" shouted Dave from the boat. "How -many days out? Where you bound? Short of provisions?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Three cheers for this shipwrecked mariner just -arrived!" cried Dab. And the hurrahs went up -triumphantly in the moonlight. Dave threw up to -the boys the much-desired painter, and the runaway -boat was securely fastened.</p> -<p class="pnext">"There, Dave!" said Dick, as he welcomed on deck -the merman: "I was just going after that thing -myself, just thinking of jumping into the water, but you -got ahead of me. Somehow, I hate to leave this old -craft."</p> -<p class="pnext">"I expect," said Dab Richards, a boy with short, -stubby black hair and blue eyes, and lips that easily -twisted in scorn, "we shall have such hard work to -get Dick away from this concern that we shall have -to bring a police-officer, arrest, and lug him off that -way."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Shouldn't wonder," replied Dick. "Couldn't be -persuaded to abandon this dear old tub."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Well, boys, I'm going to the lighthouse as soon as -I'm dressed," said Dave.</p> -<p class="pnext">There was a hubbub of inquiries and comments.</p> -<p class="pnext">"What for?" asked Dick. "Ain't we all right?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"I hope so; but I want to keep all right. I want -to ask the light-keeper--"</p> -<p class="pnext">"But all we have got to do is to pull up anchor -when the tide comes, and drift back."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Oh yes; we can drift back, but where? We can't -steer the schooner. We don't know what currents -may lay hold of her and take her where we don't -want to go. There are some rocks with an ugly name."</p> -<p class="pnext">"'Sharks' Fins!'" said Jimmy. "Booh!"</p> -<p class="pnext">"What if we ran on to them?" said Dave. "We -had better go and ask Toby Tolman's opinion. He -may suggest something--tell us of some good way to -get out of this scrape. He knows the harbour, the -currents, the tides, and so on. Any way, it won't do -any harm to speak to him. I won't bother anybody -to go with me. Stay here and make yourselves -comfortable; I will dress and shove off."</p> -<p class="pnext">When Dave had dressed and returned, he found -every boy in the boat. Dick Pray was the first that -had entered.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Hullo!" shouted Dave. "All here, are you? -That's good. The more the merrier."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Dave, we loved you so much we couldn't leave -you," asserted Dick.</p> -<p class="pnext">"We will have a good time," said Dave. "All -ready! Shove off! Bound for the lighthouse!"</p> -<p class="pnext">The old schooner was left to its own reflections -in the sober moonlight, and the boat slowly crept -over the quiet waters to the tall lighthouse tower.</p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em"> -</div> -<p class="center large pfirst" id="did-the-schooner-come-back">III.</p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 1em"> -</div> -<p class="center medium pfirst"><em class="italics">DID THE SCHOONER COME BACK?</em></p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"> -</div> -<p class="pfirst">Mr. Toby Tolman sat in the snug little -kitchen of the lighthouse tower. He was -alone, but the clock ticked on the wall, and the kettle -purred contentedly on the stove. Music and company -in those sounds.</p> -<p class="pnext">The light-keeper had just visited the lantern, had -seen that the lamp was burning satisfactorily, had -looked out on the wide sea to detect, if possible, any -sign of fog, had "felt of the wind," as he termed it, -but did not discover any hint of rough weather. -Having pronounced all things satisfactory, he had -come down to the kitchen to read awhile in his Bible. -The gray-haired keeper loved his Bible. It was a -companion to him when lonely, a pillow of rest when -his soul was weary with cares, a lamp of guidance -when he was uncertain about the way for his feet, a -high, strong rock of refuge when sorrows hunted his -soul.</p> -<p class="pnext">"I just love my Bible," he said.</p> -<p class="pnext">He had reason to say it. What book can match it?</p> -<p class="pnext">As he sat contentedly reading its beautiful promises, -he caught the sound of singing.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Some fishermen going home," he said, and read -on. After a while he heard the sound of a vigorous -pounding on the lighthouse door.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Why, why!" he exclaimed in amazement, "what -is that?"</p> -<p class="pnext">He rose and hastily descended the stair-way leading -to the entrance of the lighthouse. To gain admission -to the lighthouse, one first passed through the -fog-signal tower. The lighthouse proper was built of -stone; the other tower was of iron. They rose side -by side. A covered passage-way five feet long -connected the two towers, and entrance from the outside -was first through the fog-signal tower. The foundation -of each tower was a stubborn ledge that the sea -would cover at high-water, and it was now necessary -to have all doors beyond the reach of the -roughly-grasping breakers. Otherwise they would have -unpleasantly pressed for admittance, and might have -gained it. The entrance to the fog-signal tower was -about twenty feet above the summit of the ledge, and -from the door dropped a ladder closely fastened to -the tower's red wall. Around the door was a railed -platform of iron, and through a hole in the platform -a person stepped down upon the rounds of the ladder. -Toby Tolman seized a lantern, and crossing the -passage-way connecting the two towers, entered the -fog-signal tower, and so gained the entrance. Just above -the threshold of the door he saw the head and -shoulders of a boy standing on the ladder.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Why! who's this, at this time of night?" said Toby.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Good-evening, sir. Excuse me, but I wanted to -ask you something."</p> -<p class="pnext">It was Dave Fletcher.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Any trouble?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Well, yes."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Come in, come in! Don't be bashful. Lighthouses -are for folks in trouble."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Thank you."</p> -<p class="pnext">When Dave had climbed into the tower Dick Fray's -curly head appeared.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Oh, any more of you?" asked the keeper. "Bring -him along."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Good-evening," said Dick.</p> -<p class="pnext">Then Jimmy Davis thrust up his head.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Oh, another?" asked Toby. "How many?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Not through yet, Mr. Tolman," said Dave, laughing.</p> -<p class="pnext">Johnny Richards stuck up his grinning face above -the threshold.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Any more?" said the light-keeper.</p> -<p class="pnext">And this inquiry Dab Richards answered in person, -relieving the ladder of its last load.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Why, why! wasn't expecting this! All castaways?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Pretty near it, Mr. Tolman," said Dick.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Come up into the kitchen, and then let us have -your story, boys."</p> -<p class="pnext">They followed the light-keeper into the kitchen, -so warm, so cheerfully lighted.</p> -<p class="pnext">In the boat Dick Pray had been very bold, and -said he would go ahead and "beard the lion in his -den;" but when at the foot of the lighthouse, he -concluded he would silently allow Dave to precede him. -The warmth of the kitchen thawed out Dick's tongue, -and now that he was inside he kept a part of his -word, and made an explanation to the light-keeper. -He stated that they had had permission to "picnic" -on the schooner, had--had--"got adrift"--somehow--and -were caught on the bar, and the question was -what to do.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Perhaps you can advise us still further," explained -Dave. "One suggestion is that when the tide turns -we pull up anchor and drift back with the tide."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Anchor?" asked Mr. Toby Tolman. "I thought -you went on because you couldn't help it. Didn't -know you dropped anchor there."</p> -<p class="pnext">Dick blushed and cleared his throat.</p> -<p class="pnext">"The schooner was anchored, but," said Dick, choking -a little, "we--we--got--got--into water too deep -for our anchor, and kept on drifting till the anchor -caught in the bar."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Oh!" said the light-keeper, who now saw a little -deeper into the mystery, though all was not clear to -him yet. "What will you do now? It is a good rule -generally, when you don't know which way to move, -not to move. Now, if you pull up anchor and let the -next tide take you back, there is no telling where it -will take you. Some bad rocks in our harbour as well -as a lot of sand. 'Sharks' Fins' you know about. -An ugly place. Now let me think a moment."</p> -<p class="pnext">The light-keeper in deep thought walked up and -down the floor, while the five boys clustered about the -stove like bees flocking to a flaming hollyhock.</p> -<p class="pnext">"See here: I advise this. Don't trouble that anchor -to-night. The sea is quiet. No harm will be done -the schooner, and her anchor has probably got a good -grip on some rocks down below, and the tide won't -start her. A tug will bring down a new schooner -from Shipton to-morrow, and I will signal to the cap'n, -and you can get him to tow you back. What say?" -asked the keeper. "'Twill cost something."</p> -<p class="pnext">"That plan looks sensible," said Dave. "I will give -my share of the expense."</p> -<p class="pnext">Dick looked down in silence. He wanted to get -back without any exposure of his fault. The tug -meant exposure, for the world outside would know it. -The tide as motive power, drifting the schooner back, -would tell no tales if the schooner went to the right -place. There would, however, be danger of collision -with rocks, and then the bill of expense would be -greater and the exposure more mortifying. He -scratched his head and hesitated, but finally assented -to the tug-boat plan, and so did the other boys.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Very well, then," said the keeper, "make yourselves -at home, and I'll do all I can to make you comfortable."</p> -<p class="pnext">What, stay there? Did he mean it? He meant a -night of comfort in the lighthouse.</p> -<p class="pnext">What a night that was!</p> -<p class="pnext">"I wouldn't have missed it for twenty pounds," -Johnny Richards said to those at home.</p> -<p class="pnext">And the breakfast! It was without parallel. The -schooner was held by its anchor inside the bar, and -the boys in the morning visited their provision-baskets, -and brought off such a heap of delicacies that the -light-keeper declared it to be the "most satisfyin' meal" he -had ever had inside those stone walls.</p> -<p class="pnext">About nine o'clock he said, "Now, boys, I expect -the tug-boat will be down with that schooner. When -the cap'n of the tug-boat has carried her through the -channel, I will signal to him--he and I have an -understanding about it--and he will come round and -tow you up, I don't doubt. You might be a-watching -for her smoke."</p> -<p class="pnext">Soon Dab Richards, looking up the harbour, cried -out, "Smoke! she's coming!"</p> -<p class="pnext">Yes, there was the tug-boat, throwing up a column -of black smoke from her chimney, and behind her -were the freshly-painted hull, and new, clean rigging -of the lately launched schooner. The boys, save Dave, -went to the <em class="italics">Relentless</em>, as the light-keeper said he -would fix everything with the tug-boat, "make a -bargain, and so on," and Dave could hear the terms and -accept them for the party if he wished. The light-keeper -had also promised in his own boat to put Dave -aboard the tug.</p> -<p class="pnext">But what other tug-boat was it the boys on the -<em class="italics">Relentless</em> saw steaming down the harbour? They -stood in the bow and watched her approach.</p> -<p class="pnext">"She looks as if she were going to run into us," -declared Dick.</p> -<p class="pnext">"She certainly is pointing this way," thought -Johnny.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Our friends may be alarmed for us," was Dab's -suggestion.</p> -<p class="pnext">This could not be, the other boys thought, and they -dismissed it as a teasing remark by Dab. And yet -the tug-boat was coming toward them like an arrow -feathered with black smoke and shot out by a strong -arm.</p> -<p class="pnext">"It is certainly coming toward us," cried Dick in -alarm. Who was it his black eyes detected among -the people leaning over the rail of the nearing tug-boat?</p> -<p class="pnext">He looked again.</p> -<p class="pnext">He took a third look.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Boys," he shouted, "put!"</p> -<p class="pnext">How rapidly he rushed for a hatchway, descending -an old ladder still in place and leading into the -schooner's hold! Fear is catching. Had Dick seen -a policeman sent out in a special tug to hunt up the -boys and secure the vessel? Johnny Richards flew -after Dick. Jimmy Davis followed Johnny. Dab -was quickly at the heels of Jimmy. Down into the -dark, smelling hold, stumbling over the keelson, splashing -into the bilge water, and frightening the rats, -hurried the still more frightened boys.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Who was it, Dick?" asked Dab.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Keep still boys; don't say anything."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Can't you tell his name?" whispered Johnny.</p> -<p class="pnext">There it was, down in the dark, that Dick -whispered the fearful name. When the tug-boat, the -<em class="italics">Leopard</em>, carrying Dave neared the schooner, the captain -said, "You have another tug there. It is the <em class="italics">Panther</em>."</p> -<p class="pnext">The <em class="italics">Leopard</em> hated the <em class="italics">Panther</em>, and would gladly -have clawed it out of shape and sunk it.</p> -<p class="pnext">"I don't understand why the <em class="italics">Panther</em> is there," said -Dave; "I really don't know what it means."</p> -<p class="pnext">"You see," said the master of the <em class="italics">Leopard</em> fiercely, -"if that other boat is a-goin' to do the job, let her do -it (he will probably cheat you). I can't fool away my -time. The <em class="italics">Sally Jane</em> is waitin' up stream to be towed -down, and I would like to get the job."</p> -<p class="pnext">"We will soon find out what it means, sir. Just -put me alongside the schooner."</p> -<p class="pnext">"I will put my boat there, and you can jump out."</p> -<p class="pnext">Who was it that Dave saw on the schooner's deck? -Dave trembled at the prospect. He could imagine -what was coming, and it came.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Here, young man, what have you been up to? A -precious set of young rascals to be running off with -my property. I thought you said you would be -particular. The state prison is none too good for you," -said this unexpected and gruff personage.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Squire Sylvester," replied Dave with dignity, "just -wait before you condemn after that fashion; wait -till you get the facts. I did try to be particular. I -don't think it was intended when it was done; boys -don't think, you know--"</p> -<p class="pnext">"When what was done?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Why, the anchor lifted--weighed--"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Anchor lifted!" growled Squire Sylvester. "What for?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Just to see it move, and have a little ride, I -think."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Have a little sail! Didn't you know, sir, it was -exposing property to have a little sail?"</p> -<p class="pnext">Here the squire silently levelled a stout red -forefinger at this opprobrious wretch, this villain, this -thief, this robber on the high seas, this--with what -else did that finger mean to label David Fletcher?</p> -<p class="pnext">"But the anchor was dropped again, and it was -thought, sir, that it--that it would stop--"</p> -<p class="pnext">"And the vessel did not stop! Might have guessed -that, I should say. You got into deep water."</p> -<p class="pnext">"We were going to hire the <em class="italics">Leopard</em> to tow it -back, and any damages would have been paid. I am -very sorry--"</p> -<p class="pnext">"No apologies, young man. What's done is done. -I have got a tug-boat to take the vessel back."</p> -<p class="pnext">"And you don't want me?" here shouted the -captain of the <em class="italics">Leopard</em>.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Of course not," muttered the captain of the -<em class="italics">Panther</em>, showing some white teeth in derision.</p> -<p class="pnext">"I don't know anything about you," said Squire -Sylvester to the captain of the <em class="italics">Leopard</em>; "this other -party may settle with you."</p> -<p class="pnext">"I'll pay any bill," said Dave to the <em class="italics">Leopard</em>, whose -steam was escaping in a low growl.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Can't waste any more time," snarled the <em class="italics">Leopard</em>. -He rang the signal-bell to the engineer, and off went -his tug.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Well, where are your companions?" said Squire -Sylvester to Dave.--"O Giles," he added to the -<em class="italics">Panther</em>, "you may start up your boat if you have made -fast to the schooner."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Weigh the anchor fust, sir."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Oh yes, Giles."</p> -<p class="pnext">The anchor weighed, the <em class="italics">Panther</em> then sneezed, -splashed, frothed, and the <em class="italics">Relentless</em> followed it. Squire -Sylvester declared that he must find the other -runaways; that they must be on board the schooner, and -he would hunt for them. He discovered them down in -the hold, and out of the shadows crawled four sheepish, -mortified hide-aways.</p> -<p class="pnext">And so back to its moorings went the old schooner.</p> -<p class="pnext">Back to his office went Squire Sylvester, mad with -others, and mad with himself because mad with others.</p> -<p class="pnext">Back to their homes went a shabby picnic party, -and after them came a bill for the expense of the -<em class="italics">Relentless's</em> return trip. It costs something in this life -to find out that the thing easily started may not be -the thing easily stopped.</p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em"> -</div> -<p class="center large pfirst" id="what-was-he-here-for">IV.</p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 1em"> -</div> -<p class="center medium pfirst"><em class="italics">WHAT WAS HE HERE FOR?</em></p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"> -</div> -<p class="pfirst">Bartie Trafton, <em class="italics">alias</em> Little Mew, was crouching -behind a clump of hollyhocks in a little -garden fronting the Trafton home. It was a favourite -place of retreat when things went poorly with Little -Mew. They had certainly gone unsatisfactorily one -day not long after the sail that was not a sail. He -had perpetrated a blunder that had brought out from -Gran'sir Trafton the encouraging remark that he did -not see what the boy was in this world for. Bartie -had retreated to the hollyhock clump to think the -situation over. He was ten years old, and life did -have a hard look to Little Mew. He never supposed -that his father cared much for him. When the father -was ashore he was drunk; when he came to his -senses, and was sober, then he went to sea. Bart -sometimes wondered if his mother thought of him -and knew how he was situated.</p> -<p class="pnext">"She's up in heaven," thought Bart among the hollyhocks, -and to Bart heaven was somewhere among the -soft, white clouds, floating like the wings of big gulls -far above the tops of the elms that overhung the roof -of the house and looked down upon this poor little -unfortunate. If earth brought so little happiness, -because bringing so little usefulness, then why was Bart -on the earth at all?</p> -<p class="pnext">"I don't see," he murmured.</p> -<p class="pnext">The question was a puzzle to him. He was still -looking up when he heard the voice of somebody calling.</p> -<p class="pnext">"It is somebody at the fence," he said. It was a -musical voice, and Bart wondered if his mother wouldn't -call that way. He turned; and what a sweet face he -saw at the fence!--a young lady with sparkling eyes of -hazel, fair complexion, and cheeks that prettily dimpled -when she laughed. He surely thought it must be his -mother grown young and come back to earth again. -There was some difference between that face, so -picturesquely bordered with its summer hat, and the -puzzled, irregular features under the old, ragged straw -hat that Bart wore.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Are you the little fellow I heard about that got -into the water one day?" asked the young lady.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Yes'm," said Bart, pleased to be noticed because -he had been in the water, while thankful to be out -of it.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Well, I'm getting up a Sunday-school class, and -I should like very much to have you in it. Would -you like to come?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Yes'm," said Bart eagerly, "if--if granny and -gran'sir would let me."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Where are they? You let me ask them."</p> -<p class="pnext">"She's got a lot of tunes in her voice," thought -Bart, eagerly leading the young lady into the -presence of granny and gran'sir.</p> -<p class="pnext">They were in a flutter at the advent of so much -beauty and grace, and gave a ready permission.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Now, Bartie--that is your name, I believe--"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Yes'm."</p> -<p class="pnext">"I shall expect you next Sunday down at that -brick church, Grace Church, just on the corner of -Front Street."</p> -<p class="pnext">"I know where it is."</p> -<p class="pnext">"And one thing more. Do you suppose you could -get anybody else to come?" asked the young lady.</p> -<p class="pnext">"I'll try."</p> -<p class="pnext">"That's right. Do so. Good-bye."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Good-bye."</p> -<p class="pnext">Bart was puzzled to know whom to solicit for the -Sunday school. Gran'sir was so much interested in -the young lady that Bart concluded gran'sir would be -willing to go if asked and if well enough; but Bart -concluded that gran'sir was too old, and he said -nothing. Sunday itself, on his way to the church, -Bart saw a recruit. It was Dave Fletcher.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Oh, you will go with me, won't you? I haven't -anybody yet," he said eagerly.</p> -<p class="pnext">"What do you mean?" replied the wondering Dave.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Oh, go to Sunday school with me. I said I -would try to bring some one."</p> -<p class="pnext">Dave smiled, and Bart interpreted the smile as one -half of an assent.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Oh, do go! I said I would try. And she's real -pretty."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Who? your teacher?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Yes."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Well, that is an inducement. But I am only -going to be here a Sunday or two. My visit is -almost over."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Oh, well, it would please teacher."</p> -<p class="pnext">Dave smiled again, and this Bart interpreted as -the other half of the assent desired.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Oh, I am so glad! I'll tell you where it is."</p> -<p class="pnext">"W-e-l-l! It won't do any harm. I can go as -visitor, and I suppose it would please my family--"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Family?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"My father and mother and sister, if they should -know I had visited the Sunday school. Come along! -We don't want to be late, you know. I'll be visitor, -and perhaps they will want me to make a speech at -the school. Ha! ha!"</p> -<p class="pnext">Bart pulled Dave eagerly into the entry of the -church, and then looked through the open door into -the room where he knew the Sunday school met; for -Bart had been a visitor once in that very same place.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Oh, I see teacher," thought Bart, spying his -friend in a seat not far from the door. Her back -was turned toward him, but he had not forgotten the -pretty summer hat with its fluttering ribbons of blue. -Dave, with a smile, followed the little fellow, who was -timorously conveying his prize to the waiting young -lady. She looked up as Bart exclaimed, "Here, -teacher! I've got one."</p> -<div class="align-center auto-scaled figure" style="width: 61%" id="figure-45"> -<img class="align-center" style="display: block; width: 100%" alt=" " src="images/img-066.jpg" /> -<div class="caption figure"> -"'Here, teacher! I've got a recruit.'" <em class="italics">Page 63.</em></div> -</div> -<p class="pfirst">"Why, Dave," she exclaimed, "where did you come -from?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Annie--this you?" he said. The two began to -laugh. Bart in surprise looked at them.</p> -<p class="pnext">"This is my sister, Bart," explained Dave. "Ha! ha!"</p> -<p class="pnext">That beautiful young lady and the big boy who -had saved him sister and brother? He might have -guessed such a friend as Dave would have such a -sister as this nice young lady. She was visiting at -Uncle Ferguson's.</p> -<p class="pnext">"You see, Dave, when I began my visit I did not -expect to teach while here; but I met the minister, -Mr. Porter, and he said he wished I would start -another class for him in his Sunday school and teach -it while here, and I could not say no; and went to -work, and have been picking up my class. I didn't -happen to tell you."</p> -<p class="pnext">The Rev. Charles Porter, at this time the -clergyman at Grace Church, was an old friend of the -Fletcher family. Meeting Annie in the streets of -Shipton, and knowing what valuable material there -was in the young lady, he desired to set her to work -at once; and when her stay in town might be over, -he could, as he said, "find a teacher, somebody to -continue to open the furrow that she had started."</p> -<p class="pnext">Dave enjoyed the situation.</p> -<p class="pnext">"I will play that I am superintendent, Annie, and -have come to inspect your class, and will sit here -while you teach."</p> -<p class="pnext">"I don't know about allowing you to stay here, -sir, unless you become a member of the class and -answer my questions, Dave."</p> -<p class="pnext">Annie was relieved of the presence of this inspector; -for a gentleman at the head of a class opposite, -noticing a big boy among Annie's flock of little -fellows, kindly invited Dave to sit with his older lads.</p> -<p class="pnext">"I am Mr. Tolman," said the gentleman. "Make -yourself at home among the boys."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Thank you, sir," said Dave; and his sister, with -a roguish smile, bowed him out of her class.</p> -<p class="pnext">That Sunday was an eventful day to Little Mew. -It was pleasant any way to be near this young lady, -who seemed to him to be some beautiful being from -a sphere above the human kind in which he moved. -And then Bart was interested in the subject Annie -presented. She talked about heaven and its people. -She talked about God; but she did not make him -that far-off being that Bart thought he must be, so -that the louder people prayed the quicker they would -bring him. She told how near he was, all about us, -so that we could seem to hear his voice in the pleasant -wind, and feel his touch in the soft, warm sunshine.</p> -<p class="pnext">"But--but," said Bart, "he seems to be behind a -curtain. I don't see him."</p> -<p class="pnext">And then the teacher, her voice to Bart's ear -playing a sweeter tune than ever, told how God took -away the curtain; how he came in the Lord Jesus -Christ; that the Saviour was the divine expression -of God's love; and men could see that love going -about their streets, coming into their homes, healing -their sick, and then hanging on the cross that the -world might be brought to God. Bart had been told -all this before, but somehow it never got so near him.</p> -<p class="pnext">"What she says somehow gets into me," thought -Bart, looking up into the teacher's face. He thought -he would like to ask her one question when he was -alone with her. The school was dismissed, and Bart -lingered that he might walk away with the teacher.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Could I ask you about something?" he said, -trotting at her side and lifting his queer, oldish face -towards her.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Certainly; ask all the questions you want. I -can't say that I can answer them, but there's no harm -in asking them."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Well, what am I in this world for?"</p> -<p class="pnext">He said it so abruptly that it amused Annie.</p> -<p class="pnext">"What are you in this world for?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Yes'm. I don't seem to amount to much."