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

"Ah, Sonny. She'd struck the shoal jest as I allowed, an' had driven up on the rocks till the fo'c'sle deck was well out'er water, else never one of the crew would have lived to talk about it. She was a big barkentine – nigh to a thousand tons, I should say – breakin' up mighty fast when we got there, with only four men left on deck, an' they so covered with ice an' snow that you wouldn't have taken 'em for human beings. They had a small gun, sich as is used for signalin', lashed to the capstan; but were past firin' it when we hove in sight."

"How was it possible to get on board?" Sidney asked.

"That was what we couldn't do, Sonny. The cap'n of the vessel was the only one able to give us any help, an' all we could do was to run down under the lee of the wreck, trustin' to their jumpin' aboard as we passed, for it stands to reason we couldn't hold the dory in any one place many seconds, except at the cost of havin' her stove."

"Now don't you think, Sonny, that it didn't need some mighty fine work to do what Cap'n Eph's tellin' about so quiet-like," Mr. Peters interrupted. "There ain't another man on this whole coast who could have done the trick, an' I'm willin' to confess that my heart was in my mouth pretty much all the time."

"Sammy did his full share of the work, Sonny, an' did it like a little man," the old keeper said, continuing his story as if there had not been any interruption. "The first time we ran down, the captain of the wrecked vessel tossed one of the men aboard us, for the poor fellow was so far gone he couldn't help himself. The second trip we got another passenger in the same way, an' the third venture, which was nigh bein' the last of our work, owin' to an ugly sea catchin' us when we were within four or five feet of the wreck, the other two men jumped aboard."

"An' by that time we had a full cargo, I can tell you," Mr. Peters said, determined to relate his share of the story. "We had shipped a barrel of water while gettin' down there, an' when both the men jumped into the dory at the same minute, she had all any craft could swim under."

"The two men who had life enough left in 'em to bear a hand, bailed the water out while Sammy an' I pulled at the oars the best we knew how," Captain Eph continued, "an' when she was lightened a bit, they got out the second pair of oars. Of course the wind helped us mightily, when we was homeward bound; but at the same time considerable work was needed to fetch her in safe. That's all there was to the rescue, Sonny, an' I reckon Sammy an' I are feelin' a good deal better than if we'd hung 'round here listenin' to the gun without liftin' a hand."

"You're brave men, the bravest that ever lived, as Uncle Zenas said this forenoon," Sidney whispered, and Captain Eph looked up quickly at his second assistant as he asked sharply:

"What right have you got to fill Sonny's head with sich stuff as that, Zenas Stubbs? I've seen you do plenty of bigger things in front of Petersburg, an' never yet felt called upon to say you was so terribly brave!"

"It's nobody's business what I said to Sonny when you two idjuts was away," Uncle Zenas said snappishly. "I didn't tell him then what I will now – that you're both the most pig-headed, opinionated old shell-backs that ever wheedled the Government into appointin' 'em to the charge of a light-house!"

Having thus expressed himself so forcibly, the cook went down-stairs as if suddenly attacked by a fit of the sulks, and Captain Eph whispered in Sidney's ear:

"Now wouldn't you think he was a cross-grained old curmudgeon? Wa'al, he ain't, an' his heart is jest as big as his body. It's what you might call second nature for him to tear 'round when we don't get into the kitchen the very minute he has the food on the table; but, bless you, neither Sammy nor I pay any attention to what he says."

"It's gettin' well on to sunset," Mr. Peters suggested, "an' I was so mixed up this mornin' that I ain't willin' to swear the work in the lantern was done 'cordin' to the rules an' regerlations. It won't do any harm to have a look at the lamp."

"Go ahead, Sammy, though I'm allowin' that we did our duty as keepers before we started out to help them poor creeters," and Captain Eph followed his first assistant, while Sidney kept close at the latter's heels.

So far as the lad could judge, there was no decrease in the strength of the wind, nor could he see anything to betoken the end of the gale, yet Captain Eph confidently announced that the "backbone of the blow was broken," and the weather would be fair next morning.

"I hope you're right, Cap'n," Mr. Peters said, as he examined critically the apparatus, "for it ain't dead sure that we mightn't fetch away from the wreck quite a lot of stuff that would come in handy to us now an' then."

"That may be, Sammy; but the question is whether we'd get enough to pay us for pullin' the dory out there an' back while the sea is runnin' high."

Now, for the first time since the keepers returned from their dangerous errand of mercy, did Sidney think of the motor boat, and he asked concerning her.

"She's stove for good this time, Sonny," Mr. Peters replied, "an' if we hadn't gone ashore in her jest when we did, all my work would have been thrown away. I'm allowin' that you'd have hard work to find two of her timbers; but the motor lays there on the rocks in what I'd call pretty fair shape, considerin' how it was ripped out of her."

"I wouldn't waste many tears on her, Sonny, for, take it all in all, we've come out of this 'ere gale a good deal better than we had any right to expect," Captain Eph said, as if believing the lad would feel badly because his boat had been destroyed.

