The Light Keepers: A Story of the United States Light-house Service

Then the keeper, while descending the ladder, called softly, as if afraid of frightening his first assistant:

"Hello, Sammy, what seems to be the matter with you?"

"With me?" Mr. Peters repeated in astonishment. "What made you think there was anything wrong?"

"What are you runnin' 'round so after?"

"An' why shouldn't I, if the notion strikes me? Are you afraid I'll do any harm to the rocks?"

"Now don't get excited, Sammy; but it kind'er bothers Uncle Zenas an' me to see you runnin' around as if you'd lost your head."

"Don't look, an' then you won't feel so bad," the first assistant said sharply, as once more he attempted to fasten the strips of board in an upright position, and Captain Eph asked impatiently:

"What are you tryin' to do, Samuel Peters? As the keeper of this 'ere light, I call upon you to explain your actions."

Mr. Peters dropped the sticks and stared at Captain Eph in astonishment while one might have counted ten, and then asked irritably:

"Is there anything in the rules an' regerlations to stop me from nailin' these boards together, an' standin' 'em up on end, if so be it can be done?"

"Not a thing, Sammy, not a thing; but it makes Uncle Zenas an' me feel kind'er bad to see you jumpin' 'round at sich a rate. Does your old wound trouble you any?"

By this time Mr. Peters began to understand somewhat of the fears in the minds of his comrades, and it all seemed to him very comical. He laughed until the tears ran down his cheeks, and his mirth brought on such an attack of coughing that Sidney was really afraid he would be strangled.

"Thought I'd gone crazy, eh?" he cried as soon as it was possible for him to speak. "You an' Uncle Zenas have been figgerin' how you could get me into the hospital, I s'pose? Crazy!" and again the first assistant laughed until he choked and gasped for breath. "Let me tell you, Cap'n Eph, that when I do go off the hooks you won't see me loafin' 'round peaceable as this, for I'll think I'm in front of Petersburg again, an' cut up in a way that you can't call pleasant."

"But what are you tryin' to do, Sammy?" Captain Eph asked eagerly. "What's the meanin' of your runnin' 'round with them strips of board under your arm?"

"I'm tryin' to set up what you might call a frame; but can't find a place to put it."

"But, Sammy, it wouldn't stand against the first wave that ever washed over the ledge!"

"I know that, Cap'n Eph, an' I only want it to hold together till 'bout eight o'clock to-night, an' then it can go drown itself for all I care."

"Now you're talkin' queer, agin, Sammy," the old keeper said in a tone of real concern, and the first assistant replied as he struggled to restrain his mirth:

"Look here, Cap'n Eph, jest try to hold in till eight o'clock to-night, an' then you'll understand all about it. This 'ere is a little surprise of mine, an' I reckon there ain't anythin' in the rules an' regerlations to prevent me from springin' it."

Even Uncle Zenas was convinced by this time that Mr. Peters had not lost any portion of his mind, and Captain Eph returned to the kitchen, where he said, as if having solved some important problem:

"What Sammy bought when he was ashore has got somethin' to do with the surprise he's countin' on givin' us, an' I s'pose we may as well let him have his fling, for he always was a good deal of a boy."

As a matter of fact, so Uncle Zenas afterward told Sidney, Mr. Peters was two years older than Captain Eph, but one might have thought, from the way the others treated him, that the first assistant was a mere child as compared with them.

The cook was brimming over with curiosity as to the nature of the surprise which Mr. Peters had in store for them, and Captain Eph confessed that he was "all in the dark"; but, remembering the shape of some of the packages the first assistant brought with him, and his fear lest they should get wet, Sidney believed he could make a very good guess as to what was coming.

"He sha'n't be the only one on this 'ere ledge who can rig up a surprise," Uncle Zenas finally said. "You two are to get out of this kitchen, an' stay out until after the light is started; when I call you to supper, come runnin', or I'll make considerable trouble."

"This way, Sonny," Captain Eph said with a laugh. "I reckon our place is up-stairs whether they want us to go or not, for there's gettin' to be altogether too much mystery about this 'ere ledge to suit me."