</p> -<p class="pnext">Bart eagerly watched the face above him, that had -suddenly grown serious; for Annie was thinking of -the little fellow's home--of its unattractiveness, of -the two old people there that seemed so uninteresting, -especially the grandfather, who, as Annie recalled -him, seemed to be only a compound of a whining -voice, a gloomy face, a bad cough, and a clumsy cane. -Then she recalled the slighting way in which she -heard people speak of this odd little fellow, who -seemed to be a figure out of place in life's problem; -one who seemed to run into life's misfortunes, not -waiting that they might run into him--one ill-adjusted -and awry. Well, what should she say? She -thought in silence. Then she stopped him, and -looked down into his face.</p> -<p class="pnext">Bart never forgot it. It was as if all of heaven's -beautiful angels she had told about that day were -looking at him through her face, and all of heaven's -beautiful voices were speaking in her tones.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Bart," she said, "the great reason why you are -in this world is because--God loves you."</p> -<p class="pnext">What? He wanted to think that over.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Because what?" he said.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Why, Bart," she said, "God is a Father--a great, -dear Father."</p> -<p class="pnext">Bart began to think he was; but he had been -getting his idea of God through gran'sir's style of -religion, and God seemed more like a judge or a big -police-officer--catching up people and always -marching them off to punishment.</p> -<p class="pnext">"God is a great, dear Father," the tuneful voice -was saying, "and he wants somebody to love him; -and the more people he makes, the more there are to -love him, or should be, and so he made you. But -oh, if we don't love him, it disappoints and grieves -him!"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Does it?" said Bart, thoughtfully, soberly.</p> -<p class="pnext">"When you are at home--alone, upstairs--you -tell God how you feel about it, just as you would -tell your mother--"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Or teacher," thought Bart.</p> -<p class="pnext">"As you would tell your mother if she were on -the earth."</p> -<p class="pnext">That day, all alone hi his diminutive chamber, -kneeling by a little bed whose clothing was all too -scanty in cold weather, a boy told God he wanted to -love him. When Bart rose from his knees he said to -himself, "Now, I must try to love other people."</p> -<p class="pnext">He went downstairs. Gran'sir was lying on a -hard old lounge, making believe that he was trying -to read his Bible, and at the same time he was very -sleepy. Bart hesitated, and then said,--</p> -<p class="pnext">"Gran'sir, don't you--you--want me to get you -a pillow and put under your head?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Oh, that's a nice little boy!" said the weary old -grandfather, when his head dropped on the soft -pillow now covering the hard arm of the lounge.</p> -<p class="pnext">"And, gran'sir, I ain't much on readin'; but -perhaps, if you'd let me, I might read something, you -know."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Oh, that's a dear little feller," said gran'sir, closing -his eyes, so old and tired. He had been trying to -read about Jacob and the angels at Beth-el; but the -lounge was so tough that the feature of the story -gran'sir seemed to appreciate most sensibly was that -Jacob slept on a pillow of stones. I can't say how -much of the story, as Bart read it, gran'sir heard that -day, for he was soon as much lost to the outside -world as tired Jacob was. He had, though, a beautiful -dream, he afterwards told granny. Yes; in his -sleep he seemed to see the ladder with its shining, -silver rounds, climbing the sky, and on them were so -many angels, oh, so many angels!</p> -<p class="pnext">"And, granny," whispered gran'sir, "I was a little -startled, for one of them angels seemed to have -Bartie's face. I hope nothin' is goin' to happen, for -I am beginnin' to think we should miss that little -chap ever so much."</p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em"> -</div> -<p class="center large pfirst" id="the-lighthouse">V.</p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 1em"> -</div> -<p class="center medium pfirst"><em class="italics">THE LIGHTHOUSE.</em></p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"> -</div> -<p class="pfirst">"You say this is your last Sunday at Shipton. -Sorry! We shall miss you in the class," said -Dave's new Sunday-school acquaintance, Mr. Tolman.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Thank you, sir," replied Dave; "but as this is -only my second Sunday in your class, you won't miss -me much."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Oh yes, we shall. See here, David. There is -going to be some company at my house to-morrow -night. Bring your sister round to tea."</p> -<p class="pnext">Dave and Annie were at Mr. Tolman's the evening -of the next day; and who was it Dave saw trying to -shrink into one corner? A stout, fat man, altogether -too big for the corner.</p> -<p class="pnext">"He looks natural," thought Dave.</p> -<p class="pnext">At this point the man saw Dave. He had been -looking very lonely, but his face now brightened as if -he had suddenly seen an old and valued acquaintance.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Think you don't remember me!" he said, advancing -toward Dave, and extending a large brown hand -shaped something like a flounder. Dave thought at -once of a lighthouse, a sand-bar, and an old schooner -halting on the bar.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Oh, the light-keeper, Mr. Tolman!" cried Dave. -"You here?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"It is my uncle from Black Rocks," said the -younger Mr. Tolman, stepping up to this party of -two. "Uncle Toby doesn't get off very often from -the light, and we thought he ought to have a little -vacation, and come and see his relatives."</p> -<p class="pnext">"My nephew James is very good," said Mr. Toby -Tolman. "The last time I saw you," he added, -addressing Dave, "I put you on board that tug-boat."</p> -<p class="pnext">Dave dropped his head.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Oh, you needn't be ashamed of that affair. I -didn't think at the time you could be the cause of -the mischief, and I've been told since who it was that -was to blame for it."</p> -<p class="pnext">Dave raised his head.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Fact is I've been a-thinking of you. Want a job, -young man?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Me, sir? I expect to go home to-morrow."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Got to return for anything special?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Well, my visit is out."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Nothing special to call you home?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Oh, I help father, and go to school when there is -one."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Well," said the old light-keeper, fixing his eyes -on the boy, "how should you like to help to keep a -lighthouse for three weeks?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Me?" said Dave eagerly.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Yes, you. You know I have an assistant, Timothy -Waters. He wants to be off on a vacation for three -weeks, and I must have somebody to take his place. -I want somebody who can work in there, sort of spry -and handy. Now, I think you would do. How -should you like it?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"When do you want to know?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"The last of this week."</p> -<p class="pnext">"I will go home to-morrow and talk it over with -the folks, and I can get you an answer by day after -to-morrow."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Yes, that will do."</p> -<p class="pnext">Dave went home, obtained the consent of his -parents, and the boat that brought Timothy Waters -to Shipton to begin his vacation took back to the -lighthouse Dave Fletcher and his trunk. It was the -light-keeper, Mr. Toby Tolman, who brought the -former assistant to Shipton, and then accompanied -Dave to Black Rocks. It was a mild summer day. -The wind seemed too lazy to blow, and the sea too -lazy to roll. There were faint little puffs of air at -intervals, and along the bar and the shore the low -surf turned slowly over as if weary. The light-tower -and its red annex the fog-signal tower rose up -out of one sea of blue into another of gold, and then -above this sea of sunshine rolled another of blue again, -where the white-sailed clouds seemed to be all -becalmed. It was low tide, and the light-keeper's dory -brushed against the exposed masses of the ledge, -weed-matted and brown, on which the lighthouse -rested.</p> -<p class="pnext">"This looks like home to me," said the keeper, -when they had climbed the ladder and gained the -door in the fog-signal tower. When they entered the -light-tower the keeper detained Dave and said, "I -want to tell you something about my home here on -the rocks. There, this tower is about seventy feet -high. It is built as strong as they can make stone -masonry. This is the first room. We keep various -stores here. Do you see this?"</p> -<p class="pnext">Mr. Tolman with his foot tapped a round iron cover -in the floor and then raised it.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Down here is the tank where we keep our fresh -water."</p> -<p class="pnext">The iron cover went down with a dull slam; and -then he pointed out various stores in the -room--vegetables, wood, coal, and a quantity of -hand-grenades (glass flasks filled with a chemical, to be -used in putting out fires).</p> -<p class="pnext">"How thick are the walls here, Mr. Tolman?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Four feet here of stone, solid; and then there is -an inner wall of brick, foot and a half thick. Now -we will go up into the kitchen. You saw those -hand-grenades of ours. Precious little here that will -burn. You see the stairways from room to room are -of iron, and then every floor has an iron deck covered -with hard pine. Ah, my fire is still in!"</p> -<p class="pnext">Yes, the kitchen stove had guarded well its fire, -and the heat of the room was tempered by a mild, -cool draught of air that came through an opened -window from the flashing sea without. Besides a -softly-cushioned rocking-chair near the stove, there -were three chairs ranged near a small dining-room -table, and their language was, "You will find a -welcome here." Clock, looking-glass, cupboard, -lamp-shelf, and other conveniences were in the room.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Let's take a peep at the next room," said the -keeper.</p> -<p class="pnext">Again they climbed an iron staircase, and reached a -bedroom. Besides a single bed, there were a clothes-closet, -three green chairs, a green stand, a gilt-framed -looking-glass, and on the wall several pictures of -sea-life. The floor was covered with oil-cloth, and -directly before the bed was a rag mat that had a -very domestic look.</p> -<p class="pnext">"There--this is my room; and now we will go up -into the assistant's, your quarters. We will bring up -your trunk directly," said the keeper. This room -was furnished like the keeper's, only it had two -chairs, and before the bed was a strip of woollen -carpet.</p> -<p class="pnext">"I can put my trunk anywhere, I suppose, Mr. Tolman?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Anywhere you please."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Mother gave me a few pictures, too, that she said -I could stick up, to make it look homelike."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Just what I like to have you do. Now for the -watch-room."</p> -<p class="pnext">This was at the head of another iron stairway, and -held a small table, a library-case, a green chest, two -chairs, and a closet for the keeping of curtains that -might be used in the lantern, and other useful apparatus.</p> -<p class="pnext">"This room is where we can sit and watch the -lantern," explained the keeper.</p> -<p class="pnext">"And what is this?" asked Dave, pointing at a -weight that hung down from the ceiling.</p> -<p class="pnext">"That weight? It is a part of the machinery that -turns round the lens in the lantern. Now, let us go -up into the lantern."</p> -<p class="pnext">The lantern was a circular room. The walls were -of iron, up to the height of three feet, and cased with -wood, and then there was a succession of big panes -of the clearest glass, making a broad window that -extended about all the lantern. In the centre was -a lens of "the fourth order," shaped like a cone, and -consisting of very strong magnifying prisms of glass. -Within this lens was a kerosene-lamp.</p> -<p class="pnext">"There!" said Mr. Tolman; "all this tower of stone, -all the arrangements of the place, all the serving of -the keeper and his assistant, all the doing by day and -the watching by night, is just to keep that little lamp -a-going. Put out the lamp at night, and you might -just as well send the keepers home and tear down the -lighthouse."</p> -<p class="pnext">"It is not so big a lamp as I supposed."</p> -<p class="pnext">"No; that is a small lamp for so big a light as -folks outside see. It is this lens that does the work -of magnifying."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Can I step outside, sir? I wanted to when we -were down here that night, but we did not have so -good a chance for looking about."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Oh yes."</p> -<p class="pnext">Outside of the lantern was a "deck," about six feet -broad, and compassing the lantern. It was a shelf of -stone covered with iron.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Good view here," said the keeper.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Yes; nothing to hide the prospect," replied Dave. -"There is Shipton up beyond the harbour, and there -is the sea in the other direction."</p> -<p class="pnext">Only sea, sea, sea, to north, south, east--one wide, -restless play of blue water.</p> -<p class="pnext">"The wind must blow up here sometimes, Mr. Tolman."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Blow! That is a mild word for it; and in -winter it is cold. It is no warm job when we have -to scrape the snow and ice off the lantern. Folks -outside must see, and it is our place to let them see."</p> -<p class="pnext">When the keeper and Dave returned to the kitchen, -preparations for dinner were started, and then -Mr. Tolman said, "We have a few minutes to spare, -and I guess we will take up our boat."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Take it up?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Well, if it should promise to be a quiet day I -could moor it near the light; but, of course, in rough -weather, when everything is tumbling round the -rocks, I had better have it h'isted into a safe place. -I'll show you."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Isn't it going to be quiet?" asked Dave eagerly. -"I'd like to see a storm out here."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Better see it than feel it, I tell ye. I don't know -but that it will be fair," said the keeper, at the door -of the fog-signal tower, looking out upon the water, -while a light breeze gently lifted and dropped the thin -gray locks on his brow. "May be fair, but -still--still--I don't know. A bit hazy in the no'th-east."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Oh, if it would storm!" said Dave enthusiastically.</p> -<p class="pnext">The keeper smiled at his eagerness, and said: "I -think you'll have your wish before you get through; -and it's a tough place out here in a storm, the wind -howling round the light, the big breakers thundering -and smashing along the bar, the spray flying up -to the lantern, or, if there is a fog, the old fog-horn -screeching dismally. What do you think of it? That -don't suit you, does it?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Oh, splendidly!"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Well, we will get the boat up. You see we have -'tackle and falls' right here at the door, rigged -overhead, you see, and we can get up 'most anything. -If you will go down and make the boat fast, we will -then raise her."</p> -<p class="pnext">Dave descended, attached the boat at her stern and -bows to the suspended tackle, and returned to the -keeper's side. Then they pulled on the ropes. The -boat came readily up, and hung opposite the door of -the fog-signal tower.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Now we are all right," declared Dave. "This is -a fortress where we have a boat, and can go off if we -wish, but no enemy can get to us."</p> -<p class="pnext">All this increased the keeper's pleasure in witnessing -the eagerness of Dave. At dinner the keeper -rehearsed his duties, and added,--</p> -<p class="pnext">"May not seem as if there was much to be done, -but to keep everything in good condition it takes -some time, and then there may be fogs--oh my!"</p> -<p class="pnext">This made Dave, of course, none the less anxious -to hear the big breakers booming against the -lighthouse, and as an accompaniment the fog-horn -moaning hoarsely. The keeper gave Dave his course of -duties during the day; and while they despatched -dinner he told Dave also about a heavy storm just -"ten years ago that very day." And this only fired -up Dave's anxiety to see what the keeper termed "a -howler."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Don't you feel lonely here sometimes, sir?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Well, we get used to almost everything. I am -only lonely when my assistant is away; and if I am -occupied, then loneliness don't bother me much. I am -generally pretty busy. By sunrise my light must be -out in the lantern. I must make a trip upstairs for -that, any way. Then there is breakfast. People's -appetites are apt to be pretty good out here, and -sometimes it is no small job just to do the cooking. -I believe in living well--in having plenty to eat, and -in having a variety. After breakfast, first thing, -Timothy and I have prayers--same as folks do at -home, you know. Then we look after the lantern. -That takes time--to trim the lamp, keep the lens -clean, and see that the windows of the lantern are -polished bright. Then in the forenoon I do my -baking--bread, cake, and so on. Well, if the fog should set -in, that would upset other arrangements, and we must -watch the fog-signal. Oh, there is a lot to be done! -Noon comes before one knows it. In the afternoon -I like to get a little time to read; but then it may be -foggy, or one must go to town, or perhaps the town -may come to us. I have a good many visitors in -summer-time. That makes a pleasant change."</p> -<p class="pnext">"How do you manage at night?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"We relieve one another. One is on watch till -twelve, and the other takes his turn till sunrise. I -will make it as easy for you as I can, and--"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Oh, I can stand it."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Well, we will see. But speaking about daytime, -one must make up then for the sleep he loses at night. -So you see the hours are filled up. I read in the -night considerable. I am going to propose one thing. -You will find some valuable books up in the library-case -in the watch-room. I want you to select one -and read it. I have been astonished to see how much -I could read by keeping at it sort of steady, as we -say; giving myself a stint perhaps every day, and -sticking to it. Hadn't you better try it?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"I think I will."</p> -<p class="pnext">Dave noticed that the light-keeper was very -particular to have prayers each morning directly after -breakfast, and then at some other time during the -day he would be likely to be bending over his Bible. -It was an impressive sight. The ocean might be -rolling the heavy breakers across the bar as if driving -heavy, white-headed battering-rams toward the land. -Against the tower itself the ponderous billows would -throw themselves, and sweep in a crashing torrent -between the light and fog-signal towers. Within, in -the sheltered kitchen, the light-keeper would sit at his -table bending over his Bible, his countenance at rest -as the shadow of God's great protecting promises fell -over him.</p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em"> -</div> -<p class="center large pfirst" id="fog">VI.</p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 1em"> -</div> -<p class="center medium pfirst"><em class="italics">FOG.</em></p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"> -</div> -<p class="pfirst">"Here are some letters for you," said the -light-keeper, returning from Shipton one noon -and handing Dave a package of letters.</p> -<p class="pnext">"This is a funny-looking one," thought Dave. "It -is not written, but printed. Somebody sent it that -did not know how to write. Let me see what it -says:--</p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"> -</div> -<p class="pfirst">"'DEAR DAVIE I THOUGHT I WOULD WRITE YOU A -LITTLE AND SAY I AM WELL AND HOPE YOU ARE -GRANSIR IS BETTER BECAUSE I READ TO HIM HE -SAYS I LIKE MY TEACHER SHE IS YOUR SISTER -SHE SAYS SHE MAY TAKE ME TO THE LIGHTHOUSE -AND I WOULD LIKE TO COME I SHALL PRAY FOR -YOU WHEN THE STORMS COME AND EVERY DAY -YOUR TRUE FRIEND</p> -<p class="left medium pnext">"'BARTHOLOMEW TRAFTON.'"</p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"> -</div> -<p class="pfirst">Dave was so much pleased with this communication -that he read it to the light-keeper.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Dave, I wish you would invite your sister and -her friends to come down here. Ask those boys who -were with you in the schooner."</p> -<p class="pnext">"That would be pleasant. Thank you."</p> -<p class="pnext">"I will try to make it interesting for them."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Oh, I wish you would do one thing."</p> -<p class="pnext">"What is that?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Tell us what you know about lighthouses."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Well, let me think. There is one thing I could -do. I have in my drawer an account of lighthouses -I have written off at spare moments, just to keep me -busy, you know, and I could read that."</p> -<p class="pnext">"I think we would all like that very much."</p> -<p class="pnext">"All right; let us plan for a visit."</p> -<p class="pnext">"I think you have had some visitors since you have -been here that you did not plan for."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Yes, indeed; and they may come any time, just -as your party surprised me. Sometimes, though near -me, they may not get to me. I was saying the first -day you came here it was the tenth anniversary of a -great storm. It was a foreign vessel, a Norwegian -bark. The vessel struck on the bar--"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Couldn't they see the light?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"The fog was very thick, so that they couldn't have -got much warning from the light. The first thing to -do now in a fog, of course, is to start the signal. But -we had none then--only an old bell I used to strike; -but when the wind was to south'ard it carried away -from the bar the sound of the bell. This was a -southerly storm, and such storms are not likely to be -long, but they may blow very hard while they do last. -I heard the storm roaring through the night; and when -I looked out in the morning, there was this vessel just -on the bar! Oh, what a tumult she was in! Such -a raging of the waves all around that vessel! I always -go off to the help of people if I can reach them; but -there was no reaching that vessel with a boat. Yes, -I could see them and they could see me in the -morning, when the fog lifted, but there was no getting -from one to the other. I could see them clinging to -the rigging, hanging there as long as the waves would -let them. I would watch some immense sea--and -they roll up big in a storm, I tell ye--come rushing -at the vessel, rolling over it, completely burying the -deck. After such seas some one would be missing. -I never want to see that sight again. There they -were dying, and I couldn't get anywhere near them! -The vessel did not break up at once. She was there -the next day, and I went to her, and others went, but -we found nobody aboard. I think they saved part of -her cargo; but the waves pounded her up fearfully, -and carried off many things of her cargo. One by -one they came ashore. It did touch me one day, when -I was down on the rocks fishing, near the lighthouse -at low tide, to see something floating on the water. -'Why, that is a box,' I said. We are all curious, you -know, and I wondered what was in that box. I went -to the lighthouse, got a long pole, and reached the -box and brought it ashore. I'll show it to you if you -would like to see it."</p> -<p class="pnext">"I would, very much."</p> -<p class="pnext">"I have always kept it here, for it seems to belong -to the lighthouse rather than anywhere else. Here -it is."</p> -<p class="pnext">He went to the closet in the kitchen, and reaching -up to the highest shelf, took down a box of -sandalwood. It was an elaborately carved piece of work, -and had served among the articles for a lady's toilet. -When the light-keeper opened it Dave saw two -handkerchiefs, a hair-brush, a comb, and there was also -a man's picture. Dave looked with interest at this -relic washed up out of the buried secrets of the sea, -and still keeping its own secret there in the -light-keeper's kitchen.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Did you ever get any clue to the ownership of this, -Mr. Tolman?" asked Dave.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Let me tell you of one strange thing that happened -about a year ago. One night I was very sure I heard -a cry out on the bar. The waves make so much noise -that it is hard to hear anybody if they do shout; but -sometimes when the sea is still you can hear a call. -Said I to Waters, 'Timothy, I hear a hollering.' Said -he, 'I think I hear it myself. Let us go to the door -and listen.' We were both in the kitchen, you know. -'Twas the fore part of the evening, though dark. Sure -enough, at the door we could hear somebody shout. -'Timothy,' said I, 'that is a plain case. Let's launch -the boat.' So off we put. The person kept hollering -and we kept rowing. There on the bar we found a -man. Crazy he acted, and he couldn't tell much about -himself--how he got there, or where his boat was. -He was not sober. On our way to the light what -should we run into but a boat. 'Here is the rest of -him,' whispered Timothy. We took him and his boat -to the light. How we got him up the ladder I don't -know, but we tied a rope round him, and drew him, -and shoved him, and somehow got him into the -lighthouse. The next morning he was entirely sober. Of -course he was very much ashamed, but he could not -give any account of himself, only that he had been in -a boat and had trouble. Well, for some reason I had -that box down from the shelf that morning he left, -and I had been looking at it. He saw it. He started -as if the box had struck him. He stepped up to it -softly, looked into it, and said, with an amazed look -as I ever saw on a person, 'Where--where--did you -get it?' 'It floated from a wreck off here.' 'Anybody -ever claim it?' 'Never,' I said; 'but I am ready -to give it up to any claimant.' 'Well,' said he, 'if -anybody comes and claims it, you give it up; but if -not, don't part with it till you hear from me.' I -asked him what he meant; but he would make no -explanation, only repeating his request. He was very -grateful for what we had done, and I took the liberty -to say in a proper way that he must take warning, or -he would be wrecked on a bar where there would be -no saving. He burst into tears, thanked me, said he -knew he was a great fool, and left in his boat. We -watched him, and saw him row to a vessel lying at -anchor in the harbour. Then we guessed he had been -ashore the day before in the ship's boat, and got into -mischief. I told Timothy we would find out about -the vessel; but a fog came up and kept us here. She -slipped out to sea as much a stranger as ever. Fishermen -afterwards told us it was a vessel that ran in for -shelter.</p> -<p class="pnext">"From that day to this I have never heard about the -man. Sometimes I think it was a foreigner; again -I fancy it is somebody at Shipton, but I could not -say. I am there very little to know about people; -and Timothy couldn't tell about it. He don't belong -to Shipton. There is the box. Pretty, isn't it?"</p> -<p class="pnext">Dave nodded a yes.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Mr. Tolman, could you tell the man if you should -see him again?" asked Dave.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Could I? yes, indeed."</p> -<p class="pnext">"How did he look? What was the colour of his -hair, his eyes; and how was he dressed?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Now--you will think it strange--I can't tell any -of his features or what clothes he wore, and yet if I -should see him I don't believe I should miss him. I -could tell him by the look of his eyes--a look that -somehow appealed to me--a look without hope. Often -when at night I see the froth on the bar in the -moonlight, I seem to hear that man calling to me, and I -take it as a sign that he is still in a worse fix than if -on the bar. It is an awful curse, rum, and I am a -sworn foe to it."</p> -<p class="pnext">Here the light-keeper placed the sandal-wood box -again on its shelf, and Dave turned to look out of the -window near the kitchen table.