The Light Keepers Part 19

If Captain Harlow had cruised around in the hope of picking up the motor boat, he was quite as likely to be in the vicinity of Carys' Ledge, as else-where, and not until Sidney had a.s.sured him that there was no gun on board the _West Wind_, did Captain Eph entirely dismissed the matter from his mind.

As a matter of fact, at that very moment Mr. Peters and Uncle Zenas were discussing such a possibility, the cook insisting that it was only reasonable to suppose Captain Harlow would stand off and on in the vicinity of where Sidney's boat had last been seen, until there was no longer any chance the lad could be afloat.

"Of course Sonny's father would know how much gosolene there was in the boat's tank," Mr. Peters finally said, hoping to convince himself that the appeals for aid had not come from the _West Wind_, "an' he'd understood that the craft, if she was kept at sea, would be swamped mighty soon after the power gave out."

"I reckon you're right, Sammy," Uncle Zenas said with a sigh, "an' yet if yonder vessel is of any size, I can't make out why she should be near this ledge, unless it was a case of huntin' for something."

And as the crew of the light-house thus discussed the possibility that the signals of distress might have a terrible meaning for the lad whom they had learned to love so well, the new day came slowly, revealing a wind-lashed sea which rolled angrily over the ledge as if striving to compa.s.s the destruction of the tower, while a dense veil of fleecy particles, blown into wreaths and clouds by the gale, enveloped the light-house as by a fog.

Captain Eph extinguished the beacon light, and as he did so it seemed to Sidney that in some way the light keepers had deserted those who were battling for life amid the icy waters.

"The light can do the poor creatures no good, Sonny," the old keeper said as if he read the thought in the boy's mind, "for since daybreak they couldn't even see the reflection of it on the snow."

"And you haven't been able to so much as think how we might help them?"

Sidney asked in tremulous tones.

"Look down on the ledge, Sonny, an' say whether, even if it was possible to lend a hand, we could get outside?" Captain Eph replied as he pointed to the window, and after the lad obeyed he drew back with a faint cry of terror.

The sea so entirely covered the rocks that nothing could be seen save the huge waves which broke into foam as they rolled over the ledge, or beat against the tower with a thunderous roar.

"I can't even see the boat-house!" he said at length, and the old keeper replied:

"No, Sonny, there's little chance of that at this time of the tide while the wind comes with sich force from the east'ard."

"And my boat?"

"I reckon you may as well count that gone, for she wasn't built to stand sich poundin' as she's been gettin' this last hour. Don't feel bad, Sonny, for the best craft that was ever launched ain't of much account as compared with a single human life. When the tide goes down we may be able to get outside, if so be there's anything to be done; but I've known of our bein' shut in here by the sea a full week, with only now an' then a glimpse of the ledge."

Then it was that the boom of the gun could be heard, for the first time since the day broke, and Captain Eph said in a voice tremulous with emotion:

"They're still alive, Sonny, an' their vessel is holdin' together, else it wouldn't have been possible for 'em to fire the gun; but I ain't certain as we should be thankful for it, 'cause it only means that they'll be the longer comin' to the end."

"And you don't think there is any hope for them?"

"I can't see where it'll come from, Sonny. Only the One who 'holds the waters in the hollow of His hand' can help 'em now," and, flinging his arm around the boy's shoulder, the old keeper prayed fervently that those who were in such sore distress might be comforted and upheld in their time of trouble.

Then it was that Mr. Peters came into the lantern, stepping softly as one involuntarily does in the presence of the dead, and began his work of cleaning the lens, speaking never a word, but looking out of the windows from time to time as if hoping he might get a glimpse of that which he feared to see.

On this morning Uncle Zenas did not call his comrades to breakfast from below; but ascended the stairway until it was possible to look into the lantern, when he said in a subdued tone:

"Everything's ready when you want to eat, an' I'm allowin' that all hands had better have a bite whether they feel like it or not, for there may be work to be done on the reef when the tide goes down."

"I reckon you're right, Uncle Zenas, though it seems as if food would choke me," Captain Eph replied as he led Sidney toward the stairway.

"Come on, Sammy, we're bound to go through the motions, if nothin'

more."