Sidney followed the keeper, and when the two were climbing the stairs, the lad said:

"This must be one of the highest towers the Government ever built, Captain."

"Indeed it isn't, Sonny, not by a long chalk. From the ledge to the light is only one hundred an' twenty feet; but I've got up-stairs an account of the highest tower the Board ever built, an' you shall read it. I ain't tryin' to fill you chock-a-block with facts about light-houses, but when you spring these 'ere questions on me I can't help flashin' up what I know about 'em, which ain't a great deal when you come to simmer it right down."

When the two were once more in the watch-room, the keeper handed Sidney a slip of paper on which was printed the following:

"The tallest skeleton iron tower erected by the United States Light-House Services was at Hell Gate, Astoria, N. Y., in 1883-84. Its height was two hundred fifty-five feet and five-eighths of an inch. It was built in the form of a frustum of a pyramid, and was fifty-four feet square at the bottom and six feet square at the top. It cost $11,000, and showed nine electric lights, each of which was of six thousand candle power. It was designed to illuminate the narrow, intricate, and dangerous channel as by artificial daylight. At night the effect was grand. The tower itself could not be seen, and the lights appeared as if hung from the heavens. It accomplished all that was intended, and more, for the light was so brilliant that it dazzled the eyes of the pilots, and prevented them from seeing objects beyond the circle illumined. The shadows thrown were so heavy that they took the form of obstacles. So the light was discontinued in 1886, at the instance of those who had obtained its establishment. The tower was sold as it stood, for old iron; but it was so strongly built that dynamite had to be used to accomplish its overthrow."

"Captain Eph," Sidney asked as he ceased reading, "what shape is the 'frustum of a pyramid'?"

"Wa'al, Sonny, that 'ere bothered me so much when I first came here, that I studied the thing up in a dictionary the inspector lent me, till I knew all about it. You know what a 'pyramid' is in shape? Wa'al, jest cut off the top, and what's left will be the frustum. It's like a good many other words that puzzle a fellow, mighty simple when you study into 'em."

At this point conversation was interrupted by the sound of angry voices below, and, going to the stairway, Captain Eph shouted:

"What's happenin' down there?"

"It's that 'ere Sammy," Uncle Zenas replied. "He's kickin' up a terrible row out here, an' I wish you'd poke your head through the window so's to make him mind his eye!"

"What's he doin'?"

"Tryin' to get in, an' I've got the door locked."

"Why don't you open it?"

"'Cause he can't come in till supper's ready. He went amblin' 'round the ledge gettin' up his surprise, an' now he'll stay where he is for a spell."

"I declare it does seem as if all hands of this crew had gone crazy since daybreak!" Captain Eph exclaimed as he went to the window.

Opening it he looked out for an instant, and then, his weather-beaten face convulsed with mirth, he said to Sidney:

"Come here, Sonny, an' have a squint at Sammy. I declare he looks jest like a big grasshopper tryin' to crawl up a blade of grass."

After some difficulty, Sidney succeeded in getting a glimpse of Mr. Peters as he stood on the iron ladder in front of the kitchen door, pounding on it vigorously with his fist.

"Ahoy there!" Captain Eph cried as soon as he could control his mirth. "What'er you doin', Sammy Peters?"

"I'm tryin' to get in, that's what I'm doin'!" the first assistant cried angrily. "That pig of a Zenas Stubbs has locked the door in my face!"

"Go down an' 'tend to your surprise, Sammy," the keeper commanded. "Uncle Zenas allows that he's got jest as much right to rig up fool things as you have, an' it looks to me as if the only way was to hold on till he's ready to spring on us whatever he's got."

"How long will that be?" Mr. Peters demanded angrily.

"Till after the light is started for the night, so he told me."

"An' where am I to stay all that time?"

"Crawl inter the boat-house, if you can't do any better, for I allow Zenas Stubbs is standin' on his rights as the second assistant keeper of this 'ere light."