</p> -<p class="pnext">"See here, Mr. Tolman; what's that?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Where?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Floating and curling over that point!"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Can't you guess?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Looks like fog! Yes, I can see now plainly. -Oh, can we start up the fog-signal?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Wait a while. When the fog is so thick that you -can't see Breakers P'int, then we start the fog-signal. -That is the sign in that direction. On the other side -of the lighthouse it is Jones's Neck that must be -hidden. I guess both the P'int and the Neck will -be covered this time. I must start the fire in the -engine and have everything ready, at any rate. Let -us go into the fog-signal tower."</p> -<p class="pnext">Dave was delighted.</p> -<p class="pnext">"I suppose, Mr. Tolman, people like to hear the -signal?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Yes, if in a fog. They want to know which way -to go. Even fishermen about here, who are supposed -to know the way about the harbour, may be bothered -by the fog; but people just off for pleasure may be -bothered a good deal."</p> -<p class="pnext">"See here! Isn't the fog lifting round Jones's Neck, -Mr. Tolman?"</p> -<p class="pnext">Dave was looking out of a window in the tower, -and Mr. Tolman joined him.</p> -<p class="pnext">"You are right; and Breakers P'int is clear too. -We will hold on then, have everything ready, you -know, for the fog may shut down suddenly."</p> -<p class="pnext">Dave continued to look out of the window.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Coming again!" he cried to the light-keeper, who -had kept up his fires in the engine-room, but had gone -for a few minutes to the kitchen. "Fog is round -Breakers Point and Jones's Neck!"</p> -<p class="pnext">Yes: like an immense gray sponge the mist had -once more advanced, wiping out the vessels slowly -sailing into harbour, the far outlying points of land, -and now erased an islet called the Nub, mingling all -in one confusing cloud.</p> -<p class="pnext">"All right," said the light-keeper; "we will start -the signal."</p> -<p class="pnext">There was the driving of a stout piston; there -was the stirring of a big wheel; there was the -movement of other machinery; and there was finally--"What -a noise overhead!" thought the listening -Dave. It seemed as if five thousand bees all buzzing -at once, twenty-five thousand crickets all shrilly -piping at once, and fifty thousand wood-sawyers all -sawing at once, had combined their noises and were -forcing all through the flaming fog-trumpet above. -For ten seconds Dave held his fingers in his ears. -Then there was a blessed stillness, save as the play of -the machinery interrupted it.</p> -<p class="pnext">"What do you think of that?" asked Mr. Tolman, -grinning broadly. "Some lung power left in it yet."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Lung power! They can hear that down to the -Cape of Good Hope. One is enough for both sides of -the ocean."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Want another? Time is 'most up. Here she goes!"</p> -<p class="pnext">She went.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Toot--buzz--boom--whiz--fizz-z-z--bim-m-m-m!"</p> -<p class="pnext">Among the breakers tumbling on the sandy shores, -along the face of weather-beaten island-edges, down -amid the waves and up in the clouds echoed the -sharp, strong, fog-piercing, ear-cutting blast. And -wherever it went it said, "Of fog I warn-n-n-n-n!" -for ten seconds.</p> -<p class="pnext">In one of the intervals of rest Dave remarked, "Now -that must be kept up as long as the fog lasts?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Of course."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Doesn't it get tiresome?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Well, that's how you take it. I was told of a -lighthouse where the signal was going twenty-one -days."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Day after day! Just think of it!"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Well, there is this side of it: off on the water -there is somebody bewildered by the mist, perplexed -day after day, it may be, and they catch the sound of -the signal. Oh, ain't that good news? That's what -makes me contented at it. I have sometimes wished -I was a musician, and could please others by my -playing; but I tell you I have stood by this old engine -dark, rainy, foggy nights, and oh, I have been so -happy starting up and sending out this old whistle. -There it is!"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Toot--buzz--boom--whiz--bim-m-m-m!"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Somebody heard that, you may believe, and somebody, -too, more pleased than if I had been a whole -band of music, and had sent out just the sweetest tune."</p> -<p class="pnext">The light-keeper stood by the tugging engine and -wiped the perspiration from his brow, and his big, -rosy face was as happy as that of a school-boy going -off on a long vacation.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Hark! what is that? Sounds like a bell," said Dave.</p> -<p class="pnext">"It is the bell-buoy at Sunk Rock. We only hear -that when the wind is blowing off the sea."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Didn't hear it before."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Wind hasn't been just right to hear it loud. I -have caught it since you came; but then I am used -to its sound, and can tell it easily."</p> -<p class="pnext">"I must see it."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Oh, we shall have a chance, I guess."</p> -<p class="pnext">The fog-signal had been shrieking away an hour, -and Dave heard another sound.</p> -<p class="pnext">"That isn't a bell I hear now," he said.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Well, no; that's a hollering."</p> -<p class="pnext">Was it a cry from the lighthouse tower or a cry -outside of it? a cry from what quarter? Dave looked -out of a window near him. He could see only fog -above and waves below.</p> -<p class="pnext">"I will go down to the door and try to see who or -what it is," said Dave, "for there is that cry again."</p> -<p class="pnext">He descended to the door of the tower and looked -down through the hole in the platform. Then he saw -a dory tossing in the water that now flowed all about -the tower, swashing against its iron walls. There was -a boy in the boat. He was not looking up, but -clinging to a rope stretched for purposes of mooring -from the tower to a sunken rock forty feet away. -Steadying his boat by this rope, he was waiting for -some response to his repeated calls.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Hullo, there!" shouted Dave.</p> -<p class="pnext">The boy looked up, still grasping the rope.</p> -<p class="pnext">"That you, Dave?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Yes. That you, Dick? Where did you come from?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Yes, Dick Pray, and nobody else."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Won't you come up?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Well, yes, I should like to, but the water is -uneasy. Can't get out of my boat."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Hold on; I will come down and help you." He -stepped within the tower and reported, "Mr. Tolman, -this fog has brought somebody."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Don't wonder at it. Give him any help he needs."</p> -<p class="pnext">"I want a short rope."</p> -<p class="pnext">"There's one hanging on that nail."</p> -<p class="pnext">Dave took the rope, went to the door of the tower, -and descended the ladder.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Here, Dick! Take your painter and tie it to that -mooring-rope, allowing enough slack to bring your -boat almost to the tower and yet not touch it. -There! if that length isn't right you can try it -again. Now catch this rope and make fast to the -stern there. So! That's it! Now I'll pull you in."</p> -<p class="pnext">Dave drew on his end of the rope, and pulled Dick's -boat so near the ladder that Dick could spring to it, -and yet the boat itself was left to swing in the waves -while it could not strike the tower.</p> -<p class="pnext">"I'll just make fast my end of the rope, Dick, and -we will go up the ladder."</p> -<p class="pnext">"All right. Glad to get out of that old boat and -go up with you."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Why, where under the sun and moon have you been?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Me? Been camping out on the Nub."</p> -<p class="pnext">"You haven't!"</p> -<p class="pnext">"But I have."</p> -<p class="pnext">"That your tent over there?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Mine and Sam Whittles's."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Tolman and I noticed it to-day for the first time. -How long have you been there?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Long enough to eat you or Toby Tolman--you -may draw lots for the honour--if you don't give me -some food."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Oh, we will soon give you that. Among other -things I will give you some fish. Got some splendid -cunners, and I will divide with you."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Good! I could eat 'em raw. Hungry as a shark. -Sam is hungrier. I don't know as he will wait for -me, but throw himself into the water and go after -the fish himself."</p> -<p class="pnext">"O Dickie, we will make you feel like a new -being. Come in and see Tolman. He is a splendid -old fellow. Come in this way."</p> -<p class="pnext">The boys went up into the engine-room.</p> -<p class="pnext">"An old acquaintance, Mr. Tolman," said Dave.</p> -<p class="pnext">"I see, I see," replied the light-keeper, recognizing -Dick as one of the schooner party.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Whiz--bim--fizz--"</p> -<p class="pnext">"It sounded splendid out at Shag Rocks," shouted -Dick to the light-keeper.</p> -<p class="pnext">"You been there?" inquired Mr. Tolman.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Yes; and this old fog came up and confused me, -and I didn't know where I was, and I heard the -signal and I put for it," said Dick.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Out there fishing?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Yes, sir; or--I wanted to fish, but didn't catch -a fin."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Shag Rocks you went to?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Yes, sir; two ledges with a strip of sand between -them."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Oh, those are 'Spectacle Rocks,' as the fishermen -say. They look like a pair of spectacles. You -wouldn't catch much there. Shag Rocks are to the -nor'ard."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Well, I'm willing they should stay there."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Next time, you come here. Splendid chance off -this very ledge; Black Rocks, as we call them."</p> -<p class="pnext">"That would be wise, I think."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Well, make yourself at home.--Dave, you give -him something to eat."</p> -<p class="pnext">"I thought I would let him have some of those -cunners to take with him."</p> -<p class="pnext">"So do, but give him something now.--And you -don't want to go back in this fog?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Well, I'd rather have clear weather if I have got -to find the Nub," said Dick.</p> -<p class="pnext">The fog, though, refused to clear up that day, and -Dick remained all night.</p> -<p class="pnext">"I pity Sam," he told Dave; "but he has got a -teapot, and he must live on that till morning. I'll -give him a surprise to-morrow, I tell you. I will -throw my line into the water off these rocks here, -and carry to camp a string of fish worth having. I'll -open Sam's eyes for him."</p> -<p class="pnext">Dick, though, overslept his intended hour of rising. -It was Dave who came rushing into the assistant-keeper's -room, where Dick had been sleeping, and he -cried, "Dick, Dick! there is a furious shouting for -you. Two men and a young fellow are down in a -boat at the foot of the tower, and want you."</p> -<p class="pnext">"I'll be there directly," said Dick, springing out of -his bed. He dressed quickly, and rushed down to -the door of the signal-tower. Looking below, he -exclaimed, "That you, Sam Whittles?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Yes. Where have you been? Didn't sleep a -wink last night. Thought you were drowned and -everything else. Got these two fishermen who came -along to pull me here in their boat. Come, boy, -come home!"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Fury!" said Dick in his thoughts. "Won't--won't -you come up?" he asked aloud. "I was going -to surprise you, take you some fish, and so on."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Fish!" said Sam contemptuously; "these men -will sell it to me by the acre."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Squar mile, ef he wants it," said one of these -piscatory individuals, looking up and grinning.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Won't you all come up?" asked Dave Fletcher.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Can't, thank you," said Sam. "Just throw that -Jonah overboard, and we will go home."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Jonah" said it was "too bad," and stole down the -ladder, feeling worse than on the day he returned in -the runaway schooner.</p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em"> -</div> -<p class="center large pfirst" id="the-camp-at-the-nub">VII.</p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 1em"> -</div> -<p class="center medium pfirst"><em class="italics">THE CAMP AT THE NUB.</em></p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"> -</div> -<p class="pfirst">Two days later the light-keeper gave Dave a -holiday, that he might spend a day at the -Nub. Dick Pray came after him, and as he rowed -off from the lighthouse he called out to the keeper, -who stood in the tower door, "Don't worry about -your assistant. I will bring him home after dinner. -Get here by four."</p> -<p class="pnext">The keeper nodded his head. He said to himself, -"May be; but if I don't see a boat starting off from -the Nub by a quarter of four, I shan't leave it to you -to bring him, but go myself for him. You are great -on what you are going to do; I like the kind that -does."</p> -<p class="pnext">It was a pleasant boat-ride to the Nub.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Welcome!" shouted several young men in chorus -as Dick's dory neared the shore of the Nub. They -stood on a broad, flat stone, for which the rock-weed -had woven a brown mat, and on the crown of the -ledge behind them rose a tent tipped with a dirty flag.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Hurrah!" responded Dick.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Hurrah!" shouted Dave.</p> -<p class="pnext">"I thought, Dick," said Dave, "only Sam Whittles -was here."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Oh, these fellers came down last night. Just to -spend a couple of days, you know."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Who are they?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Oh, Jimmy Dawes, I believe, and there's Steve -Pettigrew and a Keese Junkins."</p> -<p class="pnext">Dave's feelings of like and dislike were very quick -in their operation, and he now said to himself, "Don't -fancy those specimens!"</p> -<p class="pnext">They were showily rather than tastefully dressed, -strutted about with a self-important air, and their -talk was loud, coarse, and slangy.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Who is that little fellow?" asked Dave, noticing -a small boy in the rear of the tent.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Oh, that is a kind of servant they brought down -with them. He came down, and waits on them just -for his board. He is a queer chap, and makes fun for -us all. We call him Dovey. Don't know what his -real name is. Splendid place here for camp!"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Tolman doesn't like it; says you can't get on or -off easy."</p> -<p class="pnext">"O Dave, Tolman is an old fogey. But here we are."</p> -<p class="pnext">The boat was bumping against the landing-rock, -and Dick and Dave disembarked amid a chorus of -"How are ye?" "Step ashore!" and other friendly -salutations. So cordial were these that Dave's dislike -was put to sleep, and he said to himself, "They are -pleasant. Good-hearted, I daresay."</p> -<p class="pnext">The tent within was an assortment of bedding, -camp-chests, old clothes, and provisions, all mixed up -in great confusion. Dave thought the outside of the -tent would be more agreeable than the inside, which -was clouded with tobacco smoke. He took a seat -without, and looked off upon the sea. It was a vivid -summer day. All the colouring of nature was very -bright and sharp. The sky was very blue; the clouds -were very white; the water was very dark, and the -foam of the breakers white as the flakes scattered by -the storms of January. Dick and the others were -discussing plans for dinner. As Dave sat alone, -watching the white sails slowly drifting across the -distant sea, a light hand was laid on his shoulder by -some one who had stepped up behind him. It was -not a big, coarse hand, but a gentle pressure such as -a child might make.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Oh, it is the boy Dick told about," thought Dave; -"it's that Dovey." He looked up, and to his surprise -there was Little Mew!</p> -<p class="pnext">"Why, Bartie, you down here?" exclaimed Dave, -turning and looking with interest at the small, twisted -features of Bartholomew Trafton.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Yes; and I am glad to see you. Did you get -my letter?"</p> -<p class="pnext">Bart had seated himself beside Dave, and rested -his hand on Dave's knee as if he were a little boat -gladly tying up to a friendly pier.</p> -<div class="align-center auto-scaled figure" style="width: 59%" id="figure-46"> -<img class="align-center" style="display: block; width: 100%" alt=" " src="images/img-098.jpg" /> -<div class="caption figure"> -"Bart seated himself beside Dave and rested his hand on his knee." <em class="italics">Page 97</em>.]</div> -</div> -<p class="pfirst">"Yes, I got your letter, and it was a very nice one. -There is a party, too, coming down to the lighthouse, -and I thought you might be in it. My sister will be -one, I expect."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Teacher?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Yes; and Mr. James Tolman, my teacher when I -was in the school, is going to bring them."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Oh, I wish I could go. I don't like it here."</p> -<p class="pnext">As he spoke he turned his head and looked about -as if to make sure that no one heard him save Dave.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Well, how did you come here?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Reese Junkins," said Bartie, again looking back. -"He lives near us. He came to the house and told -gran'sir and granny they wanted a boy to go with -them and just wait in the tent, and he would look -after me, and I might like it. But I don't like it."</p> -<p class="pnext">Here if his eyes had been straight, and Dave had -followed their glance, he would have noticed that -Bartie was looking at a basket of bottles near a rear -corner of the tent.</p> -<p class="pnext">"I don't like to be with such people; they make -too much noise."</p> -<p class="pnext">He bravely concealed the fact that they made fun -of him, though his soul was vexed and torn by their -unkind jokes.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Well, you know Dick."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Yes; but he has forgotten me. He only saw me -that day."</p> -<p class="pnext">That day meant the time of the rescue from the -water. Dave looked into the face turned trustingly -toward his own.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Don't you worry, Bartie; I will look after you."</p> -<p class="pnext">The boy looked up so gratefully, and the hand on -Dave's knee pressed harder. The little boat rejoiced -to have found such good moorings.</p> -<div class="center transition"> -<p class="pfirst">――――</p> -</div> -<p class="pfirst">About half-past three Dave said to Dick, "I think -I must be going, if you can row me across. You know -I said I would be back by four, and I shall be needed -at the light."</p> -<p class="pnext">"All right," replied Dick.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Going?" called out Sam. "Don't hurry."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Thank you; but I think I must be starting," -said Dave.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Don't go!"</p> -<p class="pnext">This last was a timid, pitiful voice.</p> -<p class="pnext">Dave turned, and there was Little Mew.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Oh, I must go, Bartie. You see I said I would -go back this afternoon, and the keeper will look for -me at the light."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Oh take me!" he begged aside.</p> -<p class="pnext">"You really want to go--really, Bartie?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Oh yes; I'll ask them."</p> -<p class="pnext">Bart turned to Dick and Sam, and asked if he could -go to the lighthouse.</p> -<p class="pnext">"We have no objection," they said.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Very well," said Dave, who saw the place was a -prison for the little fellow.</p> -<p class="pnext">But what did it mean that Steve, Billy, and Reese -leaned against the boat, and looked sullen as a -fog-bank on the horizon?</p> -<p class="pnext">"You can't have this boat!" muttered Steve.</p> -<p class="pnext">"But it's one I borrowed," shouted Dick angrily. -"Hands off! This fellow is my company, and he shall -be treated as he ought to be."</p> -<p class="pnext">"We will row him over ourselves in the morning, -or--or--maybe--we will spill him out half-way -across. Ha! ha!"</p> -<p class="pnext">Billy's tone was sarcastic and offensive.</p> -<p class="pnext">"No, you won't!" said Dave, who, indignant beyond -the power to quietly state his feeling, had remained -silent. "Somebody's coming after me."</p> -<p class="pnext">"What?" said Reese in amazement, looking toward -Black Rocks.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Who's a-coming?"</p> -<p class="pnext">They all looked off and saw a dory advancing from -the direction of the lighthouse.</p> -<p class="pnext">"That's Tolman, the light-keeper!" explained Dick.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Who cares for Tolman, the light-keeper?--Boy," -said Billy Dawes, turning to Dave and shaking a -dirty fist insultingly, "we don't want anything to do -with you."</p> -<p class="pnext">"You may be glad to have my help," replied Dave.</p> -<p class="pnext">"No help from babies. Remember that," said Billy.</p> -<p class="pnext">Dave's face was red with wrath. What would he -do? He was in no danger, for close at hand was -Toby Tolman, a champion of no mean size, and the -rowdies stupidly gazed at him rowing his boat with -all the ease of a strong, skilled oarsman.</p> -<p class="pnext">"All ready!" exclaimed Dave, advancing to meet -the light-keeper's boat. "Good-bye, Dick."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Oh--oh--take me!" sobbed Bart.</p> -<p class="pnext">"What does that booby want?" asked Reese.</p> -<p class="pnext">"He wants to go to the lighthouse," explained Sam.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Well, let him go," replied Reese. "He has been -a bother ever since he came."</p> -<p class="pnext">With what joy Bart's small legs wriggled over the -side of the keeper's dory!</p> -<p class="pnext">"This little fellow, in whom I am interested, wants -to go, if you will let him," said Dave to the -light-keeper; "and he can go to Shipton with the party -expecting to come down, you know, to visit us."</p> -<p class="pnext">"All right; and tumble in yourself, Dave."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Here I am!" replied Dave. "Let me push off!"</p> -<p class="pnext">Toby Tolman's boat was quickly rising and falling -with the sea that rocked about the Nub, and the -departure was watched in an amazed, ignoble silence by -the three rowdies leaning against Dick's boat.</p> -<p class="pnext">"I am so much obliged to you for coming," said -Dave to the keeper, "though I did not mean to trouble -you. Things were rather squally at the Nub, and you -came just in time. I will tell you about it."</p> -<p class="pnext">When Dave had given his story, the light-keeper, -resting on his oars, exclaimed, "There! I guessed as -much. I didn't feel easy about you. That Dick is -a well-meaning boy, I don't doubt; but when I found -out that Sam Whittles was with him, I guessed what -kind of a camp they would have at the Nub, and it -seems my guess was about right.--And this little lamb?"</p> -<p class="pnext">Bart's eyes brightened at this pitying title; the -appellatives bestowed upon him had generally been -of a different nature.</p> -<p class="pnext">It was a happy party that went into the lighthouse -after the trip from the Nub.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Oh, isn't this nice!" cried Bart, as he entered the -kitchen. The sense of peaceful, safe seclusion, the -warm fire in the kitchen stove, above all, the -protecting friends near him, made the place seem like--Bart -whispered to himself what he thought it must be -like--"heaven!"</p> -<p class="pnext">When he thought of the Nub he shuddered.</p> -<p class="pnext">What a happy boy it was that tumbled into the -bed where the keeper told him he could sleep that -night! Dave added to his happiness by an -acknowledgment made. "Bartie," he whispered.</p> -<p class="pnext">"What, Davie?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"I owe you a good deal for stopping me at the -dinner at the Nub."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Stopping you?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"When I didn't think, and lifted that glass, you -know."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Oh, but you wouldn't have touched it."</p> -<p class="pnext">"If you had not been there, Bart, I don't know -what might have happened."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Oh, I am sure you would have come out all right," -shouted confidently this diminutive mentor. And yet -as he was falling asleep that night, hushed by the -sound of the waves musically breaking against the -walls of the lighthouse, a thought came to him and -steeped his soul in comfort, that as Dave might -have yielded, he--just Little Mew--might have been -of some use, and so not for nought had God sent into -the world this puny little fellow.</p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em"> -</div> -<p class="center large pfirst" id="visitors">VIII.</p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 1em"> -</div> -<p class="center medium pfirst"><em class="italics">VISITORS.</em></p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"> -</div> -<p class="pfirst">Into the kitchen of the old lighthouse they came -trooping the next day--Annie Fletcher, with all -her winning vivacity; Jimmy Davis and his sister -Belle, Dab and John Richards, and May Tolman, with -her black, lustrous eyes, in which diamonds seemed to -be dissolving continually (so Dave thought). May -Tolman was the light-keeper's granddaughter. Then -there was Mr. James Tolman, who came as skipper -of the sail-boat bringing the party. Dave and Bart -joined them at the door of the fog-signal tower; and -to what a scampering, laughing, singing, and shouting -did the gray stone walls listen as this flock of young -people hurried in! Behind all was the gray-haired -keeper; but no heart was lighter than his that day. -Unobserved he went to a window through which -blew the cool, sweet, strong air from the sea, and he -silently thanked God for the gift of youth renewed -that day in his own soul and lifting him on wings, -so that he too wanted to sing and shout, to race up -and down the iron stairs, to clap his hands jubilantly, -as from the parapet around the lantern he saw the -breakers foam below and the white sea-gulls soar up -and then down on strong, steady wing.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Yes, bless God, I am still young--and ever shall -be," thought the old light-keeper. Ah, he had renewed -his youth long ago at the fountains of spiritual life, -in the drinking of whose waters the soul becomes -perennial in a new sense.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Now, what shall I do for all these young folks?" -he said to himself. "I will certainly do whatever I -can."</p> -<p class="pnext">He showed them the lighthouse from storeroom to -lantern, and then he carried them into the engine-room -of the fog-signal tower and explained all the -machinery there.</p> -<p class="pnext">"<em class="italics">If</em>--if--we could only hear one toot!" exclaimed -Annie Fletcher.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Maybe the fog will come," replied Toby Tolman.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Oh, if it would!" said Annie; and--it didn't.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Too bad," everybody said.</p> -<p class="pnext">"What else can I do?" wondered the light-keeper. -Dave reminded him of one thing.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Oh yes," the keeper replied. "Well, get them all -together in the kitchen."</p> -<p class="pnext">There clustered, the keeper told them, if they would -excuse it, he would by request read them something -about lighthouses.