"Don't think I'd be so foolish as that, sir," Sidney said with a laugh. "Of course I'd rather we had her whole and sound; but she didn't begin to be of as much value in a place like this, as the dory, and if we had put her into the house, taking your boat out, those poor fellows down-stairs would not now be alive."

"That's the way to look at it, Sonny," Captain Eph cried cheerily. "Now we'll start the light, an' then be ready for Uncle Zenas' call. I reckon he'd expect us to come down when supper was ready, even if the kitchen was stacked full of half-drowned sailors."

As if in answer to the keeper's remark, Uncle Zenas' head appeared just above the floor at the head of the stairs, and he said in a hoarse whisper:

"Two of your shipwreckers are hoppin' 'round down there lively as chickens; but the others are still asleep. What 'ere we doin' to do 'bout supper?"

"I reckon we'd better have it the same as usual, Uncle Zenas," the keeper replied. "It won't do any harm if them as are still in bed get wakened, for they're likely needin' food as much as sleep."

"Then the sooner you get into the kitchen an' go to eatin' the better it'll be for me. I've got work enough on hand, what with sewin' an' cookin', without havin' the table in the middle of the floor all night."

"If a fat man who claims to be cook on this 'ere ledge would get off the stairs so's we could pass, them as have to do all the work while he's loafin' 'round might get their meals in better season," Mr. Peters cried as he attempted to crowd past Uncle Zenas, and the latter hurried down to the kitchen muttering as if he was beside himself with rage.

When Sidney reached the kitchen all the rescued men were awake, and their captain was introducing them to the crew of the light-house.

"This is Henry Clark, second mate of the barkentine Nautilus," he said as the man who had assisted in rowing the dory ashore stepped forward. "Carl Bragg and Thomas Cutler were of the crew, and are both able seamen. I was in command of the ship, and my name is Benjamin Nutter."

Then Captain Eph introduced himself and crew, including Sidney, and added when that formality was at an end:

"I reckon you're needin' somethin' hot to eat, an' the sooner you tackle what Uncle Zenas has cooked up, the better he'll be pleased."

The rescued men did not delay in acting upon what was a suggestion rather than an invitation, and instead of simply asking a blessing upon the food, Captain Eph offered a fervent prayer of thanksgiving because the crew of Carys' Ledge light had been permitted to save the lives of their fellows.

During the conversation which ensued while the meal was in progress, Captain Nutter explained that his compasses were to blame for the wreck, since, had they shown true, the Nautilus would have been nearly an hundred miles to the southward of where she struck. Then, suddenly, he asked:

"Is that lad one of your crew?"

"Wa'al," Captain Eph replied slowly, "we've begun to think he is, though I don't reckon we can hold him with us very long. He came ashore in a fog storm – "

"His father is Captain Harlow of the schooner West Wind!" Captain Nutter cried quickly.

"Ay, that's who he is," the keeper replied in surprise; "but how do you happen to know it?"

"Because I spoke the West Wind two days ago. She had been cruising around in search of the missing boat, and was only just put on her course again when I met her. Captain Harlow asked me to have the fact of the lad's being adrift in a motor boat inserted in all the leading newspapers, offering a reward to any one who could give information concerning the boy. He is bound for San Juan, and thence to Cadiz."

It was only natural that Sidney should be in the highest degree excited and delighted at thus hearing directly from his father; but an expression of disappointment came over his face as he heard the keeper's question and Captain Nutter's reply:

"How long is he likely to be gone on such a voyage as that?"

"Of course very much depends upon the length of time he is forced to remain in port discharging and loading; but it is safe to reckon on its being ended inside of a year. In the meantime, as I understood him to say, his owners will advance whatever money the boy may need."

"A year!" Sidney exclaimed ruefully.

"A year!" Captain Eph cried in delight, and Mr. Peters asked anxiously:

"Think you'd be able to stick it out on Carys' Ledge that long, Sonny, or will you go ashore the first chance that offers?"

"I'd rather stay here than anywhere else," Sidney replied; "but if the owners of the West Wind are to pay for my board, perhaps they may claim the right to say where I shall live."

"That is easily arranged if you want to stop here, lad," Captain Nutter said. "Write a letter to your father, explaining matters, and there is no doubt but he will prefer that you stay where it may be the most agreeable."

"But no one can say when I may be able to send a letter ashore, sir," Sidney replied in perplexity.

"Get it ready, lad, and I will see that it is mailed without delay. The keeper will be so eager to rid himself of four men, that, as soon as the weather permits, you will see us pulling to the mainland in the dory."

"He's right, Sonny; we're bound to set him ashore as soon as it may be done, an' I'll write to your father myself, tellin' him what we old shell-backs are willin' to do for the sake of keepin' on Carys' Ledge a little shaver whom we're mighty glad to have with us. Of course you'd rather go to him; but since he's arranged for you to stay ashore, I hope you'll want to stop with us."

"Indeed I shall, Captain Eph, and if we can mail our letters very soon, perhaps I may hear from father before he leaves Porto Rico."