Once while they were pretending to eat, the report of the gun was heard faintly, and Sidney shrank from the sound as if he had received a blow, while Mr. Peters ran quickly to the window, although knowing full well that nothing could be seen because of the driving snow.

"I never think I'd like to be in the life-savin' service except at sich a time as this," he said as he returned to the table. "Even if the crew can't really do anything, there must be a good deal of satisfaction in makin' a big fight for it; but to be shut in a place like this, knowin'

what's goin' on outside, gets on to a man's nerves worse'n anything I ever struck. A hot battle ain't a marker alongside of it."

No one made reply, and when the pretense of a meal was at an end Captain Eph went back to the lantern, Sidney following close at his heels. There the old keeper and the boy did a great deal of unnecessary work in order to keep their hands employed, and at short intervals strove to peer through the blinding whirl of snow.

After a time, how long Sidney would have been unable to say, so slowly did the moments pa.s.s, Mr. Peters cried from the kitchen:

"We can get on to the ledge now, an' I'm goin' to see what damage has been done."

Captain Eph looked hurriedly out of the window to make certain the first a.s.sistant was correct in his statement, and then shouted:

"Hold on a bit, an' I'll go with you."

"Am I to stay here?" Sidney asked wistfully.

"You can stay anywhere in the tower you please; I can't let you go with us, for not only is the footin' bad; but the tide hasn't got down so far that a wave doesn't sweep clean over the ledge every now an' then."

Sidney followed the keeper into the kitchen, and when they arrived there Mr. Peters was clad in his oil-skins, while Uncle Zenas was sewing on the coat he intended for Sidney's use, as if his very life depended on finis.h.i.+ng it within a short time.

"Now don't do anything rash," Uncle Zenas said warningly as Captain Eph began to put on waterproof clothing. "It'll be a big temptation to make a try for the poor creeters; but you've been put here to look after the light, an' if it didn't burn to-night more than one s.h.i.+p's crew might lose their lives in consequence."

"We'll be cautious, Uncle Zenas," the keeper said in a low tone; "but there ain't overly much need for your warnin', because I don't know of the least little thing we can do."

Then the kitchen door was opened, and on the outside of that a shutter of iron, which must have been put on during the night, since Sidney had not seen it before, after which Mr. Peters descended the ladder cautiously, followed by the keeper.

By looking out of the window, it was possible for Sidney to follow with his eyes the movements of the men while they remained near the base of the tower, and he understood by their gestures that the motor boat had been destroyed.

Then Mr. Peters opened the door of the boat-house, not without considerable difficulty, and the dory was pulled out until Sidney could see her bow. As a matter of course she was uninjured, because of being protected from the force of the waves; but she was filled with water, and this the two men removed by tipping her partially over.

At that moment the report of the gun was heard again, and Mr. Peters ran down toward the narrow cove where the spray was flung high over his head, standing there in a listening att.i.tude while Captain Eph scrambled across the rocks to the western side of the ledge.

[Ill.u.s.tration: MT. DESERT ROCK.]

"I knew both them men had the same idee in mind when they went out, an' it didn't make any difference how much I said agin it!" the cook cried impatiently, and Sidney asked in bewilderment:

"What do you mean by that, Uncle Zenas? What did they have in their minds?"

"The idee of tryin' to reach the wreck, if there was anything to be heard from the poor creeters after the tide went down so's they could get at the dory."

"Do you mean that they will try to launch the boat while the waves are breaking over the ledge?"

"If they wasn't up to something of the kind, why would Cap'n Eph be prowlin' 'round here to the lee'ard?"

"I can't see why that has anything to do with their trying to help the people who have been wrecked," Sidney said in perplexity.

"Why, he's lookin' 'round to see what kind of a chance he can find for launchin' the dory! He's crazy, dead crazy! Of course I know how wild he is at bein' obleeged to stay here idle when people are bein' drowned before our very eyes, even though we can't see 'em, for I feel the same way; but he an' Sammy will be only givin' up their own lives in tryin'

anythin' of the kind."

It surely seemed as if Uncle Zenas had spoken no more than the truth.

The sea was running as high as at any time since daybreak, and Sidney could not believe that any small boat, however skilfully she might be handled, could live for a moment in such a swell.