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Don't expect much, though," he warned them, as -he lifted his spectacles and adjusted them to his sight. -"I have written this off at different times, perhaps in -the evening when I have been watching, or in a storm -when I could catch a little rest from work, or when -I felt a bit lonely and wanted something to occupy -me. I won't read all I have got, only what I think -will interest. I first speak of ancient lighthouses."</p> -<p class="pnext">Hemming vigorously several times, blushing modestly -behind his spectacles in the consciousness that -the world was summoning him forth to be a lecturer, -he then began:--</p> -<p class="pnext">"I suppose the first lighthouses were very simple--that -is, they were not lighthouses at all, but men -just built big fires and kept them burning at points -along an ugly shore, or to show where a harbour was. -Not long ago I was looking at a picture of a -lighthouse doing work in our day and generation in -Eastern Asia. It looked like a structure of wood. It -probably had on top a hearth of some kind of earth, -for there a fire was burning away. Not far off was -the water. That looked primitive.</p> -<p class="pnext">"If one turns to Rollin's 'Ancient History,' he will -find in the first volume an interesting account of an -old lighthouse, and it was so wonderful they called -it one of the seven wonders of the world. It was -built by order of Ptolemy Philadelphus, and he laid -out eight hundred talents on it. One estimate of the -value of this sum would bring it pretty well up to -£180,000. As it stood on an island called Pharos, -near Alexandria, the tower had the name of the island. -That has given a name to like towers. In French, I am -told, the word <em class="italics">phare</em> means 'lighthouse.' In Spanish, -<em class="italics">faro</em> means 'lighthouse.' In English, too, when we -say a pharos, we know, or ought to know, what it -means. I can see how useful this old lighthouse may -have been. On its top a fire was kindled. Alexandria -was in Egypt, and the city is standing to-day, as -we all know. It had at that time a very extensive -trade, and as the sea-coast there is a dangerous one, -it was very important that the ships should have some -guide at night. I can seem to see the old craft of -those days plodding along, the sailors wondering which -way to go, when lo, on Pharos's lofty tower blazes a -fire to tell them their course.</p> -<p class="pnext">"The architect of this tower was Sostratus, and -there was an inscription on the tower said to have -read this way: 'Sostratus, the Cnidian, son of -Dexiphanes, to the protecting deities, for the use of -sea-faring people.' His master, Ptolemy Philadelphus, -was thought to have been very generous because he -allowed the putting of Sostratus's name in place of -his own. But Sostratus's name seems to have been -put there by a trick, and it was finally found out. -Sostratus cut in the marble this inscription that had -his name; but what did he do but cover it with plaster! -In the lime he traced the name of the king. How -pleased Ptolemy must have been to see his name there! -The lime, though, crumbled finally, and the king's -name crumbled with it, and the tricky architect's -inscription came out into notice. This lighthouse was -built about three hundred years before Christ.</p> -<p class="pnext">"In later years the tower of Dover Castle was used -as a lighthouse. It was called Caesar's Altar. Great -fires of logs were kept burning on the top. This was -before the time of the Conquest, so called in English -history. Then at the end of the sixteenth century -a famous lighthouse a hundred and ninety-seven feet -high was built at the mouth of the Garonne in France.</p> -<p class="pnext">"About fourteen miles off Plymouth are the -Eddystone Rocks. They are very much exposed to -south-western seas. One light-builder was Winstanley, -and he was at his work four seasons, finishing in -1698. The lighthouse was eighty feet high. Made -stouter and carried higher afterward, it was almost -a hundred and twenty feet high. It stood until -November 20, 1703. A very fierce blow of wind occurred -then, and the tower was wrecked by the storm. Two -grave mistakes were made. Its shape was a polygon, -and not circular. Waves like to have corners to butt -against, and these should therefore be avoided. It -was highly ornamented for a lighthouse, and -ornaments are what winds and waves are fond of. It -gives them a chance to get a good grip on a building -and bring it down.--In 1706 one Rudyerd thought -he would try his hand, and he did much better. The -tower was built principally of oak; yet when finished -it stood for forty-six years, fire bringing it down in -1755. Its form commended it, for it was like the -frustum of a cone, circular, and was without fancy -work for the waves to take hold of.--In 1756 -Smeaton began to build at Eddystone his famous -tower. He was the first engineer who built a -sea-tower of masonry and dovetailed the joints. The -stones averaged a ton in weight. He reduced the -diameter of the tower at a small height above the -rock. He reasoned about the resemblance of a tower -exposed to the surf and an oak tree that faces the -wind. That has been shown not to be good reasoning; -and looking at the shape of his tower, I should say -the idea would not stand fire--or in this case water; -for if at a small distance above the rock you reduce -the diameter of the tower very much, it gives the -waves a good chance to crowd down on the sides of -the tower. However, Smeaton's tower stood a good -many years. Its very weight enabled it to offer great -resistance to the waves, and weight is one thing we -must secure hi a tower, avoiding ornament and all -silly gingerbread work. In 1882 a new tower was -built in place of Smeaton's."</p> -<p class="pnext">The light-keeper then gave some details of our lighthouse -service. His paper deeply interested his auditors.</p> -<p class="pnext">Subsequently Annie Fletcher asked, "What is that -ringing like the sound of a little church-bell?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Then your ears were quick enough to catch it?" -replied the keeper. "The window, too, is up, and so -you could hear it. That is a bell-buoy at a bad ledge -off in the sea."</p> -<p class="pnext">"A bell-buoy?" asked Annie.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Yes. It is a frame from whose top is suspended -a bell. The bell is fixed, while the tongue, of course, -is movable. The buoy floats on the water--fastened, -you know, to the rocks beneath; and as the waves -move the buoy the bell moves with it, and rings -also--like a cradle rocking!"</p> -<p class="pnext">"The buoy is the cradle, and the bell is the baby -in it," suggested Dave.</p> -<p class="pnext">"And waves are the mother's hand rocking the -cradle," added May Tolman.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Mother's hand--that is, the ocean--is pretty rough -out there sometimes," said the light-keeper. "In a -storm, when the wind brings the sound this way, the -baby cries pretty loud."</p> -<p class="pnext">"It squalls," declared Dave.</p> -<p class="pnext">"I'd like to see that bell-buoy," said Johnny -Richards.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Should you?" replied the keeper. "Well, the -sea is smooth, and we can all go easily in two -boats.--James, you manage one, and I'll cap'n the other. It -won't take more than twenty minutes to row there."</p> -<p class="pnext">The two boats now commenced their journey.</p> -<p class="pnext">The two boats from the lighthouse were quickly at -the bell-buoy. It was a bell hung in a frame, which -was swung by the waves. It was an object of deep -interest to the visitors, and they lingered about it, -and then rowed back to the lighthouse.</p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em"> -</div> -<p class="center large pfirst" id="that-open-book">IX.</p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 1em"> -</div> -<p class="center medium pfirst"><em class="italics">THAT OPEN BOOK.</em></p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"> -</div> -<p class="pfirst">Toby Tolman, keeper of the light at Black -Rocks, sat by the kitchen stove in this lighthouse -on the frothing, stony rim of the sea. He liked -the seclusion of this kitchen in the strong rock tower. -He liked to hear the steady beating of the clock--"tick, -tick, tick, tick." He liked the feeling, too, of -the warm fire, and especially on this cool, windy day. -True it was August, but then the wind was blowing -from the north-west as if from an ice-floe up in Alaska, -and the air was chilly. As he glanced out of either -of the two windows--the deep recessed windows in -the kitchen--he saw a cold, angry sea broken up into -little waves, each seeming to carry a white snow-flake -of the size of the crest of the wave. The distant -ships, too, had a cold look, as if they also were -snowflakes.</p> -<p class="pnext">"A cool day," thought the light-keeper; "and the -fire feels good."</p> -<p class="pnext">While he was in the kitchen Dave was up in the -watch-room, hunting in the little library for a history -he meant to read, in accordance with a plan suggested -by the keeper, "a little every day, and to keep at it."</p> -<p class="pnext">Mr. Tolman had a book in his lap--"The best book -in the world," he said to himself. It was his big-print -Bible, and especially did he rejoice in that sense of -protection, its promises give on days like this, when -he heard the wind rushing and storming at the -window, suggestive of the wild tempests that might blow -any hour.</p> -<p class="pnext">Just this moment the keeper was not reading. He -was thinking, and the Bible was the occasion of his -meditation about Dave Fletcher.</p> -<p class="pnext">"I don't see Dave reading his Bible much," he said -to himself; "and I don't believe he cares very much -about prayer--acts that way, at any rate. I should -like to help him; but how?"</p> -<p class="pnext">He called Dave before his mind, this brown-haired, -blue-eyed boy, with his quiet manners and methods, -but, as the keeper put it, "loaded with a lot of grit."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Yes, I should like to help that boy," continued -the keeper in his thoughts. "I would like to -influence him to be a Christian; but how, I wonder? He -is one of that kind of self-reliant chaps you feel that -he had rather find out a thing himself than be told of -it. He doesn't want me, I know, to tell him all the -time about his duty, and yet--yet--I should like to -influence him, and I wonder how?"</p> -<p class="pnext">Of course, there was one's example first of all.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Try to do what I can here," thought the keeper. -"I might speak to him, though I don't want to run -the thing into the ground. Well, I shall be -guided."</p> -<p class="pnext">The thought came to him, "Now there is a bit of -a thing I can do which certainly won't do harm."</p> -<p class="pnext">The thought was just to leave his Bible open on -the kitchen table.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Perhaps he may see a verse," thought the keeper, -"and it will set him to thinking."</p> -<p class="pnext">After that on the table would lie the keeper's Bible -turned back to some impressive chapter. Dave would -have been uneasy if in contact with some styles of -religion, but such a kindly natured, sunny, generous, -and tolerant soul as Toby Tolman he could not find -disagreeable. Toby's religion was never obtrusive, -never unpleasantly in the way of people; though -always prominent, out in open sight, it was the -prominence of the sunshine, of a bird's happy singing, of -nature on a spring morning. Dave felt it, but he was -a silent lad over important subjects. He was different -from his sister Annie. If her soul were stirred by -any profound emotion, she must in some way give -expression to it. Dave, though, would look very -serious and continue silent. His mother, who knew -him so well, said that Dave felt most when he said -the least, and the hours of his greatest stillness were -to her the surest signs of an intense activity within.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Dave is fullest when he seems to be emptiest," -Mrs. Fletcher would say. Because now-a-days at the -light he would often have long seasons of silence, was -it any sign of mental occupation?</p> -<p class="pnext">"I don't think I understand that boy yet," was -Toby Tolman's thought. "He is thinking about -something, I know."</p> -<p class="pnext">It was a day near the close of Dave's stay at the -lighthouse that the keeper said in the morning,--"Beautiful -day! Everything just as calm! It seems -as if it would stay so always, but it won't."</p> -<p class="pnext">How the sea might rock and roar in twenty-four -hours! The lighthouse was very peaceful. The -morning's work was despatched promptly, and the -tower was very quiet. With any rocking, roaring sea -would come a change in the life of the tower. There -would be hurrying feet, and the fog-signal would -shriek out its sharp, piercing warning.</p> -<p class="pnext">The flow of life in nature, though, out on the sea, -up in the sky, was undisturbed all that day, and in -the tower of the fog-signal the machinery stirred not, -while the light breeze playing around the mouth of -the fog-trumpets aroused no answering blast. It was -peaceful on the sea and in the tower. And yet in -the light-keeper's own bosom it seemed that afternoon -as if an ocean tempest had been evoked and was -suddenly raging. About three Dave, who chanced to -be in the storeroom of the tower, heard a voice outside.</p> -<p class="pnext">"There's some one down at the foot of the ladder," -thought Dave. "I will see who it is."</p> -<p class="pnext">He went to the door of the signal-tower and looked -down.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Ho! that you, Timothy? Coming back?" said Dave.</p> -<p class="pnext">Down in a boat lightly resting on the smooth, glassy -water was Toby Tolman's assistant, Timothy Waters. -Dave knew that Timothy was coming back very soon, -and he thought that Timothy might have concluded -to anticipate the date appointed for his return and -resume work now.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Not just yet," replied Timothy. "Get the cap'n -soon as you can. I won't come up. Spry, please."</p> -<p class="pnext">The keeper was quickly at the door.</p> -<p class="pnext">"What's wanted, Timothy? Coming up, are you not?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Wish I could, cap'n, but I want to take you to -town. Your--is--very--"</p> -<p class="pnext">The sea heaved just then sufficiently to disturb the -speaker's balance and also to interfere with his -message. There he stood, trying to steady himself by -the help of the mooring-rope and then looking up -again.</p> -<p class="pnext">"What? who?" asked the keeper.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Why, your granddarter May, cap'n," replied -Timothy. "She is very sick. They don't know that -she will live. She has been begging to see you, and -if you could come a few hours I will get you back -again all right afterwards."</p> -<p class="pnext">"I will be with you right off." The keeper turned -to Dave: "You heard that. It's ugly news. Now if -I go, can't you light up and watch till half-past eight? -I'll be back, sure. Don't worry. It will be a quiet -night; no sign just yet of any change in the weather."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Oh yes, Mr. Tolman; that is all right. You go. -I would if I were you. I will look after things. I -can handle them."</p> -<p class="pnext">"I think you can; and I shall be obleeged to you. -My, my! this is sudden. Wasn't looking for May's -sickness."</p> -<p class="pnext">He was quickly in the boat with Timothy Waters; -and then Dave watched the two men pulling stoutly -on their oars and making quick progress landward. -The boat turned the corner of a bluff projecting -into the harbour and disappeared. Dave stepped -back into the lighthouse, and sat down beside the -kitchen stove. It was very peaceful there. The -clock ticked as usual on the wall; and on the table, -lying open, as if laid down a moment ago by the -keeper, was his Bible. Dave glanced at the opened -pages a moment. As his eyes slipped down the line -of verses he noticed such assurances as these:--</p> -<p class="pnext">"He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most -High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.... -Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night.... -For he shall give his angels charge over thee, -to keep thee in all thy ways. They shall bear thee -up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a -stone."</p> -<p class="pnext">He lingered a moment looking at these passages, -and then turned away.</p> -<p class="pnext">"I will go upstairs," he said, "into the lantern, -and make sure that everything is ready for the -lighting at sunset. That's sudden about May -Tolman," he began to reflect. "Why, I seem to see -her going up and down these stairs the day she was -here, so full of life."</p> -<p class="pnext">He could hear her voice; he could see her black, -glowing eyes, that had a peculiar fascination for Dave.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Sorry," he said. "That's real sudden. Things -do happen quick in this life sometimes."</p> -<p class="pnext">Dave felt unusually sober that day. If he had -told all his thoughts to any one, he would have -confessed to a singular soberness of feeling for some time.</p> -<p class="pnext">He had been shut up for several weeks with a -man whose religion, without any pretence, any show, -and any peculiarities, controlled his life, and came -prominently to the surface in everything. Dave felt -his sister's religious influence at home; but there were -influences interfering with it and partly neutralizing -it. Dave Fletcher's mother was too busy, she assured -herself, to attend to religion; and Dave's father -declared--also to himself--that he did not "feel the -need of it." "I am as good as my neighbours; and -I guess that will do," he said. He quoted in his -thoughts Dave's lack of interest, saying, "There is -Dave, good boy; and he takes his father's view of -things."</p> -<p class="pnext">But here at the lighthouse Dave declared that -he was "cornered." Here was a simple, humble, -unselfish life living in communion with his heavenly -Father, bringing that presence down to that lonely -tower in the sea, and filling it, and surrounding the -boy who was the light-keeper's companion. No -neutralizing associations here.</p> -<p class="pnext">"It sets me to thinking," declared Dave, as he -climbed the successive stairways to the lantern the -afternoon of the keeper's absence. "And May -Tolman's sickness--that is sudden. Nothing is certain. -Well, we must just look after matters right around -us. One can't give his thoughts to all these -possibilities of accident. I'll just remember that I am a -keeper of a lighthouse."</p> -<p class="pnext">Keeper of a lighthouse! The moment he uttered -this thought to himself there settled down upon his -shoulders a new and serious weight of responsibility. -He began to realize that for several hours he must -carry the burden of a keeper's duties. He must look -after the fog-signal, if a dusky veil of mist should -suddenly be dropped from the sky and curtain off -both the sea and the land. If there should be any -accident upon the sea in the neighbourhood of the -lighthouse, where the keeper might be expected to -give any aid, Dave must render that help. When -night came, or sunset rather, he must light the lamp -in the lantern, and he must watch it, and see that for -the sake of the many vessels upon the sea this light -burned with steady lustre. Upon just a boy's -shoulders how heavy a care seemed to be pressing down!</p> -<p class="pnext">"I can stand it," he said, in pride and confidence. -The very pressure of the responsibility aroused within -him a corresponding measure of strength. However, -it did not lessen the shadow of that sober thinking in -which he often walked nowadays.</p> -<p class="pnext">"I'll take that history I am reading," he said on -his return from the lantern, "and get over a good -number of pages to-day."</p> -<p class="pnext">He read until supper-time, but somehow his thoughts -did not seem to stay on his book. They were like -birds on the telegraph wires along the railroad -track--flying off and then alighting again, only to lift -their wings and beat the air in another flight.</p> -<p class="pnext">"A long afternoon!" he said finally, laying down -his book. "I am glad it is tea-time."</p> -<p class="pnext">How lonely the kitchen began to seem! The rattle -of his knife and fork, the clink of his spoon, the -occasional clatter of dishes, usually such pleasant sounds -to a hungry man, now sounded lonely and harsh.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Don't like eating by myself," declared Dave. -"Glad tea is over. Wonder when Mr. Tolman will -be here?" He looked at the clock and said, "I -believe he thought he should be back by half-past -eight. I wonder how May Tolman is getting along. -Poor girl!"</p> -<p class="pnext">The sun seemed that night a longer time than -usual in setting, as if it were an invalid, and there -must be a very deliberate and lengthy bundling up -in yellow blankets.</p> -<p class="pnext">"At last the sun is about going down," said Dave. -He was now up in the lantern, match in hand. He -looked off through the broad windows of glass upon -the surface of the sea, growing calmer and more -shining in the west; but in the east its lustre had faded -out, and there was a great expanse of dull, heavy, -lead-like shades. Two fishing-boats were creeping -into harbour. The surf on the bar rolled lazily, as -if it would like to go to sleep, even as the sun. A -schooner was creeping along the channel, its sails -hanging in loose, flapping folds.</p> -<p class="pnext">"There goes the sun!" thought Dave, watching -the disappearance of the last embers of its fires below -a blue hill. He turned with relief to the lamp, -removed its chimney, kindled its wick, replaced the -chimney, and then carefully adjusted the flame.</p> -<p class="pnext">"There--that is done! Now do your duty, and -burn all right," was Dave's direction. Rising, he -looked away, and saw that in other lighthouses their -keepers had kindled guiding tapers, burning slender -and silvery in the still lingering daylight.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Everything here is all right, I believe," said Dave, -looking about the lantern. "Holloa! what is that -up there in the corner? A cobweb? Guess I must -take it down. Don't want the window to have that -thing up there. Can't reach it. I will get a little -box down in the watch-room. That will elevate me."</p> -<p class="pnext">When he had brought the box, standing on it he -saw that the web was on the outside of the lantern, -and he went without to remove the film from the -glass.</p> -<p class="pnext">"There!" he said, reaching up to the corner of the -window as he stood on the box. "Come down here. -Don't have cobwebs on the windows of this lantern."</p> -<p class="pnext">He now turned about, and chanced to face the tall -red pipes projecting from the roof of the signal-tower -with their trumpet-shaped mouths.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Is one of those pipes damaged?" wondered Dave. -"Afraid so. I must take a sharper look at that."</p> -<p class="pnext">At the foot of the railing of the parapet he placed -the box, and from that elevation, leaning his arms on -the railing, inspected as closely as he could the -fog-signal. This parapet for timorous people was an -ugly spot. When the wind blew hard it was not -easy to maintain one's footing outside the lantern. -One could cling to the railing, which was firm, but -it consisted only of an iron bar resting on upright -iron rods three feet apart. There was no danger of -a fence-break, but the gaps between the iron rods -were wide and ugly, and if one should chance to drop -on the smooth stone floor and just tip a -little--over--toward--the--edge--ugh! One did not like to -think of that fall down--down--into the sea--perhaps -upon the Black Rocks when the tide was out. -Toby Tolman had told Dave that for a long time he -did not care to go near the rail about the lantern -and stand there a while, as it made him "nervous;' -but he had ceased to be a "land-lubber," and could -now face, sailor-like in confidence, any quarter of the -sea and sky, just clinging to that little rail. Dave -had felt pleased with his steadiness of nerve when he -found he could look over that rail and then down -upon the whirling sea without very much trepidation.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Shouldn't like to have a dizzy fit when I was -looking over," he said. "No danger, though."</p> -<p class="pnext">He repeated this as he now stood on the box planted -at the foot of one of the iron supports of the rail, -and continuing to rest his arms on the rail, inspected -closely, as already said, the fog-signal. Suddenly his -arms slipped, and over the horrible edge of that -narrow little railing he found himself going. -Sometimes we compress years into moments apparently. -We go back, we go forward, we gather it all up into -the thought of a very brief now. But oh, how vivid!--like -all the electric force in a great mass of cloud -concentrated in one dazzling, blinding lightning-stroke. -As Dave felt that his body was sliding over -that rail, he seemed to realize where he had been in -the past. He thought of his parents--his home--Uncle -Ferguson at Shipton--how it was that he came -to the lighthouse, and then he seemed to realize -vividly his situation there in the lighthouse: that -he was there as the responsible keeper just then; -that the safety of many vessels at sea all relied on -the thoroughness of his watch; and yet he was sliding -over that rail, going down toward the waves, the -rocks--he dared not look toward them! He could -see only this one thing between him and death: -beneath his hands was an iron support of the railing. -There was no other object he could grasp for three -feet on each side of him. It is true there was the -granite rim of this lantern-deck, so called sometimes, -but he could not grasp it. His hands would slide -over it. Just that iron stanchion was his hope, and -as he was sinking down he convulsively clutched at -it, caught it, clung to it--shutting his eyes as if -blinded. He dared not look anywhere until he felt -that his grasp was sure, and then he somehow worked -himself back, up, over the railing, and the whole of -his body was on the lantern-deck again. He crawled -into the lantern, shut the door, and threw himself on -the floor weak as a baby.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Horrible!" was his one word. There he lay -thinking. What if he had gone down into that -yawning pit of the sea! When would they have -found his body? Horrible! horrible! When he -was steady enough he slowly crept down the stairs. -He entered the kitchen. It had seemed as if -everything threatened to fall when he was in danger of -going down into the sea--lantern, watch-room, -lighthouse--all into the merciless sea. But here was the -kitchen. No change here. It was so quiet, so -restful. A lamp burned on the table. The fire -murmured in the stove. The clock sang its cheerful -little tune of a single note. And there was the old -light-keeper's Bible. It still lay open, its pages -shining in the lamp-light, and there were the -promises of the psalm Dave had already noticed. What -did it say? "They shall bear thee up in their hands, -lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone."</p> -<p class="pnext">Dave started. Up on the high lantern-deck had -any mighty angel stepped between him and death, -lifting him back on the floor of stone? Who could -say it was not so? Dave sat down in a chair, and -then bowed his head and rested it on the table. -Here was God, the kindest, dearest being in the -universe, Dave's great Father, from whose arms he had -been turning away, trying to avoid them; and now, -up on the lofty parapet, they had been held out, -restraining him, saving him.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Oh, I can't go on this way any longer," thought -Dave. "And I <em class="italics">won't</em>, either! If God will only -have me--will only--"</p> -<p class="pnext">He fell on his knees. What he whispered to God -he never could recall. He only knew that he felt -very sorry that he had been neglecting God--pushing -away the arms reached out to him and feeling after -him. He murmured something about gratitude, -something about forgiveness. Then he was conscious -of a surrender, of sliding down--not into a horrible -pit from the lighthouse parapet, but into arms tender -yet strong, that went about him, that bore him up, -that held him. How long he stayed there he knew -not. Some time he arose, and went upstairs to see if -the lantern were all right. Its light burned steadily, -vividly, hopefully. He looked out on the lantern-deck. -There was the box still on the floor. With a shudder -he took it in and went downstairs again. Then he -prayed once more, and said aloud the words, "They -shall bear thee up in their hands, lest at any time -thou dash thy foot against a stone." He was so -thankful for this night's deliverance, so sorry for his -forgetfulness of God in the long past! He rose to -read again. He heard a step at last in the passage-way -between the fog-signal tower and the lighthouse,--a -heavy, echoing step, now in the tank-room, then -on the stairway to the kitchen.</p> -<p class="pnext">Dave sprang up to meet the keeper, and he held -the lamp in the shadowy stairway.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Glad to see you, Mr. Tolman."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Same to you. Here I am, all right, you see. -Glad I went."</p> -<p class="pnext">"How is May?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Better. Yes, thank God, she is better. There -was a sudden change, and the doctor has hope. She -has been in a pretty hard place, but I think she is -out of it."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Good! That's the way I feel myself."</p> -<p class="pnext">"What!" The light-keeper looked at Dave for an -explanation, but Dave was silent. He could not tell -everything at once, or even a little to-night. The -keeper went to the table, saying to himself, "He -meant May when he said that. Ah!" he thought, -"my book is turned round. Guess Dave has been -reading this. Good! I thought he would get to it -some time."</p> -<p class="pnext">That was a very peaceful night whose hush was -on the great sea, on the surf gently rolling along the -bar, and in the lighthouse tower. The deepest peace -was in Dave Fletcher's soul.</p> -<p class="pnext">Dave's stay at the lighthouse was exceedingly brief -after this event in his life.</p> -<p class="pnext">"I am really sorry to have you go," said Toby -Tolman the day that Dave left. "I shall miss you. -I will take you up to town, as Timothy has come -back."</p> -<p class="pnext">Dave received his pay from Timothy, for whom he -had acted as substitute, and then with the keeper left -the lighthouse.</p> -<p class="pnext">The journey to Shipton over, Dave quickly walked -to Uncle Ferguson's, and was welcomed warmly.</p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em"> -</div> -<p class="center large pfirst" id="the-christmas-gift">X.</p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 1em"> -</div> -<p class="center medium pfirst"><em class="italics">THE CHRISTMAS GIFT.</em></p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"> -</div> -<p class="pfirst">Christmas was approaching--Christmas with -its white fields, and its skies that seem to part -like the opening of doors in a big blue wall, and from -it issue the sweet songs of the Bethlehem angels. -Still more acceptable is it when our souls seem to -open like doors that fly apart, and out to our -neighbour and all souls everywhere go assurances of peace -and good-will.</p> -<p class="pnext">To Dave Fletcher and Dick Pray Christmas meant -an end of school-days and a return home.</p> -<p class="pnext">"You will come and see us 'fore you go," was Bart -Trafton's meek request to Dick and Dave when he -met them in the street. Dick made the first call, -just three days before Christmas. Things did not -have a festival appearance in the Trafton home that -day. Gran'sir was lying on a lounge not far from -the fire, and his cough was shaking him harder than -ever. Bart, just before Dick's call, had been down -on the shore of the river to see if the last tide -had remembered the poor, and deposited any more -drift on the beach. He brought back only a puny -armful, and this armful he divided between the oven -and the fire, the first half to dry and be ready to -start up the flames which the other half would be -quite sure to put down and almost put out. Granny -had been calling at a neighbour's, to borrow timidly -a little tea, and met Dick just outside the door of the -Trafton home. Such a difference as there was -between youth with its ruddy cheeks and bright eyes, -between plenty with its cheerful and contented spirit, -and poor old Granny Trafton!</p> -<p class="pnext">"Bartie wanted me to call," said Dick.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Come in, come in," said granny, hospitably. "We're -poor folks, but we're glad to see people."</p> -<p class="pnext">When Dick went away he said to himself, "'Poor -folks,'--they're all that. I wish something could be -done for them."</p> -<p class="pnext">Dave made his call, and he left the house saying, -"Something must be done."</p> -<p class="pnext">The two callers met in the street the day of Dave's -call, and the same thought was in their minds.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Dick, see here. Those Traftons are real poor," -said Dave. "I wonder if we couldn't get them a -little something for Christmas."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Dave, that very thought was in my mind, and I -wanted to speak of it. Come on. It's done."</p> -<p class="pnext">Hardly done; but that was Dick's way, and when -a soul may be timid and discouraged, that confident, -self-assured style in another is very strengthening.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Let's see. There is no other way than to go -right round and ask our friends. I know they will -give something, Dick."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Hold on, hold on, Dave. That is a slow way, -Let's make a dash and capture the enemy at once. I -will pick out some millionaire--"</p> -<p class="pnext">Here Dick turned round as if to see which -"millionaire" he would select from all of Shipton's wealthy -residents.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Yes," he continued; "I will look after that. Don't -you give yourself a moment of uneasiness on that -score. I will pick out some rich fellow, tell him -what he ought to do, and bag the game on the spot. -There!"</p> -<p class="pnext">Dave laughed. He knew Dick's style thoroughly. -At the same time it did give one like Dave, who -shrank from begging, new courage to have Dick talk -so boldly.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Let's see, Dick. It is now Monday. We might -meet on Wednesday at your cousin's store, and find -out how we stand, and send our things to the -Traftons on Wednesday afternoon; and Christmas is on -Thursday, you know."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Dave, don't worry about the wherewithal." Here -Dick, with a very solemn air of assurance, looked -Dave steadily in the eye. "I purpose to bag a -millionaire and make him do his duty, Dave Fletcher."</p> -<p class="pnext">The two friends laughed, shook hands, and -separated. Dave listened as he was about turning a -corner of the street, for he heard somebody whistling. -It was Dick whistling, in a loud, bold, cheery way.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Well," thought Dave, "I'll make a beginning now. -I will speak to Aunt Nancy soon as I get home."</p> -<p class="pnext">Aunt Nancy was stoning raisins in preparation -for a Christmas baking.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Will I give something to the Traftons? Oh, -certainly. I expect a good warm blanket would be -just the thing for gran'sir, and I'll give that as my -share. <em class="italics">My</em> share, remember. Your uncle must give -his mite. I tell ye, David," said Aunt Nancy in a -whisper, "your uncle has some first-class Baldwins -down in the cellar. Just touch him upon those."</p> -<p class="pnext">"I will, aunt, thank you."</p> -<p class="pnext">And next, would the home of James Tolman give -anything?</p> -<p class="pnext">"Pies and potatoes; you can count on us for some -of both kinds," said Mrs. Tolman.</p> -<p class="pnext">The next place was the home of the light-keeper, -Toby Tolman, when ashore. His wife was dead, and -a widowed daughter and her only child, May, lived -in his house. He preferred to keep up the home, -although personally there but a very little of the -time.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Should we like to give anything? Of course," said -the keeper's daughter; "that is what Christmas is -for. Only last week I heard father say we could -give some wood off our pile, for he calculated we had -more than enough to carry us through the winter."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Don't you let young folks help?" asked a silvery -voice, sending at Dave an arch look out of two -penetrating black eyes. "You must not think I am an -invalid and past helping, if I was so sick last summer. -Now I can just go round in the neighbourhood and -get together some eatables, I know, and perhaps -clothing that might do for Bart."</p> -<p class="pnext">"That would be splendid," said Dave, stirred deeply -by those black eyes, and wishing that in every house -visited he was the individual of whom May Tolman -would solicit.</p> -<p class="pnext">When Dave brought these donations into one collection, -he found not only the blanket for gran'sir but -a shawl for granny. There also were clothes for -Bart, and any amount of things for the Christmas -dinner.</p> -<p class="pnext">The next point was how to get them taken up to -the Traftons. For the clothing and eatables Dave -borrowed Uncle Ferguson's cart, but for the wood only -James Tolman's waggon would answer. That procession -of two teams, the waggon and the cart, had a -Christmas look that would have been recognized anywhere.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Whoa-a-a!" shouted Dave, as the procession neared -the boot and shoe shop kept by Dick's cousin Sam. -Dick was behind the counter waiting on a customer. -As he saw Dave entering he ran his hand through his -hair in a nervous, despairing style, but said nothing -until the customer had left.</p> -<p class="pnext">"There, Dave, it is too bad, but--but--whose are -those teams out in the street?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Just things I picked up."</p> -<p class="pnext">"And the wood?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Going to the same place."</p> -<p class="pnext">"That's good. Then I don't feel so bad."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Well, anything you find, good, you know, for -Christmas, why, send it along."</p> -<p class="pnext">"I shouldn't wonder, though, if--if--it might be -too late now; but--you have got something--if--I -should be too late--and I do believe I am too late. -Sorry. Glad, though, I put you up to it. I knew -you would attend to it."</p> -<p class="pnext">With a triumphant wave of his hand, as if he were -permitting Dave to drive off with a donation that -Dick Pray had gathered, he accompanied Dave to the -door and then retreated to the counter.</p> -<p class="pnext">"If that isn't Dick Pray all over!" said Dave.</p> -<p class="pnext">It would be difficult to tell the feelings of joy -occasioned in the Trafton home by those gifts.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Davie," said Bart, "I had a dream last night, and -I guess it is a-comin' true. I thought I saw that ladder -that Jacob had a look at, you know, when the angels -were a-goin' up and down, and comin' down they had -bundles in their arms."</p> -<p class="pnext">Dave entered the house, bringing in bundle after -bundle. Bart thought the angels looked somewhat -like that.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Hadn't you better try this shawl?" said Dave to -granny, who looked cold and purple. And would -gran'sir be willing to be wrapped in the blanket? -The thin, worn consumptive responded with a glad -smile, and said in a whisper that he hadn't been so -comfortable since he was sick. And the wood--how -it set that old stove to shaking and laughing and -glowing till its front seemed like a jolly face full of -sparkling eyes! That is one good result coming from -a stove cracked everywhere in front.</p> -<p class="pnext">Granny told the minister, Mr. Potter, two days -after, how all this generosity affected gran'sir.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Why, sir, it made him just heavenly! He cried -and laughed--it was so good to be warm, you know. -And he's softened so, sir. I think it begun when -Bartie begun to read the Bible to him, and it has been -a-keepin' on, sir, a-softenin', sir--don't scold, you -know, or be harsh-like. I--I--I--" Here granny -buried her face in her apron and cried. "I'm -afraid--sir--may be--he won't live--long--he's--softened -so--sir--he has."</p> -<p class="pnext">It was nothing wonderful. Like the warm breath -of the spring on the chilled and torpid flowers, -arousing them into the activity of bud and blossom time, -the thoughtful kindness of God's creatures brought -God nigh to gran'sir; brought the breath of his -benediction to gran'sir's soul, and gave him a new life.</p> -<p class="pnext">"God has been so good--he draws me," gran'sir -said to granny an early day in January. "It is--like -he's callin' me--and--I guess I'll go."</p> -<p class="pnext">His going was so peaceful that to say when it was -would be like marking the spot where the current -crosses the line between the river and the ocean; and -yet his soul did cross from time, so short and -river-like, into the broad and boundless ocean of eternity. -People said it would be as well for the comfort of -granny and Little Mew, and even better, for gran'sir -they declared to be exacting. They did not know -how it was. Granny and Little Mew felt that they -were the exacting ones, for they wanted gran'sir to -stay. Little Mew's soul was clouded by the shadow -of a thought that by the death of gran'sir his mission -in this world was very much abridged. He was -tempted to wonder again for what God had sent a -little fellow like him into this world.</p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em"> -</div> -<p class="center large pfirst" id="at-shipton-again">XI.</p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 1em"> -</div> -<p class="center medium pfirst"><em class="italics">AT SHIPTON AGAIN.</em></p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"> -</div> -<p class="pfirst">"Nothing for me?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Nothing."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Sure?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Well--"</p> -<p class="pnext">The postmistress, in response to Dave Fletcher's -anxious inquiry, looked again at a package of letters -she had been handling.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Oh yes, here is something! I didn't see it the -first time. Beg pardon."</p> -<p class="pnext">"All right. I wasn't really expecting anything, -but it is so long since I have had a letter that I was -kind of hungry for one."</p> -<p class="pnext">Dave took his letter from the postmistress and -walked away.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Postmarked Shipton!" said Dave, looking at the -envelope. "Don't seem to know the address. Let's -break that and see what it says."</p> -<p class="pnext">He glanced down at the name with which the -letter closed.</p> -<p class="pnext">"James Tolman; what does he want?" wondered -Dave. He then returned to the first line and began -to read:--</p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"> -</div> -<p class="pfirst">"DEAR DAVID,--I have not forgotten that you were -in my Sunday-school class when in Shipton, and I felt -that I knew you well enough to ask you to take this -into consideration, whether you wouldn't like to come -and be my clerk. I am in the ship-chandlery -business, and have two clerks. One of them is going -away, and may leave me for good. I have promised -to keep his place open for him three months. At the -end of that time he may come back. Now, if I ask -you to come for three months, I know--"</p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"> -</div> -<p class="pfirst">Dave crumpled the letter in his hand, thrust it -into his pocket, and springing into his waggon, cried, -"Get up there, Jimmy! Don't know that you and -I will be travelling this road together much longer. -Get up there!"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Jimmy" was urged at an unusual rate over the -road, and pricked up his ears in astonishment as his -master cried, "Faster, faster!"</p> -<p class="pnext">"There, mother!" said Dave, when he entered the -Fletcher kitchen; "just what I wanted has happened."</p> -<p class="pnext">"What is that?" replied Mrs. Fletcher.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Read this, mother, and you will see."</p> -<p class="pnext">"For three months, Dave, and perhaps no longer, it -means."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Oh, well, it will be a stepping-stone to something, -if I have to leave it. Just get started in Shipton -and I can go it."</p> -<p class="pnext">"But you haven't read about the pay, Dave."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Well, mother, the fact is I like the place--I mean -Shipton. I love to be near the salt water and where -I can see the ships--"</p> -<p class="pnext">"And the lighthouse--"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Yes."</p> -<p class="pnext">"And May Tolman," sang out a voice from the -adjoining sitting-room, and Annie Fletcher appeared -at the kitchen door, asking, "How is it, Dave?"</p> -<p class="pnext">Dave felt it to be the wisest course to keep still -and blush.</p> -<p class="pnext">In a few days he was ready to start for Shipton. -He called one evening to see some of his old -acquaintances, and the next day started for Shipton.</p> -<p class="pnext">On arriving he reported for duty at the shop of -"James Tolman, Ship-chandler." He was now -eighteen, and he felt that active life was beginning in -earnest. The shop was an old one, and before James -Tolman's business days it had been kept by his father. -It was packed with all kinds of goods available for -ship-furnishings. As one opened the door a scent of -tar issued, strong enough to make the most thorough-going -old salt say, "This seems like home." There -were coils of rope of every size ranged on either side -of the passage-way. There were capstans and -anchors and blocks and ring-bolts. There were all -kinds of shining tin and copper ware for the cook's -galley. There were compasses, and ship-lanterns, and -speaking-trumpets, and sheath-knives, and suits of -oiled clothing, and slouching "tarpaulins." On stormy -days, when Dave from the back windows could see -that the waves in the river had stuck in their crests -saucy feathers of foam, it seemed to him as if he -heard the coils of rope creak in the store and the -suits of sailors' clothing rustle; and what wonder if -some old salt had waddled forward in one of those -stiff suits, and, seizing a trumpet, cried in ringing -tones to the pots and kettles hanging from the brown, -dusty beams, "Furl your top-sails." It was a -pleasure to Dave when an old Shipton sea-captain might -heave in sight on stormy days, and, entering the shop, -take a seat by the crackling fire and tell of gales -round Cape Horn or in the Bay of Biscay.</p> -<p class="pnext">"I believe I am cut out for this business," said Dave.</p> -<p class="pnext">His former Shipton acquaintances were glad to see -him back. Dick Pray for six months had been in -town, a clerk in his cousin's shop. He now came to -bring his congratulations to Dave.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Glad to see you, Dave," he said.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Thanks, Dick. How is business?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Oh, booming! booming!"</p> -<p class="pnext">All business that Dick's magnificent abilities came -in contact with either had "boomed," or was "booming," -or would "boom" very soon. No tame word was fit -to describe Dick's business ventures.</p> -<p class="pnext">And the boy who came shyly, timidly after Dick -was--Bart Trafton.</p> -<p class="pnext">"You well, Bartie?" asked Dave.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Oh, better!"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Why?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Because you've got back," said the caller, with -snapping eyes.</p> -<p class="pnext">"That's encouraging. And granny, is she well?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Oh yes, when--"</p> -<p class="pnext">He did not finish. If he had completed his sentence, -he would have said "when father isn't at home."</p> -<p class="pnext">The same day two other people were in the shop -whom Dave had met previously, though he did not -recognize them at once. There stood before the -counter a rather tall man, wearing a tall hat and -closely muffled about the face, for the day was one of -cold blasts of storm.</p> -<p class="pnext">"I want a good ship's lantern," said the customer.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Yes, sir," replied Dave, ranging before the man an -array of lantern goods.</p> -<p class="pnext">"You have come to be clerk?" asked the man.</p> -<p class="pnext">Dave looked up more carefully, and saw that the -man wore spectacles.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Yes, sir," replied Dave.</p> -<p class="pnext">The man inquired the price of the lanterns, selected -one, and went out.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Halloo! he has given me twopence too much!" -exclaimed Dave.</p> -<p class="pnext">"That doesn't matter," said a man who was watching -through a window in the door the storm driving without.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Oh yes, it does," murmured Dave.--"Johnny!" -he called aloud to a younger clerk in the counting-room, -"just look after things a moment while I go out."</p> -<p class="pnext">Johnny came out into the shop, and Dave seized -his cap and ran after the customer. The latter was a -fast walker, and was hurrying round a corner of the -street when Dave overtook him.</p> -<p class="pnext">"See here, sir! A mistake in the change. I counted -it, and you gave me too much."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Oh--ah! Thank you! I see you don't know me."</p> -<p class="pnext">The man slipped down a scarf wrapped about his -face, took off his spectacles, and there was--somebody, -but Dave could not say who.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Not so rough up here as down at the bar--in a -schooner, say."</p> -<p class="pnext">"O--Squire Sylvester!"</p> -<p class="pnext">"That's it. I think I was too rough with you that -day, for I found out afterward you had nothing to do -with it."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Oh, well, sir--I--"</p> -<p class="pnext">"I just wanted to say that, and am glad you think -enough of another man's property, though only -two-pence, to chase after him and give it to him."</p> -<p class="pnext">Then the tall man tramped on.</p> -<p class="pnext">"It shows," thought Dave, "that he hasn't forgotten -what happened some time ago, and I suppose he had -been wanting to say what he got off to me. I don't -harbour it against you, Squire Sylvester. When a -man's property has been run off with, it would be a -wonder if he didn't say something."</p> -<p class="pnext">When Dave returned to the store the man at the -door still stood there, looking out through the little -window.</p> -<p class="pnext">"I think I know that chap's face," thought Dave, -"but I really can't say who it is."</p> -<p class="pnext">The man was disposed to talk. "Did you catch -the squire?" he asked.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Oh yes."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Did he take the twopence?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Oh yes."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Catch him not take it! The squire would hold on -to a halfpenny till it cankered if he could possibly git -along without spendin' it. I don't believe in worryin' -yourself about sich people."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Twopence didn't seem much, but then it wasn't mine."</p> -<p class="pnext">"I see you don't mean to be rich?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"I mean to be honest."</p> -<p class="pnext">"And die poor?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"That doesn't follow."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Oh, it does 'em good--these rich fellers--to lose -a little now and then."</p> -<p class="pnext">"But they ought not to lose it if we have it and -it is theirs."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Oh, you are too honest. Say, I see you don't -know me."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Well, yes, I ought to know your face."</p> -<p class="pnext">"I've let my whiskers grow. I didn't have any the -last time you saw me. Cut all these off," said the -man, lifting a big beard, "and it would make a big -difference. Don't you remember Timothy Waters, at -the lighthouse?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Why, yes. You Timothy?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Yes."</p> -<p class="pnext">"And are you at the light now?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Just the same."</p> -<p class="pnext">"How is Mr. Tolman?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Holdin' on. Oh, he likes it! You must come -and see us."</p> -<p class="pnext">Having given this invitation, Timothy left the store. -Dave watched him as he moved down the street, -turning at last into a little lane leading down to the -wharves. Then he thought of Timothy rowing his -dory down the river, tossing on the uneasy tide, -battling his way forward until he halted at the foot -of a great gray-stone tower in the sea. Looking up -at the doorway of the tower, Dave saw the keeper's -familiar face.</p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em"> -</div> -<p class="center large pfirst" id="on-which-side-victory">XII.</p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 1em"> -</div> -<p class="center medium pfirst"><em class="italics">ON WHICH SIDE VICTORY?</em></p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"> -</div> -<p class="pfirst">"Well, how goes the temperance fight, Dave?" -asked Dick one day.</p> -<p class="pnext">"We are pushing it. We have organized our -society, and are going to hold meetings."</p> -<p class="pnext">"The fight," as Dick called it, was conducted on -the principles of peace; but if peaceable it was not -sleepy. A series of meetings of various kinds had -been carefully planned, and of these one was a young -people's meeting. All the exercises, like speaking and -singing, were to be conducted by Shipton's youth. -Bart expected to have a humble part in this meeting, -and say a few Scripture verses bearing on the sin of -liquor-drinking. His father was at home, and Bart -did wish that in some way he could be persuaded to -go to this meeting. There did not seem to be much -prospect of his attendance. One day he received a -mortifying check to his course. Having drunk up -all his money at the public-house, he was roughly -turned out of doors. This time he realized the -disgrace of his situation; and the next morning, to -granny's astonishment, he did not visit the saloon. -To her still greater surprise, he did not leave the -house all day. He even sawed and cut some wood -for the fire. This was deservedly ranked as a wonder -in the history of the man. When Bart returned at -night his father was upstairs, "lying down," granny -reported.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Ain't that queer, granny?" whispered Bart.</p> -<p class="pnext">"I haven't known anything like it, Bartie. He's -been cuttin' more wood this afternoon. P'raps he is -sick."</p> -<p class="pnext">Not sick, but mortified and penniless. To such -people publicity is not attractive.</p> -<p class="pnext">"I don't know what it is," said granny, "but Miss -Perkins says she hearn there has been trouble down -in the saloon."</p> -<p class="pnext">Miss Perkins was a gossip with a news-bag that -seemed to have the depth and roominess of the -Atlantic.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Awful place, ain't it, granny, where they sell rum?"</p> -<p class="pnext">Granny turned on him--turned quickly, fiercely.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Bartholomew!"</p> -<p class="pnext">She rarely addressed him that way. When she -did she meant something serious. Bart's timorous -face shrank before her sharp, fierce gaze.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Bartholomew, I want you to promise never to sell -rum. Put your hand on this Bible!"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Oh, I--I never will sell."</p> -<p class="pnext">"And you won't drink it? Promise!"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Never!"</p> -<p class="pnext">It was like Hamilcar of Carthage taking his son -Hannibal to the altar, and there making him swear -eternal hatred to Rome. Then Bart went softly out -of the room.</p> -<p class="pnext">Into some refuge he desired to steal, tell God that -he, Little Mew, was weak; that he wanted to be taken -care of; that he did wish to get help somehow for -his father--help to be better--and he wanted to -remember granny. Up over the steep, narrow, worn -stairway he stole into his little bedroom, that, small -and humble, had yet been a precious refuge to him, -and his bed had been a boat bearing him away across -waters of forgetfulness of poverty and hunger to the -restful isle of dreams. If he could only forget now! -He could pray, and if prayer does not make forgetful -it makes restful. He leaned against his bed and told -all his trouble to God--told him of his desire for his -father, how much he wished God would make his -father a new heart; how he wanted help for himself, -that he might be kind and patient. It was touching -to hear his boyish outcries, as kneeling he pleaded -for one so weak, so lost, as his father. Then he went -downstairs again. The moment his feet were heard -on the stairs, Bart's father, who had been lying in -the dark on the side of the bed nearest to the wall, -arose, sighed, and went down also. Bart was standing -in the little entry leading to the kitchen.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Bart--I--want to be--" The father stopped.</p> -<p class="pnext">It was not so much anything he said, for he said -nothing definite, but it was his tone that encouraged -Bart, and he listened eagerly.</p> -<p class="pnext">"I want to be a good father to you, Bart; God -knows I do."</p> -<p class="pnext">What? Bart had never heard such language before -from this parent with agitated voice and frame. Bart -caught instantly at a hope that had just begun to -take shape. Would his father go to the temperance -meeting with him?</p> -<p class="pnext">"Father, your ship, they say, won't sail to-morrow; -and if it don't, will you go to the temperance meeting -with me to-morrow night?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Bartholomew, if my ship don't sail, then I will go -with you."</p> -<p class="pnext">He turned and went upstairs again.</p> -<p class="pnext">"O Bart," exclaimed granny, "let us pray that God -will keep the winds off shore and not let Thomas's -ship get to sea!"</p> -<p class="pnext">The next day the winds still were unfavourable, -and Bart and granny looked at one another with -happier faces than they had been carrying ever since -Thomas Trafton's return.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Granny, the wind is not fair yet," Bart would -exclaim, after eying the vane on the nearest church -steeple. Granny would then take her turn, and go out, -her apron thrown over her head, and watch the vane. -At last they could say, "The ship won't go to-night."</p> -<p class="pnext">When ever before had that vane been watched to -see if it indicated a wind that would keep Thomas -Trafton at home?</p> -<p class="pnext">"Hear me say my verses once more," Bart whispered -to his grandmother; and assured that his contribution -to the evening's exercises was in readiness, he went -with his father to the temperance meeting. Bart's -place was among the speakers, and they filled several -pews, their bright, hopeful faces lifted above the -railings of the pews like flowers above the garden-bed. -Bart's father was in the rear of the church. Bart -was afraid to leave him at that distant, unguarded -point; but he had promised Bart faithfully to stay, -and not go out. Was ever any attendant at a -meeting in a more discouraged, helpless mood than Thomas -Trafton? He had been thinking, somewhat as he -was accustomed to think when off at sea and away -from temptation, that never again would he touch -liquor; but could he keep his resolution if he made -one? He felt burdened with a weighty desire, -burdened with a sense of shame, burdened with a -conviction of weakness, burdened every way and always.</p> -<p class="pnext">The meeting began. Mr. James Tolman conducted -it, but only to call the names of those participating in -it. The recitations were varied. Several had quite -pretentious speeches, and others gave only a modest -extract from some appeal in poetry or prose. There -were those who simply had Bible verses, and in this -section Bart Trafton had a place. His verses were on -the sin of intemperance. When his turn was reached -he came to the platform quite readily, and then turned -toward the audience. He looked once, saw great, -bewildering rows of faces, and all his courage left -him. He could not look again at those hundreds of -staring eyes. He dropped his head, blushed, and -every idea he had taken with him to the platform -seemed hopelessly to have left him. Like birds, those -verses had flown away, and how could he possibly -call them back from that sudden flight? However, -he did catch one bird. He could think of one -word--"Wine!" He resolved to begin with that. A decoy -bird will sometimes bring a flock about it, and if he -said that one word he might think of the others. -"Wine--" he screamed. Then he waited for the rest -of the flock. He shrieked again, "Wine!" Once -more, "W-w-wine!"</p> -<p class="pnext">People were now smiling to see that timorous, -blushing, stammering lad on the platform, and some -of the children broke out into an embarrassing titter. -Bart, turned in helpless confusion to Mr. Tolman.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Forgot it," he whispered,</p> -<p class="pnext">"Say something," said Mr. Tolman, in an encouraging tone.</p> -<p class="pnext">Something? What would it, could it be? Bart -gave one timid glance at the tittering, gaping rows -before him, and feeling that he must say something, -gave the first words that came into his mind. Annie -Fletcher had taught them to him. Bart's voice was -sharp and high, and it pierced all the space between -Thomas Trafton and the platform, and the father -plainly heard the boy.</p> -<p class="pnext">"'Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy -laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon -you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in -heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For -my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.'"</p> -<p class="pnext">Some of the people wondered what that had to do -with intemperance. Thomas Trafton did not wonder. -He heard nothing else. He did not notice whether -Bart stayed on the platform or left it; he did not -notice who followed Bart; he heard only those -verses. The pew was an old one, and when improvements -had been made in the church, this pew was not -touched, but, being so far away from notice, was left -undisturbed in all its odd and antique furnishings. -Thomas Trafton never forgot the exact place where -he sat and heard through his son's voice this short -gospel that came down from God's lofty throne of -love. He would in later days come to this old pew -and gladly occupy it and recall this night of the -temperance meeting. He would hear again the -invitation given in his boy's piercing voice, and again -would be repeated, though not as vividly, his -experience that night; for he had an experience. It -seemed to him as if while sitting there burdened and -weary, yet willing, longing to find relief, One came -to him,--One who had in his brow the print of thorns, -and in his side the mark of a spear, and in his feet -the scar of driven nails. Thomas Trafton met his -Saviour there, and into peace and strength came the -soul of the once drunkard.</p> -<p class="pnext">Not long after this the west wind blew, its strong -wings beating fast and sweeping Thomas Trafton's -vessel far away to sea. Very few knew of his -surrender to God, which brought a victory over his -appetite. The minister of the church, Mr. Potter, knew, -and Dave Fletcher knew.</p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em"> -</div> -<p class="center large pfirst" id="what-to-do-next">XIII.</p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 1em"> -</div> -<p class="center medium pfirst"><em class="italics">WHAT TO DO NEXT.</em></p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"> -</div> -<p class="pfirst">When Dave Fletcher became a clerk with -Mr. Tolman, he knew he was taking the place of -another who might come back in three months, and -back he did come.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Sorry, David, I haven't a place for you," said -Mr. Tolman.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Well," replied Dave, "if there isn't a place here I -must find one elsewhere."</p> -<p class="pnext">But where? He knew that his father did not need -him at home, as he had already made plans for all -needed farm-work.</p> -<p class="pnext">"I don't want to go home and be just a burden, -hanging round," reflected Dave. "Then I must find -work here."</p> -<p class="pnext">He talked over the situation with Dick Pray.</p> -<p class="pnext">"What would I do, Dave? Well," said Dick, putting -his hands deep down in his pockets, "I should -advertise and--wait."</p> -<p class="pnext">"I mean to advertise, but I think I had better stir -round also."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Just as well to say you want something--say it -loud and strong, you know--and then let others ask -what is wanted."</p> -<p class="pnext">Dick did like to sound a trumpet, giving as loud a -blast as possible, and then let the world run up and -see what "Lord Dick" wanted.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Oh, I shall advertise, and stir round also, though -I don't just fancy it, and I can't say what will come -from it."</p> -<p class="pnext">And what did come the first day?</p> -<p class="pnext">Nothing.</p> -<p class="pnext">The second day?</p> -<p class="pnext">Nothing.</p> -<p class="pnext">The third day?</p> -<p class="pnext">Nothing.</p> -<p class="pnext">"It is getting to be fearfully tiresome," said Dave -the fourth day. "I have inquired in all directions, but -I can't seem to hear of anything. Oh dear! I shall -always know after this how to pity folks out of work. -Well, I suppose I must keep at it. If I stop, I shall -surely get nothing; if I keep at it, I may be successful. -Here goes for Squire Sylvester, though I don't -know why I should ask him."</p> -<p class="pnext">He mounted the steps leading to the door of -Squire Sylvester's office, and hesitatingly entered that -impressive business sanctum. Squire Sylvester was -standing at his desk biting the end of a lead-pencil, -and studying the columns of figures on the paper -before him.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Squire Sylvester, do--do--you know of any vacant -situation in business?" asked Dave.</p> -<p class="pnext">The squire looked up.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Humph! Nothing to do?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Can't find it, sir."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Well, I wish I could find somebody to work for me."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Have you anything?" asked Dave eagerly, thinking -how nice it would be to occupy a desk in the -squire's office and assist in the management of such -business enterprises as the building of ships or the -sailing of them.</p> -<p class="pnext">"I have been trying to find somebody to cut up -some wood for me and stow it away, but I can't get -hold of any unoccupied talent."</p> -<p class="pnext">Dave's countenance dropped. It went up again, -though.</p> -<p class="pnext">"It will pay a week's board, maybe," he said to -himself.</p> -<p class="pnext">"I--I'll take that job, sir. I know how to swing -an axe, and I'd rather be doing that than go loafing -about."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Good! I thought there was some stuff in you -worth having."</p> -<p class="pnext">Dave disregarded this compliment, and asked, -"When shall I go to work?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Any time. Saw is behind the chopping-block in -my shed, hung on a nail, or ought to be; and axe, I -guess, is keeping the company of the block."</p> -<p class="pnext">"I will begin to-day. There will be a comfort in -knowing I am doing something."</p> -<p class="pnext">"That is a good spirit, young man; and let me assure -you if you stick to that style of doing things, some -day you will be able to take comfort--a lot of it."</p> -<p class="pnext">The squire went to the window of the office when -Dave had left, and watched him cross the street in the -direction of the squire's home.</p> -<p class="pnext">"I like that young chap," murmured the squire.</p> -<p class="pnext">Dave found the house of his employer, left word at -the door that he was sent to look after the wood, and -went into the shed.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Here is the chopping-block, and there is the axe, -and the saw is all right. I will take my tools -outdoors, where my wood is," said Dave.</p> -<p class="pnext">It was a day in early spring. Snow still clung to -the corners of gardens, and hid away under the bushes, -and lay thick on the shaded side of buildings. The -sun, though, was strengthening its fires every day, -and had coaxed a few bluebirds to come north, and -say that warm weather had surely started from its -southern home, and would be here in due season, though -a bit delayed, perhaps. Two hours later, Dave's axe -was striking music out of the pieces of wood the saw -had first played a tune on; and it is that kind of -music that helps a man to feel independent and -self-reliant, contented and cheerful.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Hollo! that you?" sang out a voice. "How are -you, old man?"</p> -<p class="pnext">Dave looked up, and saw Dick Pray nodding over -the fence.</p> -<p class="pnext">"The old man has found work, you see," replied Dave.</p> -<p class="pnext">"None of that sort for me," sang out Dick.</p> -<p class="pnext">In about half-an-hour another voice was calling to -him across the garden fence. This was not the flexible, -smooth, rounded voice of youth addressing Dave, but -there were the tones of an old man. There was a -world of friendship, though, in this old man's -salutation, "How d'ye do? how d'ye do?"</p> -<p class="pnext">Dave turned toward it, and there was the old -light-keeper, Toby Tolman.</p> -<p class="pnext">"May I come in?" asked the light-keeper, approaching -the gate.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Oh yes, sir, do! Glad to see you."</p> -<p class="pnext">The light-keeper came up the gravelled walk, -approached the pile, and said, "How much more of a -job have you got?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Oh, a couple of days."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Well, then, do you want another?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Yes, sir. But how did you know I was here?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"May, my granddaughter, knew, and she told me. -I was at the house, you see. My job for you is to go -to the lighthouse and be my assistant. She told me, -and I said to myself, 'There's the man for me!'"</p> -<p class="pnext">"You don't mean it! Why, where's Timothy Waters?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Got all through."</p> -<p class="pnext">"His time up?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Well, he went before he wanted to. Wasn't just -particular in reckoning what belonged to others."</p> -<p class="pnext">Dave recalled at once the little affair about the two -pennies.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Who's at the light now, Mr. Tolman?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Oh, an old hand, who is just piecing me out at -this time when I need help. He leaves day after -to-morrow. Now, come! I'm up here trying to look -somebody up to be my assistant. Can't bring it -about at once; but if you'll go and stay a while I -think you'll get the berth, and I don't know of -anybody I'd like better to have."</p> -<p class="pnext">"And I should like to come, too, and I will, just as -soon as I finish this job."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Maybe the squire would let you off now."</p> -<p class="pnext">"I daresay."</p> -<p class="pnext">"I'd like to take you back with me to-day."</p> -<p class="pnext">"And I'd like to go, but I'd better finish up."</p> -<p class="pnext">"You're right, on second thought. The squire -wouldn't hesitate a moment, I venture to say; but -then people sometimes grant us favours when at the -same time they say to themselves, 'I wish they hadn't -asked me.' You stay and finish your job."</p> -<p class="pnext">The second day after this the task was completed, -the saw going to its place on the nail behind the -chopping-block, and the axe finding quarters near by.</p> -<p class="pnext">"There!" said the squire: "I don't know that I -ever paid for a job with greater satisfaction."</p> -<p class="pnext">He was handling a roll of bills as he said this, and -handed one of these to Dave.</p> -<p class="pnext">"It is too much, sir."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Oh no. That was a peculiar pile of wood, and it -took a peculiar kind of merit to get the better of it. -For ordinary wood," said the squire, his eyes blinking, -"I should only pay an ordinary price; but this wood -was something more than ordinary, and of course the -price goes up. When I can do you a favour, you let -me know."</p> -<p class="pnext">That day toward sunset a dory was gently tossing -at the foot of the lighthouse on Black Rocks.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Hollo!" shouted Dave, looking up from the boat -and aiming his voice at the door above.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Oh, that you?" asked the light-keeper, quickly -appearing in the doorway and looking down. "My -man will be here in a jiffy and go home in your boat, -as we fixed it, you know."</p> -<p class="pnext">Dave exchanged the boat for the lighthouse, and -the retiring assistant quit the lighthouse for the boat, -then rowing to his home. Dave heard that night the -wind humming about the lantern, saw the friendly -rays beckoning from other lighthouses, heard the wash -of the waves around the gray tower of stone, and felt -that he had reached a home.</p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em"> -</div> -<p class="center large pfirst" id="guests-at-the-lighthouse">XIV.</p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 1em"> -</div> -<p class="center medium pfirst"><em class="italics">GUESTS AT THE LIGHTHOUSE.</em></p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"> -</div> -<p class="pfirst">In a month Dave Fletcher was established at the -light on Black Rocks as assistant-keeper--a -position that would bring him a far handsomer salary than -could any present clerkship at Shipton. This berth -was not secured without a struggle by Dave's friends, -as several candidates were willing to take the duties -and profits of the place.</p> -<p class="pnext">"You've got the place, though others wanted it," -said the keeper, returning from town one day and -wiping his round, red face with his handkerchief. -"News came to-day. I don't know but you would -have lost it, but they say a friend of yours interceded -and told them up and down you must have it any way."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Who was it?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Somebody that said he had seen you run a saw -and knew you could run a lighthouse. That's what -folks tell me he said."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Oh, Squire Sylvester!"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Yes. Queer feller; but he isn't all growl, though -he does look like it, maybe."</p> -<p class="pnext">Some time after this there were visitors at the light. -One was expected, the other was not. The first was -Bart Trafton, brought by the light-keeper one soft, -sunny April day. Bart was very much interested -in the lantern.</p> -<div class="align-center auto-scaled figure" style="width: 61%" id="figure-47"> -<img class="align-center" style="display: block; width: 100%" alt=" " src="images/img-162.jpg" /> -<div class="caption figure"> -"Bart was very much interested in the lantern of the lighthouse." <em class="italics">Page 159</em></div> -</div> -<p class="pfirst">"Can I go up with you and see the lantern?" he -asked.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Oh yes," said Dave, leading Bart up the iron -stairway that mounted from room to room.</p> -<p class="pnext">"There!" said Bart, looking round on the glass -windows enclosing the lantern and the lamp in its -centre: "I think this is a dreadful interestin' place."</p> -<p class="pnext">"I think so too, Bart."</p> -<p class="pnext">"And what I think is interestin' is that lamp in -the centre. Why, granny uses a lamp that, it seems -to me, is no bigger than that, but it can't throw -anywhere near such a light as that. I saw your light -last night."</p> -<p class="pnext">"You did? where?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"From the hill behind our house. I went up there -and saw it."</p> -<p class="pnext">"I did not know that. Then we could signal to -one another."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Signal?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Yes, this way. Supposing, now, I should hang a -lantern out on the side of the lighthouse toward the -land, toward your home, and you could see it: you -might take it as a sign that I wanted--well--we will -say--a doctor."</p> -<p class="pnext">"I think I could see it with father's spy-glass; it -is real powerful. Say, will you try it to-morrow -night? You hang it out, and I will take father's -spy-glass and see if I can make out anything. Then I -will send you word by the mail. You don't think it -is too far from our house to the light?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Too far to see? oh no. Now, I said a man -might want a doctor here. I have often thought if -one of us was sick--and you know the keeper is -getting old--and if the other couldn't get off to bring a -doctor, it might be a very serious thing for the sick -man."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Well, if you are in trouble and will hang out a -light, and I see it, I will tell the people, and they will -get to you."</p> -<p class="pnext">Dave thought no more of this, but silently said, "I -wonder if I haven't something else interesting to show -the boy! Yes, I have got it."</p> -<p class="pnext">He went down from the lantern to the kitchen, and -took from its shelf the strange box of sandal-wood, -whose story Dave already knew.</p> -<p class="pnext">The light-keeper now repeated to Bart the tale of -the drifting relic. He held it to his ear. Did the -boy think it was a shell--that it would murmur a song -of wave and cloud and the broad sunshine sweeping -down on lonely surf-washed ledges?</p> -<p class="pnext">"It won't talk," said the light-keeper, beaming on -him.</p> -<p class="pnext">Bart shook his head.</p> -<p class="pnext">"I wish it would talk," thought the keeper. "It -might tell about that man whom we picked up and -brought into the light, and who seemed to know something -about it. I wonder if he will ever call for it!"</p> -<p class="pnext">He spoke of it to Dave afterward. The two were -up on the lantern-deck at sunset looking off upon the -sea. The water was still and glassy. It was heaving -gently, as if with the dying day it too was dying, but -feebly pulsating with life. One vast surface of -shining gray, it gradually darkened till it was a mass of -shadows across which were drawn the lines of white -surf cresting the ledges.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Several vessels in the harbour," said Dave.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Yes: they have been coming down from Shipton -this afternoon; but the wind has all died away, and -they seem to have made up their mind to anchor there -to-night. It is getting cool. Perhaps we had better -go down," said the keeper, shrugging his shoulders. -While within the lantern he glanced at the lamp, and -then descended to the kitchen. Without the twilight -deepened. Out of the gloom towered the lighthouse, -bearing aloft its guiding, warning rays. The keeper -was in the kitchen, trimming an old lantern which had -done him much faithful service. That small visitor, -Bart, had gone with Dave up into the lantern, anxious -to see the working of the lamp.</p> -<p class="pnext">The keeper lighted his lantern, and then started for -the fog-signal tower. He was descending the stairs, -when he heard a cry outside of the lighthouse.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Somebody at the foot of the ladder, I guess, wants -me," concluded the keeper, "and I will go to the door -and see who it is."</p> -<p class="pnext">He went to the door, lantern in hand, and looked -down.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Hollo, there!" sang out a man from the shadows -below. "Shall I come up?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Ay, ay!" responded the keeper. "Low water down -there, isn't it, so you can come up the ladder?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"I guess so. I will make fast and try the -ladder."</p> -<p class="pnext">The keeper heard the steps of somebody on the -ladder, and then a man's form wriggled up through -the hole in the platform outside the door.</p> -<p class="pnext">"I get up with less trouble to you than I did the -last time I was here," said the man.</p> -<p class="pnext">The keeper looked at him.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Ho! this you?" he asked.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Nobody else."</p> -<p class="pnext">It was the man who one day, when intoxicated, had -been rescued from the bar, and the next morning had -shown singular interest in the little box of sandalwood.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Come up!" said the keeper, leading the man to -the kitchen.</p> -<p class="pnext">"I have been some time coming, haven't I?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Better late than never. Always glad to see people. -Take that chair before the fire, and make yourself at -home. I did not know as I should ever see you -again. You are a Shipton man?" asked the keeper -bluntly.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Yes, I belong to Shipton; but then I am off about -all the time. I think I have seen you on the street -there."</p> -<p class="pnext">"I was thinking myself I had seen you, but I -couldn't say when, except that time you were at the -lighthouse."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Have you got that box now?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Oh yes. Here it is. Nobody has come to claim it."</p> -<p class="pnext">He took the box down from its shelf and placed it -on the table.</p> -<p class="pnext">The keeper's companion said, "Now I will tell you -the story about that box, and this letter, too, will -confirm it."</p> -<p class="pnext">As he spoke he took a letter from his pocket and -opened it.</p> -<p class="pnext">"The man who wrote that was an old shipmate, -Grant Williams, a warm friend, and faithful too. He -knew I had a weakness, and used to say he was afraid -his shipmate would get into the breakers. He sent me -a letter from a foreign port; here it is. You look at -it. You will see that he gave me some good advice. -He laid it all down like a chart; but I was a poor hand -to steer by it. 'I expect to sail for Shipton in a -Norwegian bark,' he wrote (I think he was born in -Norway himself, but had been a long time in America), -'and I am going to get and bring my old shipmate -a present of a box of sandal-wood, and I shall pack a -few keepsakes into it. I will put my picture in, just -to make it seem all the more like a present from me. -I will put your initials and mine on the under side of -the box. I will leave it at Shipton with your father if -you are not there. And now don't forget this: it is to -be a reminder of my desire that you should let liquor -alone. When you see it, think of an old shipmate, -and look at my face you will find in the box.' The -first time I saw the box was that morning after the -night you found me in a state that was no credit to -the one found. I knew the ship had been wrecked, -and only that, and when I saw the face of my old -shipmate, and knew that he had been lost on the bar -where I came pretty near losing my own life through -what he warned me against, I--I--felt it. I didn't -see how I could take the box until I was in a condition -to give some promise, you know, that I would be a -better man; and now I hope I am, God being my helper."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Well, I think it is plain proof that you are the -one whom the man Williams meant, and the owner -of this box, if those are your initials on the -bottom--if--"</p> -<p class="pnext">The keeper was about to ask the man for his name, -but the sound of a light step tripping downstairs -arrested their conversation, and both turned toward -the stairway.</p> -<p class="pnext">It was Bart Trafton. He looked up, stopped, started -forward, and exclaimed, "Why, father!"</p> -<p class="pnext">"This you, Bart?" said Thomas Trafton. "How -came you here?--My boy, Mr. Tolman. My vessel is -off there in the stream, and while waiting for the -wind I just rowed over."</p> -<p class="pnext">There they stood, side by side, Bart and his father, -while the keeper was rising to hand the box to Thomas -Trafton. The lighthouse kitchen never presented a -more interesting scene than that of the reformed -sailor in the presence of his oft-abused child, taking -into his hands this gift, that had survived a wrecking -storm, to be not only a pledge of the friendship of the -dead, but to the living a stimulus to right-doing and -a warning against wrong.</p> -<p class="pnext">Thomas Trafton rowed back to the vessel that -night. Bart was carried to town the next day. Bart -reached home at sundown, and first told granny about -the affair of the box as far as he had been able to -pick up the threads of the details and weave them -into a story; then he asked, "Where is father's -spy-glass?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Behind the clock, Bartie," said granny. "What -do you want it for?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Just to look off," he said, seizing the glass and -bearing it out-doors. Granny followed him into the -yard and there halted; for Bart was going farther, -already bestriding the fence.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Where is that boy going?" wondered granny.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Bartie!" she called aloud, "it is a-gittin' too late -to see things clear."</p> -<p class="pnext">He was now mounting a hill beyond the yard.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Back in a moment, granny!" he shouted.</p> -<p class="pnext">She soon saw his figure standing out, clear and -distinct, against the western sky, and he was elevating -the glass.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Too soon to see anything yet," he said, when he -returned.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Where you lookin', child?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Off to the lighthouse."</p> -<p class="pnext">"They haven't more than lighted her up."</p> -<p class="pnext">"I know it. I was too early."</p> -<p class="pnext">"You want to see the light? You won't have to -take a glass for that; you just wait."</p> -<p class="pnext">"I want to see something else. You come with -me, granny, when I go again."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Sakes, child, what you up to?"</p> -<p class="pnext">Later two figures crept up the hill, one carrying a -spy-glass.</p> -<p class="pnext">"There, granny!" said the bearer of the glass. -"Now you look off to the light at Black Rocks, and -right under it see if you can't see another light--a -little one."</p> -<p class="pnext">"La, child," declared granny, vainly looking through -the glass, "I can't see nothin'. This thing pokes out -what there is there."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Eh? can't you, granny?" replied Bart, levelling -the glass toward the harbour. "I see the light. -And--and--I think--I see a--something else underneath. -Seems like a little star under a moon."</p> -<p class="pnext">The next day this was dropped in the post-office:--</p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"> -</div> -<p class="pfirst">"DEAR DAVE,--I saw your lantern, I know. Did -you hang it out? Your friend, BART."</p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"> -</div> -<p class="pfirst">Dave answered this in person within a week.</p> -<p class="pnext">"I'm having a holiday," he said to granny--"off for -a day--and thought I would call. I want you, please, -to say for me to Bart I got his note, and that I did -hang out my lantern the night that he looked for it."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Now, did you ever see sich a boy? He has been -up every night to look for that lantern, and he says -he feels easier if he don't see it."</p> -<p class="pnext">"You tell him not to worry. We are very -comfortable. A person might live there a century and -nothing happen to them."</p> -<p class="pnext">Notwithstanding this assertion about the safety of -century-serving keepers, Bart would sometimes steal -out in the dark and climb the bare, lonely hill. Then -he would search the black horizon.</p> -<p class="pnext">"There's the reg'lar light," he would say, "but I -don't see anything more. All right!"</p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em"> -</div> -<p class="center large pfirst" id="the-storm-gathering">XV.</p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 1em"> -</div> -<p class="center medium pfirst"><em class="italics">THE STORM GATHERING.</em></p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"> -</div> -<p class="pfirst">There was a tongue of land not far from the -lighthouse known as "Pudding Point." How -long the water-trip to it might be depended upon the -state of the tide. In the immediate vicinity of the -lighthouse there was, in the direction of this Pudding -Point, such an accumulation of sandy ridges that at -low-water the voyage was only a quarter of a mile. -At high tide all the yellow flats were covered, and an -oarsman must pull his boat across half-a-mile of water -to go from the light to the point. Sometimes Dave -had occasion to visit Pudding Point. A few houses -were there, and they might be able to supply an -article needed at the light, and that would save a trip -to Shipton. One sunny morning Dave had rowed -over from the light, and was drawing his boat up the -sands, when he noticed a familiar figure striding along -a ridge beyond the beach. It was a person of -handsome carriage, and one well aware of it.</p> -<p class="pnext">"I should know that form anywhere," said Dave. -"Hollo, Dick!" he shouted.</p> -<p class="pnext">Dick Pray came running down a sandy slope and -gave Dave his hand.</p> -<p class="pnext">"I am trying to hunt up Thomas Trafton," said -Dave. "I believe he has a fish-house around here, -hasn't he?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"You'll find him on that ledge a little way back."</p> -<p class="pnext">Dave hunted up the fish-house--a black, weather-beaten -box. Thomas Trafton was spreading fish on -the long fish-flakes in the rear of his humble quarters.</p> -<p class="pnext">"That you, Dave?" asked the fisherman. "I -thought I saw you down on the shore a half-hour ago."</p> -<p class="pnext">"I was over at the light half-an-hour ago."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Then it was Timothy Waters."</p> -<p class="pnext">"How so?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Don't you know that if one takes a back view of -you and Timothy, although he is really older than -you by half-a-dozen years, it wouldn't be easy to tell -you apart? Let me see. You are twenty-one?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"So they say at home."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Timothy is twenty-seven at least.'</p> -<p class="pnext">"And I look like Timothy?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Rear view only, and I can only tell it is him if in -walking he throws his arms out. You never do that."</p> -<p class="pnext">"I am not anxious to resemble Timothy Waters. -I thought he was at sea."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Off and on. He is now, I suppose, in that craft -off in the stream."</p> -<p class="pnext">"The <em class="italics">Relentless</em>?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"That's the one. I know I am glad to be out of -her. My health improved steadily after quitting -her. I am going to be at home, fishing, this -season."</p> -<p class="pnext">"How do they all do at home?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Oh, comfortable."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Bart is getting to be a big boy, isn't he?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Yes, he is. He thinks a good deal of you. Now, -you know that habit he got into once--"</p> -<p class="pnext">"What was that?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Of taking my spy-glass and going out to look at -the lighthouse at night--"</p> -<p class="pnext">"To see if I had hung out a lantern because we -were disabled--by sickness, you know, or something -of the kind?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"That is it. Well, his granny says he hasn't wholly -dropped it now. She will see him go out, and when -he comes back she will say, 'Anything?' 'Nothing,' -he will say."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Oh, I guess there never will be any need of his -looking."</p> -<p class="pnext">"No, I s'pose not; but it shows his interest."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Yes; I am thankful for that.--Well, let us have -a fish to broil; have come out for that."</p> -<p class="pnext">Dave received his fish, paid for it, and very soon -turned away, striding off energetically in the direction -of his boat.</p> -<p class="pnext">When Dave returned to the lighthouse, the tide, -gradually dropping, had uncovered the rocky -foundations, and the water was playing with the fringes of -seaweed all about the rocks.</p> -<p class="pnext">"How gracefully that seaweed rises and falls! Those -curves of its motion are very delicate.--Hollo! what -is that?" he asked.</p> -<p class="pnext">Looking at the foundations, he saw in a crevice a -little object that was not a lump of rock-weed or a -rock, and what was it?</p> -<p class="pnext">"A pocket-book!" said Dave, leaning out of his -boat and picking up this relic tightly wedged between -the stones. "I'll look at that when I get up into the -kitchen."</p> -<p class="pnext">Reaching the kitchen, he hastily opened the pocket-book, -noticed that it was empty, and then placed it to -dry on a shelf. It was very peaceful in the kitchen, -and the stove purred and the clock ticked contentedly -and quietly as ever. But where was the light-keeper? his -assistant wondered.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Upstairs probably," was the thought in reply; and -yet this consideration, reasonable as it might seem at -the moment, did not dispose of the question wholly. -True, in a lighthouse, where one might say if a man -were not downstairs he must be upstairs, that he could -not be "out in the yard" or "in the cellar," Dave's -conclusion seemed to be correct. He felt, however, -a peculiar sense of loneliness. If Dave were a person -given to moods, if he were likely to be sombre, he -might have said it was only a fancy; but for one of -his temperament that was unusual. Dave with reason -had been somewhat worried about his principal. Toby -Tolman was growing old. It had been in certain -quarters openly said that he was too old for his -position. He had been such an efficient keeper, and he -had as his assistant a man so valuable, that no one -cared to make an effort to remove him from his -position. The person who would probably be benefited -by any change, and would be invited to take charge of -the light, was David Fletcher, and he would not move, -for that reason, against his kind old friend. Dave -had worked all the harder to fill up any deficiencies -on the part of his principal, and the principal would -doubtless have been invited to step out if his assistant -had not worked so hard to keep him in. Often Dave -noticed an indisposition in the light-keeper to attend -to that fraction of the duties of the place falling to -him, and Dave rightly attributed the indisposition to -inability. During the watch-hours belonging to the -keeper his assistant had sometimes found him asleep, -and when the rest-hours belonging to the keeper -arrived, he would unduly prolong his sleep in the -morning, and neglect duties to which he had hitherto -given prompt attention. Dave also noticed that -Mr. Tolman lingered at an unusual length over his Bible. -It would be an exceedingly good sign if it could be -said of many people that they spent twice as much -time as previously with their Bibles; but when a man -usually giving to this habit an hour and a half may -take three hours, neglecting other daily duties, there -may be occasion for inquiry into the change. The -light-keeper did not himself notice this peculiarity -about to be mentioned, and yet any one seeing the -passages read would have appreciated it. The keeper -now found unusual comfort in the psalms that spoke -of God as a hiding-place, a refuge, a high tower. Was -he like the mariner who sees the storm pressing him -closely and hastens to find the harbour where he can -let fall each straining sail, like the tired bird that -drops its wings because it has found its nest?</p> -<p class="pnext">Dave had other reason for worry. There were in -circulation mysterious stories that everything in the -administration of the lighthouse at Black Rocks was -not satisfactory. There were sly whisperings that -goods belonging to Government were given out to -others by the keepers, but when, where, and why, -nobody said. There was only the repeated story of -a mysterious disappearance of Government property. -Several friends of Dave tried to catch and hold these -rumours. Catch them they did, but hold them they -could not. They were like birds that you may think -are yours, but when you turn them into a room, lo, -they fly out of an open window in the opposite direction.</p> -<p class="pnext">Thomas Trafton was very indignant.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Look here!" he said with a reddened face to a -fisherman repeating some of these charges, "who told -you that?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Almost everybody."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Name one."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Well, Timothy Waters was one."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Timothy Waters, a man that had trouble at the -light! You wait before you believe the story."</p> -<p class="pnext">"But others have said the same thing."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Well, wait; I am going to track these stories to -their start."</p> -<p class="pnext">Thomas Trafton imagined that he was a hunter, and -like one following up the trail of an animal, he -endeavoured to track these slanders back to their den. -Sometimes he would follow the accusations back to -Timothy Waters, and then somebody else would be -found to assert them, and so the trail would start away -again. Amid the multitude of tracks, but without -evidence of their origin, this hunter from the Trafton -family was bewildered. He mentioned the affair to -Dave, feeling that here was an innocent person whom -others were attacking, and yet he might be entirely -ignorant of the assault.</p> -<p class="pnext">"I--I--don't want to make you uneasy, but I feel -friendly more than you can imagine," said Thomas, -"and I thought you ought to know about the stories -that are going round."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Oh, I suppose people are always talking. Life -would be dreadful dull if there wasn't something to -talk about; and if I save the world from dulness I may -flatter myself that I am doing some good."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Oh, but it isn't just gossip."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Isn't?" replied Dave, taking a hint from Thomas</p> -<p class="pnext">Trafton's significant look more than from any language. -"What is it then?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Now, I don't believe it, mind ye. I try to stop -it, but it is like trying to stop a sand-piper on the -beach without a gun. Running after it don't bring it."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Well, what is it? I know you wouldn't believe -anything unfair, but I am bothered to know what it is."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Why--and I thought you had better know it--they -say things belonging to Government are given -out from the lighthouse: 'misappropriated'--I believe -that is the word."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Long word! Well, who says it?" asked Dave sternly.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Oh, I'm sorry to say I've heard a good many tell -it who ought to know better."</p> -<p class="pnext">"It is all a lie! Misappropriation! That good -man Toby Tolman--as if he would do such a thing! -Why, any one with a head might know better. Toby -never would do it!"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Of course he wouldn't, nor you neither. That is -not the p'int, but how to stop 'em?"</p> -<p class="pnext">Dave was silent. Then he broke out,--</p> -<p class="pnext">"Who has mentioned it?"</p> -<p class="pnext">Thomas mentioned the fisherman he had recently -confronted and rebuked. Then he added,--</p> -<p class="pnext">"I have tried to run the story down to its hole. It -don't seem to start with him, for he says somebody -told him, and--"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Who is that?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Timothy Waters."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Indeed!"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Now, I want to know how to stop the story."</p> -<p class="pnext">"You let me think it over, Thomas. I am much -obliged to you."</p> -<p class="pnext">"I am real sorry to tell you," replied Thomas, "but -I thought you ought to know of it, and I'll stand by -you and Toby to--the last."</p> -<p class="pnext">This conversation was only three days before Dave's -visit to Pudding Point. Thomas had said if anything -new turned up he would report to Dave. "Nothing," -he had said to Dave during that call at the fish-house, -looking significantly at him.</p> -<p class="pnext">"I understand," replied Dave, "and I have nothing. -All I can do is to grin and bear it."</p> -<p class="pnext">To suit the act to the sentiment, he gave a smile -with compressed lips. It was a rather grim smile.</p> -<p class="pnext">Dave was thinking of the unpleasant subject -continually. What added to his burden was the conviction -that he did not think it would be wise to tell his -principal, for he suspected--and he judged rightly--that -it would do no good, that it would only grieve -the light-keeper, and that this burden of grief he was -not just then in a condition to easily carry.</p> -<p class="pnext">"I am acting for two," he said to himself, "and that -makes it all the harder. If it were just one, just -myself, I could seem to tell what to do; but I think it -would do an injury to the old man to tell him now; -and what shall I do? I guess I must take the advice -of that psalm to myself."</p> -<p class="pnext">He had in mind the close of the twenty-seventh -psalm, read the night before: "Wait on the Lord: be -of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: -wait, I say, on the Lord." And this was Dave's -comment on the verse: "I can rest on that promise. I -was not aware when a man didn't know what to do, -which way to turn, that this psalm could help and rest -one like that."</p> -<p class="pnext">So Dave, like many pilgrims perplexed and tired, -came to the shadow of the mountain-promises of God. -and there comforted his soul in the assurance that God -thought of him, loved him, and would strengthen him. -He needed this comfort when he returned to the lighthouse, -after his visit to Thomas Trafton's fish-house, -and missed the keeper.</p> -<p class="pnext">"I will go upstairs to find him," he said.</p> -<p class="pnext">How hard and heavy was the sound of his footsteps -as he ascended the first flight of stairs leading from -the kitchen! Dave went up as if he were carrying a -burden. He pushed open the door at the head of the -stairway and looked into the keeper's room, anxiously -and yet timidly, as if desirous to find him and yet -afraid.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Ah, there he is," thought Dave.</p> -<p class="pnext">He was lying on his bed, his eyes closed.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Is he asleep?" wondered Dave. He stepped to -the bed.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Yes, he must be asleep. Shall I speak to him?"</p> -<p class="pnext">He hesitated. He wanted to wake him and make -sure that an ugly suspicion was without foundation.</p> -<p class="pnext">He watched the old man's breast, and saw a movement -there as of a pulsation of the heart. He held -his hand before the keeper's mouth.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Yes, I feel his warm breath. It must be sleep, -and yet--"</p> -<p class="pnext">He paused. He did not like to express in language -what he could not help in thought.</p> -<p class="pnext">"I will not disturb him," he finally said, "for it -may be only just sleep. I will wait, any way, till after -dinner."</p> -<p class="pnext">Deferring and still suspecting, he went downstairs. -The kitchen had not changed, and yet it seemed a -different place. The clock and the fire now made -discordant noises. The sunshine that fell through the -window and rested on the floor seemed not so much -to bring the light as to show how empty and comfortless -the place was. He felt lonelier than ever, this -man that people outside suspected of theft, who was -cut off from the sympathy of the man suspected with -him. He was like one of the ledges in the sea, so -isolated, so much by itself, upon which the waves beat -without mercy, without rest. In that hour what -society, sympathy, strength, he found in the psalms!--a -face to smile upon him, a voice to cheer, and a hand -to uplift.</p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em"> -</div> -<p class="center large pfirst" id="the-storm-striking">XVI.</p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 1em"> -</div> -<p class="center medium pfirst"><em class="italics">THE STORM STRIKING.</em></p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"> -</div> -<p class="pfirst">After dinner Dave mounted the stairway leading -to the keeper's room.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Still sleeping," thought Dave, lingering on the -threshold and hesitating to go forward. He advanced, -though, in a moment, for he was startled at the keeper's -appearance. It was like an intermittent stupor rather -than the continued unconsciousness of sleep. Dave -touched the keeper, and he found the temperature to -be that of a high fever. At times the old light-keeper -would start and open his eyes, and when Dave left the -room to search the pantry for some simple remedy on -the medicine-shelf, he found on his return that his -patient had left his bed and was standing by the -narrow window in the thick stone walls. He murmured -something about "storm," about the "light," and -suffered Dave to lead him back to bed.</p> -<p class="pnext">"I must look out how I leave him again," thought -Dave; and yet how could he manage the case alone?</p> -<p class="pnext">"I must have help," he said, "and soon as I have -a chance I must hang a signal out at the door. -Perhaps some one will call, and I'll wait before showing -the signal."</p> -<p class="pnext">Nobody came. Why should they come because -suspecting any trouble? The afternoon was pleasant. -The sea broke gently upon the stone walls of the -lighthouse, and the sun shed its quiet glow like some -benediction of peace upon the sea. It was the very -afternoon when a spectator would be likely to -conclude that the lighthouse was in no need of help.</p> -<p class="pnext">"I'll go now," at last concluded Dave. "He is -asleep; his fever is running lower. I will step to -the door of the signal-tower, and throw out a white -sheet there, and somebody may see it."</p> -<p class="pnext">Nobody came, and yet here was a man who might -be dangerously sick. At the hour of sunset he ran -up to the lantern and lighted the lamp. He quickly -descended, saying to himself, "How glad I am that -it is not foggy! So much to be thankful for! How -could I start that signal! But it won't do to try to -get through the night in this fashion. What, what -can I do?"</p> -<p class="pnext">The twilight thickened; the shadows trailed longer, -broader, and darker folds across the sea. Dave sat -alone with the sick man, who moaned as if in pain.</p> -<p class="pnext">"I have it!" he suddenly exclaimed, recalling what -Thomas Trafton told him. "I can do one thing more. -I'll hang the lantern out from the tower; maybe Bart -will possibly see it."</p> -<p class="pnext">Watching his chance when the keeper was less -uneasy, he ran downstairs, lighted a lantern, and then -suspended it outside a window on the landward side -of the tower. The cool air of the sea blew refreshingly -on his heated face as he leaned out.</p> -<p class="pnext">"The air feels good; but I can't stop here," said -Dave, hurrying away and returning to the keeper's -room. "There! I have done all I could, and now--"</p> -<p class="pnext">There came to him again the words of the psalmist, -"Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall -strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord."</p> -<p class="pnext">He could rest on that promise. He was beginning -to find out what God could be in the time of trouble. -Friends might fail him; on every side there might -be an emptiness, a loneliness. All about him settled -the presence of God, filling up this solitude, this -waste, this night. He could lean on God and--wait. -Others might suspect his integrity. He knew he was -not guilty, and he welcomed the thought of God's -knowledge--that God saw to the bottom of his heart, -and into the depths of his life, and God knew he was -innocent. Yes, he could wait.</p> -<p class="pnext">That evening Thomas Trafton, his old mother, and -Bart sat around the little table of pine on which the -kitchen lamp had been placed. The father was telling -where he had been that day and whom he had seen.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Dave Fletcher was down at the fish-house to-day. -He spoke, Bart, of your looking through the spy-glass, -but he did not think it necessary."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Did he speak of it?" said Bart eagerly. "I have -a great mind to--"</p> -<p class="pnext">"To go out?" asked his father--"to go out and -see? Oh, nonsense! No more need of it than my -going to Australia."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Oh, let him go if he wants to," pleaded the -grandmother; and the father assented.</p> -<p class="pnext">Bart reached up to the spy-glass resting on a shelf, -took it down, and seizing his hat also, hurried -outdoors. He was going through the yard, when he saw -somebody stealing away from a shed in the rear of -the house.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Why, if that don't look like Dave Fletcher -himself!" thought Bart. "Dave Fletcher!" he -shouted.</p> -<p class="pnext">Whoever it was--and the form certainly did resemble -Dave's--he made no reply, but hurried through -the yard down into the street.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Somebody else, I suppose!" murmured Bart. -"Wonder what he wanted! Perhaps it was one of -the fishermen who wanted to leave something for -father. Can't stop to see now."</p> -<p class="pnext">He hurried to the top of the hill, raised his glass, -and pointed it toward the lighthouse.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Father!" he said, appearing the next minute in -the kitchen, and speaking hurriedly, "oh--oh--come -here! and you--granny--and see if--"</p> -<p class="pnext">He said no more, for this was sufficient to startle -his auditors, and all three hastened up the hill.</p> -<p class="pnext">"You didn't see a second light at the lighthouse?" -asked the father.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Yes, I did," replied Bart; "I know I did."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Guess you were mistaken," suggested granny.</p> -<p class="pnext">"No, I wasn't; you just look and see your--yourself."</p> -<p class="pnext">Granny could not see anything except a hazy -glow where the lighthouse might be supposed to -stand.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Can't say I saw even that as well as I wanted -to," she confessed to herself.</p> -<p class="pnext">Thomas Trafton's keen eyes, though, detected a -bright little star under the light in the lantern of -the sea-tower, and exclaimed, "No doubt about it! -Afraid there's trouble there, and--"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Could take our boat, father," said Bart eagerly, -who had been already planning for this emergency, -"and pick up a doctor; for that is what the signal -must mean after what Dave told me, you know, -and--and--"</p> -<p class="pnext">"We will go right off," said Thomas Trafton, in -his quick, decided way.</p> -<p class="pnext">As they were rowing across the river to obtain the -services of Dr. Peters, Bart thought of the time, -half-a-dozen years ago, when his quest for the physician -ended in a river-bath.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Dave Fletcher did a good thing for me then," -thought Bart, "and I will stand by him now."</p> -<p class="pnext">How he bent to his oars and made them bend in -their turn! It was a pleasure to be of some use in -the world.</p> -<p class="pnext">It was that evening that the light-keeper came -back for a moment to consciousness, and looking -steadily at Dave, said in a very serious tone of voice, -"How long have I been lying here?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Oh, only since morning," replied his nurse, delighted -to hear his voice. "Now, you be quiet and tell me -if you want anything--any medicine you take when -you are sick this way."</p> -<p class="pnext">Here the keeper's thoughts wandered again. He -talked about the fog that was coming, and a craft -that was caught on the bar, and then, looking at Dave -steadily, said in a hesitating way, "Hadn't you -better--put it--back--Dave?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Put back what, sir?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"What you--took? Let me--as a--friend--advise you."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Took?"</p> -<p class="pnext">The keeper lifted himself on his elbow and looked -all around, as if trying to find something.</p> -<p class="pnext">"David, don't hide it!"</p> -<p class="pnext">Then the keeper fell back upon his bed, and -murmuring a few words indistinctly, he was lost again -in a stupor. He was no sooner quiet than his -assistant's quick ear caught the sound of steps and voices -down in the signal-tower; for all the doors this -summer evening were open between the keeper's room -and the platform at the entrance of the lighthouse. -It was the arrival of Thomas Trafton's party, and -Dr. Peters was a member of it. If Dave felt that its -coming was like the reaching out of a hand that lifted -him up and strengthened him, the words of the keeper -were like a hand smiting him down.</p> -<p class="pnext">What did Toby Tolman mean?</p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em"> -</div> -<p class="center large pfirst" id="thomas-trafton-detective">XVII.</p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 1em"> -</div> -<p class="center medium pfirst"><em class="italics">THOMAS TRAFTON, DETECTIVE.</em></p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"> -</div> -<p class="pfirst">"Well!" said Dr. Peters, after a night of -careful watching of the light-keeper's symptoms. -He was a tall, elderly gentleman, with a very smooth, -melodious voice, its tones seeming to have been dipped -in syrup.</p> -<p class="pnext">He began again,--</p> -<p class="pnext">"Well, Mr. Fletcher, I think Mr. Tolman will -recover from this. We shall get him through." And -when he spoke, Dr. Peters waved his hands as if he -had already disposed of this case and now passed it -out of sight.</p> -<p class="pnext">"However, Mr. Fletcher, the case will need careful -watching, and you had better take charge of it, unless -his daughter might come down to relieve you."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Possibly his granddaughter," thought Dave.</p> -<p class="pnext">"I don't think we can ever rely on Toby Tolman's -resuming his old duties here--might do a little -something, you know--and you had better get Thomas -Trafton or some trusty man to help you. When will -the inspector be here?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Our lighthouse inspector, Captain Sinclair, doctor?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Yes."</p> -<p class="pnext">"In about a fortnight, perhaps sooner. The steamer -that brings supplies for the lighthouse will soon be -here, and Captain Sinclair will come in her, I think."</p> -<p class="pnext">"The inspector, to look after matters?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Yes, sir. Of course I shall report what you say -about the keeper to headquarters at once."</p> -<p class="pnext">"I would. It is very important. And when -Captain Sinclair comes, let me know, please."</p> -<p class="pnext">"I will, sir."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Of course it is necessary that things should be -inspected. I am glad he is coming. Well to be -careful."</p> -<p class="pnext">"What does he mean?" wondered Dave. "Has -he got hold of those stories about misappropriation? -Well, when Captain Sinclair comes I hope he will -sift things to the bottom. I am not afraid of an -investigation."</p> -<p class="pnext">Dave took satisfaction in the consciousness of his -integrity; still it was not pleasant to be suspected. -It was Toby Tolman's mysterious language, indicating -that he too held Dave in some kind of suspicion, -which troubled Dave painfully. The day after -Dr. Peters's visit the light-keeper again referred to this -mystery. He roused himself into a state of seeming -consciousness, and then relapsed. Again he awoke. -He looked around him and fastened his eyes on the -top of a clothes-press in the room.</p> -<p class="pnext">"What do you want, sir? Anything there that -you want to put on?" asked Dave.</p> -<p class="pnext">The keeper shook his head. Pointing at the top -of the press, he said, "Dave, I would put it back."</p> -<p class="pnext">"What do you mean? I don't understand you."</p> -<p class="pnext">The keeper, though, was gone again, murmuring -about the tide, which he said was very late, and when -would it come in? He had been awake long enough -to cruelly wound Dave once more.</p> -<p class="pnext">Bart Trafton had gone home with Dr. Peters, -rowing him to town in the same dory that brought -him to the light the night before. In two days Bart -was down again. As he sat in the kitchen eating -some apple-pie offered him by his father, he said, -"Father, I found something in our shed."</p> -<p class="pnext">"What was it, Bart?"</p> -<p class="pnext">Laying down his lunch, Bart drew out of a package -a chronometer.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Found that in the shed?" asked the surprised -father.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Yes, on a shelf."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Why, Bart, this has got the letters of our -lighthouse on it. Must have come from here. And in our -shed! How did it get there? I must show this to -Dave," said Thomas Trafton.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Hush-sh!" exclaimed Dave, when his assistant -entered the room; "Toby is trying to get some sleep."</p> -<p class="pnext">"See here!" said Thomas, in low tones. "Must -show you something."</p> -<p class="pnext">"I never saw it before," replied Dave, handling the -chronometer. "It belongs here, though. There are -the initials. Where did you get it?"</p> -<p class="pnext">A stir among the bedclothes arrested the attention -of the two men. Toby Tolman had opened his eyes, -and was looking at them. Something he saw must -have pleased him, for he smiled.</p> -<p class="pnext">"That is right, Dave. I am glad you brought it -back. I would put it up."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Where?" asked the astonished Dave, anxious to -lay hold of any clue to a serious mystery.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Up there."</p> -<p class="pnext">He pointed at the top of the clothes-press. The -press was not a tall one. Dave standing on tiptoe -could reach to its top, and he now laid the watch -there.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Is that right?" asked Dave.</p> -<p class="pnext">The keeper nodded his head, and then closed his -eyes, his face wearing a satisfied expression foreign to -it all through his sickness.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Is not that queer?" whispered Dave. "Some -mystery that is too deep for me."</p> -<p class="pnext">He beckoned Thomas and Bart out of the room, -and then followed them downstairs.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Now, how do you explain that?" asked Dave, as -the three clustered about the stove, whose heat that -day was acceptable, for the air was chilly and the -wind was a prophet of storm.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Don't know," said Thomas.</p> -<p class="pnext">"I'd give this old pocket-book full of silver," -declared Dave, "to have that thing cleared up. It takes -a load off my mind, I tell you. The old man has been -harping on the fact that I took something, and he has -been looking toward that old clothes-press in such a -strange way. I didn't know anything was up there. -Did you see how he acted, smiled about it?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Where did you get this pocket-book?" asked Thomas.</p> -<p class="pnext">"The day that Toby was taken sick I picked it up -among the rocks here. I had been over at your -fish-house, and found it when I was coming back. Been -in the water, you see."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Here are some letters on it--T.W."</p> -<p class="pnext">"That means Tobias Winkley or--"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Thomas Winkley. Can't prove it to be Thomas -Trafton; and if you could no money is in it. 'T.W.,' -that is Timothy Watson."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Or Timothy Waters."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Yes; Timothy Waters, or anything that would -go with those initials. Toby Tolman wouldn't go."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Now I must go upstairs again to be with my -patient."</p> -<p class="pnext">Dave Fletcher's heart was lighter as he went -upstairs again, but the burden now lightening on his -shoulders seemed to be transferred to those of Thomas -Trafton.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Don't understand this!" he exclaimed. "Where -is Bart? Bart!"</p> -<p class="pnext">There was no response to this call, and the father -went downstairs into the storeroom to hunt up Bart.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Nobody here. I'll go into the signal-tower," said -Thomas; and up in the engine-room, looking soberly -out of a window fronting the breakers on the bar, -stood Bart.</p> -<p class="pnext">"You here, Bart? What are you doing here?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Thinking," said the boy gloomily.</p> -<p class="pnext">"What makes you so sober, Bart?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Don't like to have folks suspected."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Neither do I. That old thing was found in our -shed, but I don't know anything about it."</p> -<p class="pnext">It relieved Bart to hear his father's stout assertion -of innocence, but his burdens had not all dropped.</p> -<p class="pnext">"You know they talk about Dave, father."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Well, you don't believe it?"</p> -<p class="pnext">How could Bart consent to take Dave Fletcher -down from that high pedestal to which he had elevated -him? How could he believe that his marble statue -was after all only common clay, and even of an inferior -earth?</p> -<p class="pnext">"I won't believe it till it is proved," said Bart -stoutly, "nor of you either, father."</p> -<p class="pnext">This relieved Thomas Trafton.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Bart, you see if I don't turn this rascally thing -over and get at the truth! I'll find the -mischief-maker; yes, I will."</p> -<p class="pnext">Thomas Trafton was by nature a detective. He -put himself on the trail of this mystery, and if a -trained hound he could not have followed the track -more keenly and resolutely. He announced his -purpose to Dave, and the latter would ask him -occasionally if he had any clue.</p> -<p class="pnext">"I am at work on it, still running. The scent is -good, and I have something of a trail. I'll tell you -when I get through," was one reply he made.</p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em"> -</div> -<p class="center large pfirst" id="into-a-trap">XVIII.</p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 1em"> -</div> -<p class="center medium pfirst"><em class="italics">INTO A TRAP.</em></p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"> -</div> -<p class="pfirst">"Cap'n Sinclair!" called out a voice. The -man projecting the voice stood up in a boat -rocking gently in the harbour. The man addressed -stood in a small black steamer, the <em class="italics">Spitfire</em>, employed -in conveying supplies to the lighthouses. He leaned -over the steamer's rail and asked, "What is it?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"I suppose you remember me, Timothy Waters?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Oh, that you, Waters?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Yes. Could I see you?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Here I am."</p> -<p class="pnext">Captain Sinclair was a middle-aged man, rather -stout, wearing a moustache, and flashing a friendly -look out of his brown eyes.</p> -<p class="pnext">"I don't think I was fairly treated," said Timothy, -"when I lost my place in the lighthouse, and I wanted -to make some explanations. Besides me, you may -have heard the stories all round about the goods -they are wasting at the light?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Well, I have heard something," said the captain -impatiently. "Somebody wrote to me about it, but -he wasn't man enough to sign his name. May have -been a woman, for all I know."</p> -<p class="pnext">"If you'd let me come aboard--"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Oh, you can come aboard; but I won't be here -long. I must go into the light, and the steamer is -going off--at once. Just row over to the lighthouse, -and I'll talk with you there."</p> -<p class="pnext">Timothy turned away and shrugged his shoulders. -He said to himself, "I don't want to go in there. -However, I think I saw Trafton and that Fletcher -rowin' off. I can stand the old man." He turned to -the captain and said in a fawning tone, "All right, -cap'n. I want you to have your say about it."</p> -<p class="pnext">When Captain Sinclair and Timothy entered the -kitchen of the lighthouse, to the surprise of Timothy -he saw Trafton and Dave Fletcher. They had "rowed -off," and had also rowed back. Timothy was so -unprepared for their appearance that he would have -allowed the opportunity for presenting his cause to -slip by unimproved. Dave Fletcher, though, was -ready to begin at once, and did so.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Captain Sinclair, be seated, please, and the rest of -you. When you were here yesterday I called your -attention to certain charges made against Mr. Tolman -and myself that--"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Oh yes, I remember; and here is a letter full of -them somebody sent to me, but they were too cowardly -to add any name. Let me have the light-book. That -will give me some of last year's records."</p> -<p class="pnext">Timothy was looking on in apparent unconcern, -but really in bewilderment, and wondering when his -turn would come. He began to address the inspector.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Cap'n--"</p> -<p class="pnext">Thomas was ahead of him, and by this time had -said three words to Timothy's one,--</p> -<p class="pnext">"Cap'n Sinclair, I--Cap'n Sinclair, I have something -to say. I think the author of all this trouble -is here. He"--pointing a finger at Timothy--"came -to this lighthouse, took a chronometer, carried it to -Shipton, left it in my shed--"</p> -<div class="align-center auto-scaled figure" style="width: 62%" id="figure-48"> -<img class="align-center" style="display: block; width: 100%" alt=" " src="images/img-194.jpg" /> -<div class="caption figure"> -"'Cap'n Sinclair, the author of all this trouble sits there.'" <em class="italics">Page 195</em>]</div> -</div> -<p class="pfirst">This torrent of charges, so unexpected, swept away -the statements Timothy had prepared for Captain -Sinclair. He attempted to stem the torrent, and cried, -"It is easy to say you know, cap'n"--Timothy tried -to be very bland, restraining his temper--"easy to -say you know--"</p> -<p class="pnext">"I can say that he came to this lighthouse," Thomas -broke out again, "and when the keeper was lyin' sick -on his bed--asleep, as he thought, is my guess--he -took a chronometer--"</p> -<p class="pnext">Timothy, who had been curbing his temper, now -threw away all reins.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Where is the keeper?" he asked stormily. "I -don't believe he can say that."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Oh, he is upstairs, and well enough to see us. -The doctor says he is doing well. And walk up, -gentlemen," said Dave, "walk up!"</p> -<p class="pnext">Bart was reading to the old man, who was seated -in a rocking-chair near his bed. The company almost -filled the little room, but the light-keeper bade them -welcome.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Mr. Tolman," said Thomas, "won't you tell Cap'n -Sinclair what you told me about the taking of the -chronometer?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Oh yes," said the old light-keeper slowly. "I -was feeling very sick, so much so that I concluded to -lie down. I s'pose I was lying with my eyes 'most -shut, when I heard a step and saw a man come in, -and he looked at me, and then he stood on a chair, -examined the top of that clothes-press, and took down -a chronometer--an old thing, but it might be fixed -up. The man thought I was asleep, and I didn't see -his face, only it seemed to me as if he had whiskers, -and when he stood on a chair to reach the chronometer -he looked--standing with his back to me---as if it -was Dave Fletcher. Well, I was that weak I couldn't -speak, and my visitor went off, supposing, I daresay, -that I was asleep. Well, I kept it on my mind, -forgetting the whiskers, that it was Dave, and I charged -him with it. Sorry I did--"</p> -<p class="pnext">"Well," said Timothy fiercely, "why wasn't it -Fletcher? It is about time that innocent chap should -do something."</p> -<p class="pnext">"He says--Mr. Tolman says," observed Captain -Sinclair, "that you and Fletcher look alike."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Wall," bawled Timothy, "why couldn't it have -been Fletcher much as me, don't you see? Come -you--you feller--you stand by this clothes-press and -reach up, and let's see how you look."</p> -<p class="pnext">"This 'feller' is ready," said Dave, going to the -clothes-press and reaching to its top.</p> -<p class="pnext">"And here I am. Why ain't it him?" asked Timothy, -also standing by the press and reaching up.</p> -<p class="pnext">"They do look alike when their backs are turned -toward us," observed Captain Sinclair.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Only the keeper said the one he saw had whiskers, -and there are Timothy's," remarked Thomas.</p> -<p class="pnext">Dave wore only a moustache. Thomas's remark -called the attention of everybody to Timothy's -whiskers, projecting like wings from his cheeks. These -wings were red, but their colour was not as vivid as -that of Timothy's face.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Besides," continued Thomas, "Dave wasn't here. -He can prove an alibi. He was over at Pudding P'int; -came to get a fish from me."</p> -<p class="pnext">"Why," said Timothy indignantly, "I was--two -miles away."</p> -<p class="pnext">"I saw you round the shore myself; and here is -your pocket-book that Dave found at the foot of the -light-tower that very morning."</p> -<p class="pnext">Timothy opened his eyes, swelled up his cheeks, -puffed, declared he didn't see how that was, -"and--and--"</p> -<p class="pnext">Here Bart interrupted his stammering, and said,--</p> -<p class="pnext">"And I saw you up at our shed that evening. I -thought it was Dave Fletcher, taking a back view; but -when I called 'Dave!' there was no answer to it;--and, -Dave, you'd speak if I called, wouldn't you?"</p> -<p class="pnext">"I think I would."</p> -<p class="pnext">"This other person that looked like you didn't say -a word."</p> -<p class="pnext">Timothy puffed and protested and denied, growing -redder and redder.</p> -<p class="pnext">"See here, Waters," said Captain Sinclair: "I have -been looking at the lighthouse records last year, and -I have hunted up places where you have written, and -the style is like this in the letter I received--that -anonymous one--about the charges against the keepers -in the lighthouse. You come up into the room above -with me."</p> -<p class="pnext">Stuttering in his confusion, still asserting his -innocence, blushing, he stumbled up the stairway, and then -alone with Captain Sinclair he was urged to make a -clean breast of it.</p> -<p class="pnext">"Yes," said the captain, "tell the whole story; for -there is enough against you to shut you up in quarters -of stone, and it won't be a lighthouse."</p> -<p class="pnext">Timothy was startled by this. He broke down, and -made a full confession to the inspector.</p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em"> -</div> -<p class="center large pfirst" id="a-place-to-stop">XIX.</p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 1em"> -</div> -<p class="center medium pfirst"><em class="italics">A PLACE TO STOP.</em></p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"> -</div> -<p class="pfirst">Here is a place to bring into a harbour our story -drifting on like a boat. Dave Fletcher was -appointed keeper of the light at Black Rocks, and -Thomas Trafton became his assistant. Bart, though, -said he considered himself to be second assistant, and -should fit himself as rapidly as possible for a keeper. -He wanted, he added, to be as useful as he could -be--an idea that never forsook him since the old days -of his career as Little Mew. Dick Pray went on in -the old style, full of plans and projects, stirred by an -intense ambition to do some big thing, but impatient -of the little things necessary to the execution of the -whole. Always ready to dare, he was as uniformly -averse to the doing of the hard work that might be -demanded.</p> -<p class="pnext">Toby Tolman took up his quarters in his old home -ashore. As he could not go where Dave was, he said -he thought Dave ought to come to him as often as -possible. Dave promised to do all in his power, and -as a pledge of his sincerity he married the -light-keeper's granddaughter, black-eyed, bright-eyed May -Tolman. She lived under Toby Tolman's roof; and as -Dave improved every opportunity to visit the grand-daughter, -he was able to fulfil his promise made to the -grandfather.</p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em"> -</div> -<p class="center pfirst small">THE END.</p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em"> -</div> -<div class="center transition"> -<p class="pfirst">――――</p> -</div> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 6em"> -</div> -<p class="center large pfirst">Nelson's Books for Boys.</p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"> -</div> -<p class="left medium pfirst"><em class="italics">The Books below are specially suitable for Boys, -and a better selection of well-written, -attractively-bound, and beautifully-illustrated Gift -and Prize Books cannot be found. The list -may be selected from with the greatest confidence, -the imprint of Messrs. Nelson being a guarantee -of wholesomeness as well as of interest and general good -quality.</em></p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"> -</div> -<p class="center medium pfirst"><em class="italics">Many Illustrated in Colours.</em></p> -<p class="left medium pnext white-space-pre-line">"CAPTAIN SWING." Harold Avery.<br /> -HOSTAGE FOR A KINGDOM. F. B. Forester.<br /> -FIRELOCK AND STEEL. Harold Avery.<br /> -A CAPTIVE OF THE CORSAIRS. John Finnemore.<br /> -THE DUFFER. Warren Bell.<br /> -A KING'S COMRADE. C. W. Whistler.<br /> -IN THE TRENCHES. John Finnemore.<br /> -IN JACOBITE DAYS. Mrs. Clarke.<br /> -HEADS OR TAILS? (A School Story.) H. Avery.<br /> -JACK RALSTON. (Life in Canada.) H. Burnham.<br /> -A CAPTAIN OF IRREGULARS. (War in Chili.) Herbert Hayens.<br /> -IN THE GRIP OF THE SPANIARD. Herbert Hayens.<br /> -HELD TO RANSOM. (A Story of Brigands.) F. B. Forester.<br /> -RED, WHITE, AND GREEN. (Hungarian Revolution.) Herbert Hayens.<br /> -THE TIGER OF THE PAMPAS. H. Hayens.<br /> -TRUE TO HIS NICKNAME. Harold Avery.<br /> -RED CAP. E. S. Tylee.<br /> -A SEA-QUEEN'S SAILING. C. W. Whistler.<br /> -PLAY THE GAME!<br /> -HIGHWAY PIRATES. (A School Story.) Harold Avery.<br /> -SALE'S SHARPSHOOTERS. Harold Avery.<br /> - A rattling story of how three boys formed a very<br /> - irregular volunteer corps.<br /> -FOR KING OR EMPRESS? (Stephen and Matilda.) C. W. Whistler.<br /> -SOLDIERS OF THE CROSS. E. F. Pollard.<br /> -TOM GRAHAM, V.C. William Johnston.<br /> -THE FELLOW WHO WON. Andrew Home.<br /> -BEGGARS OF THE SEA. Tom Sevan.<br /> -A TRUSTY REBEL. Mrs. Henry Clarke.<br /> -THE BRITISH LEGION. Herbert Hayens.<br /> -SCOUTING FOR BULLER. Herbert Hayens.<br /> -THE ISLAND OF GOLD. Dr. Gordon Stables.<br /> -HAROLD THE NORSEMAN. Fred Whishaw.<br /> -MINVERN BROTHERS. Charles Turley.<br /> -IN DAYS OF DANGER. Harold Avery.<br /> -LADS OF THE LIGHT DIVISION. Colonel Ferryman.<br /> -A LOST ARMY. Fred Whishaw.<br /> -DOING AND DARING. Eleanor Stredder.<br /> -BAFFLING THE BLOCKADE. J. Macdonald Oxley.<br /> -TOM BROWN'S SCHOOLDAYS. Hughes.<br /> -HEREWARD THE WAKE. Charles Kingsley.</p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 3em"> -</div> -<p class="center medium pfirst"><em class="italics">THE "LONE STAR" SERIES.</em></p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 1em"> -</div> -<p class="center medium pfirst">Handsome Gift Books at a moderate price. Uniformly -bound and well illustrated.</p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 1em"> -</div> -<p class="left medium pfirst white-space-pre-line">UNDER THE LONE STAR. Herbert Hayens.<br /> -CLEVELY SAHIB. Herbert Hayens.<br /> -AN EMPEROR'S DOOM. Herbert Hayens.<br /> -A VANISHED NATION. Herbert Hayens.<br /> -A FIGHTER IN GREEN. Herbert Hayens.<br /> -THE DORMITORY FLAG. Harold Avery.<br /> -KILGORMAN. Talbot Baines Reed.<br /> -IN THE WILDS OF THE WEST COAST. J. Macdonald Oxley.<br /> -EVERY INCH A SAILOR. Dr. Gordon Stables.<br /> -AT THE POINT OF THE SWORD. Herbert Hayens.<br /> -RED, WHITE, AND GREEN. Herbert Hayens.<br /> -A HERO OF THE HIGHLANDS. E. E. Green.<br /> -HELD TO RANSOM. F. B. Forester.<br /> -VICTORIES OF THE ENGINEER. A. Williams.</p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 1em"> -</div> -<p class="pfirst">Recent engineering marvels graphically described -and fully illustrated.</p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 1em"> -</div> -<p class="left pfirst white-space-pre-line">HOW IT IS MADE. A. Williams.<br /> -HOW IT WORKS. A. Williams.</p> -<p class="left pnext">Splendid books for boys, telling them just what -they want to know. Profusely illustrated.</p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 1em"> -</div> -<p class="left pfirst white-space-pre-line">IN FLORA'S REALM. Edward Step, F.L.S.<br /> -A NATURALIST'S HOLIDAY. Edward Step, F.L.S.</p> -<p class="left pnext">Two books by one of the most popular of living -writers on natural history subjects.</p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 3em"> -</div> -<p class="center medium pfirst"><em class="italics">THE "ACTIVE SERVICE" SERIES</em></p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 1em"> -</div> -<p class="left pfirst white-space-pre-line">FOR THE COLOURS. Herbert Hayens. A Boy's Book of the Army.<br /> -YE MARINERS OF ENGLAND. Herbert Hayens. A Boy's Book of the Navy.<br /> -TRAFALGAR REFOUGHT. Sir W. Laird Clowes and Alan H. Burgoyne.<br /> -AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A SEAMAN. Abridged from Lord Dundonald.<br /> -ADVENTURES IN THE RIFLE BRIGADE. Sir John Kincaid.<br /> -FOR THE EMPEROR. Eliza F. Pollard.<br /> -THE GOLD KLOOF. H. A. Bryden.<br /> -SEA DOGS ALL! Tom Bevan.<br /> -THE FEN ROBBERS. Tom Bevan.<br /> -RED DICKON, THE OUTLAW. Tom Bevan.<br /> -HAVELOK THE DANE. Charles W. Whistler.<br /> -KING ALFRED'S VIKING. Charles W. Whistler.<br /> -THE VANISHED YACHT. Harcourt Burrage. A splendid story of adventure.<br /> -MY STRANGE RESCUE. J. Macdonald Oxley.<br /> -DIAMOND ROCK. J. Macdonald Oxley.<br /> -UP AMONG THE ICE-FLOES. J. Macdonald Oxley.<br /> -CHUMS AT LAST. Mrs. G. Forsyth Grant.<br /> -MOBSLEY'S MOHICANS. (A Tale of Two Terms.) Harold Avery.<br /> -KNIGHTS OF THE ROAD. E. Everett-Green.<br /> -ROBINSON CRUSOE. Defoe.<br /> -WON IN WARFARE. C. R. Kenyon.<br /> -THE WIZARD'S WAND. Harold Avery.<br /> -A PRINCE ERRANT. C. W. Whistler.<br /> -BRAVE MEN AND BRAVE DEEDS. M. B. Synge.<br /> -RALPH THE OUTLAW. Mrs. H. Clarke.<br /> -THE "GREY FOX." Tom Sevan.<br /> -THE JEWELLED LIZARD. W. D. Fordyce.<br /> -THE CHANCELLOR'S SPY. Tom Sevan.<br /> -HIS MAJESTY'S GLOVE. Miss Whitham.<br /> -A FORTUNE FROM THE SKY. S. Kuppord.<br /> -FRANK'S FIRST TERM. Harold Avery.<br /> -THREE SAILOR BOYS; or, Adrift in the Pacific. Commander Cameron.<br /> -RIVERTON BOYS. K. M. Eady.</p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 3em"> -</div> -<p class="left medium pfirst"><em class="italics">TRAVEL SERIES.</em></p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 1em"> -</div> -<p class="left pfirst white-space-pre-line">ADVENTURERS ALL. K. M. Eady,<br /> -ALIVE IN THE JUNGLE. Eleanor Stredder.<br /> -CABIN IN THE CLEARING. Edward S. Ellis.<br /> -THE CASTAWAYS. Captain Mayne Reid.<br /> -LOST IN THE BACKWOODS. Mrs. Traitt.<br /> -LOST IN THE WILDS OF CANADA. Eleanor Stredder.<br /> -THE THREE TRAPPERS. Achilles Daunt.<br /> -THROUGH FOREST AND FIRE. E. S. Ellis.<br /> -WITH STANLEY ON THE CONGO. Miss Douglas.</p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 3em"> -</div> -<p class="center medium pfirst">Books for the Young.</p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 1em"> -</div> -<p class="center pfirst x-large">NELSON'S -"ROYAL" -LIBRARIES</p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 1em"> -</div> -<p class="left pfirst">The finest and most attractive series -of Gift and Reward Books in the -market at so moderate a price. They -are mainly COPYRIGHT works, carefully -selected from the most popular and -successful of the many books for the young -issued by Messrs. Nelson in recent years, -and are most attractively illustrated and -tastefully bound. Each volume has eight -coloured plates, with the exception of a -few, which have eight monochrome -illustrations. The books are issued in three -series at 2/-, 1/6, and 1/. For lists see -following pages.</p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 3em"> -</div> -<p class="center large pfirst">THOMAS NELSON AND SONS,</p> -<p class="center medium pnext"><em class="italics">London, Edinburgh, Dublin, and New York</em></p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"> -</div> -<p class="center large pfirst">NELSON'S "ROYAL" LIBRARIES.</p> -<p class="center medium pnext">THE TWO SHILLING SERIES.</p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 1em"> -</div> -<p class="left pfirst white-space-pre-line">IN TAUNTON TOWN. E. Everett-Green.<br /> -IN THE LAND OF THE MOOSE. Achilles Daunt.<br /> -TREFOIL. Margaret P. Macdonald.<br /> -WENZEL'S INHERITANCE. Annie Lucas.<br /> -VERA'S TRUST. Evelyn Everett-Green.<br /> -FOR THE FAITH. Evelyn Everett-Green.<br /> -ALISON WALSH. Constance Evelyn.<br /> -BLIND LOYALTY. E. L. Haverfield.<br /> -DOROTHY ARDEN. J. M. Callwell.<br /> -FALLEN FORTUNES. Evelyn Everett-Green.<br /> -FOR HER SAKE. Gordon Roy.<br /> -JACK MACKENZIE. Gordon Stables, M.D.<br /> -IN PALACE AND FAUBOURG. C. J. G.<br /> -ISABEL'S SECRET; or, A Sister's Love.<br /> -IVANHOE. Sir Walter Scott.<br /> -KENILWORTH. Sir Walter Scott.<br /> -LÉONIE. Annie Lucas.<br /> -MAUD MELVILLE'S MARRIAGE. E. Everett-Green.<br /> -OLIVE ROSCOE. Evelyn Everett-Green.<br /> -QUEECHY. Miss Wetherell.<br /> -SCHÖNBERG-COTTA FAMILY. Mrs. Charles.<br /> -"SISTER." Evelyn Everett-Green.<br /> -THE CITY AND THE CASTLE. Annie Lucas.<br /> -THE CZAR. Deborah Alcock.<br /> -THE HEIRESS OF WYLMINGTON. Everett-Green.<br /> -THE SIGN OF THE RED CROSS. Everett-Green.<br /> -THE SPANISH BROTHERS. Deborah Alcock.<br /> -THE TRIPLE ALLIANCE. Harold Avery.<br /> -THE UNCHARTED ISLAND. Skelton Kuppord.<br /> -THE WIDE WIDE WORLD. Miss Wetherell.</p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 3em"> -</div> -<p class="center large pfirst">NELSON'S "ROYAL" LIBRARIES.</p> -<p class="center medium pnext">THE EIGHTEENPENCE SERIES.</p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 1em"> -</div> -<p class="left pfirst white-space-pre-line">SECRET CHAMBER AT CHAD. E. Everett-Green.<br /> -SONS OF FREEDOM. Fred Whishaw.<br /> -SONS OF THE VIKINGS. John Gunn.<br /> -STORY OF MADGE HILTON. Agnes C. Maitland.<br /> -IN LIONLAND. M. Douglas.<br /> -MARGIE AT THE HARBOUR LIGHT. E. A. Rand.<br /> -ADA AND GERTY. Louisa M. Gray.<br /> -AFAR IN THE FOREST. W. H. G. Kingston.<br /> -A GOODLY HERITAGE. K. M. Eady.<br /> -BORIS THE BEAR HUNTER. Fred Whishaw.<br /> -"DARLING." M. H. Cornwall Legh.<br /> -DULCIE'S LITTLE BROTHER. E. Everett-Green.<br /> -ESTHER'S CHARGE. E. Everett-Green.<br /> -EVER HEAVENWARD. Mrs. Prentiss.<br /> -FOR THE QUEEN'S SAKE. E. Everett-Green.<br /> -GUY POWERS' WATCHWORD. J. T. Hopkins.<br /> -IN THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. W. H. G. Kingston.<br /> -IN THE WARS OF THE ROSES. E. Everett-Green.<br /> -LIONEL HARCOURT, THE ETONIAN. G. E. Wyatt.<br /> -MOLLY'S HEROINE. "Fleur de Lys."<br /> -NORSELAND TALES. H. H. Boyesen.<br /> -ON ANGELS' WINGS. Hon. Mrs. Greene.<br /> -ONE SUMMER BY THE SEA. J. M. Callwell.<br /> -PARTNERS. H. F. Gethen.<br /> -ROBINETTA. L. E. Tiddeman.<br /> -SALOME. Mrs. Marshall.<br /> -THE LORD OF DYNEVOR. E. Everett-Green.<br /> -THE YOUNG HUGUENOTS. "Fleur de Lys."<br /> -THE YOUNG RAJAH. W. H. G. Kingston.<br /> -WINNING THE VICTORY. E. Everett-Green.</p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 3em"> -</div> -<p class="center large pfirst">NELSON'S "ROYAL" LIBRARIES.</p> -<p class="center large pnext">THE SHILLING SERIES.</p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 1em"> -</div> -<p class="left pfirst white-space-pre-line">ACADEMY BOYS IN CAMP. S. F. Spear.<br /> -ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL. Miss Gaye.<br /> -ESTHER REID. Pansy.<br /> -TIMOTHY TATTERS. J. M. 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