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

When the runaway craft had been hauled up on the rocks beyond reach of the tide, and unloaded, the old keeper and Sidney set about carrying out their part of the bargain; but nearly an hour was spent before the motor had been stowed aboard the cat-boat to the satisfaction of all concerned.

While the visitor was working his boat out of the cove, Captain Eph said to Sidney:

"Run into the kitchen an' get your coat. Tell Uncle Zenas why we're goin' out, an' skip lively, for Sammy won't have any idea the tinker was here jest when we most needed him, an' will be in a terrible stew, thinkin' there's no way for him to get off the shoal."

Sidney obeyed promptly; but it was necessary to answer Uncle Zenas' eager questions, and fully five minutes more were spent before the rescuers could set off.

The cook came down to the cove before the dory had been pushed out, and the expression on his face told that he was very anxious regarding the safety of the first assistant.

"You ought'er started the very minute the dory was picked up, Ephraim Downs!" he cried. "It ain't no ways certain that the poor fellow didn't tumble out of the boat, an' has been swimmin' 'round ever since!"

"I'll go bail that Sammy never tumbled over-board," Captain Eph replied cheerily as he pulled the dory around until she was headed toward the east. "He's too good a sailor to do a trick like that; but I reckon he hasn't been any too comfortable in mind since the boat drifted away."

Then, when they were beyond sound of Uncle Zenas' voice, the old keeper muttered, as if to convince himself:

"Of course nothin' has happened to Sammy, beyond losin' the boat; but I do wish Uncle Zenas wouldn't do quite so much croakin'. Jest because he was set agin the wreckin', he'll be conjurin' up all sorts of terrible things that might have happened, an' Sammy won't have the pleasantest time that ever was, when he gets back."

"How do you suppose the dory got adrift?" Sidney asked, not knowing what else to say, and beginning to feel a bit nervous.

"That's what beats me. I'd never thought Sammy could be so careless, but it seems that he was."

Then Captain Eph pulled vigorously and in silence, Sidney steering to the best of his ability with one of the heavy oars, and the little craft rose and fell with an uneasy motion on the rising sea.

"There's the wreck!" Sidney cried as he swung the dory around, and Captain Eph turned quickly to look, as he asked huskily:

"See anythin' of Sammy?"

"He must be under the forecastle deck working, and perhaps doesn't know that the boat went adrift," Sidney replied, as he searched in vain with his eyes for some sign of the first assistant.

There was an expression of deepest anxiety on Captain Eph's face as he labored yet more energetically at the oars; but not a word was spoken until the dory was as near the hulk as was safe while the waves were running so high.

Then it was the old keeper shouted again and again at the full strength of his lungs, Sidney growing pale with fear as the hail remained unanswered.

"He ain't there, Sonny, he ain't there!" Captain Eph cried in a tearful tone as he turned toward the lad.

"But where can he be?" Sidney cried in an agony of fear.

"The good Lord knows, an' we'll pray that He may guide us toward him!" the keeper said as he raised his sou'wester reverentially. "It's our business to find out what has happened, if so be we can. I reckon we'd best pull 'round to the other side of the hulk, an' if needs be I'll go aboard."

"Are you afraid he may have got hurt, an' can't answer the hail?" Sidney asked in a tremulous voice.

"There's somethin' wrong, an' we'll hope that he's on board, with the breath of life yet in his body."

Then Captain Eph swung the dory around, and, ordering Sidney to take a pair of oars, made ready to board the hulk on the northerly side.

"Pull in till I sing out, an' then back water the best you know how," he said sharply. "It's a risky piece of business to board her with a lad like you at the oars; but I'd take bigger chances by a good bit, rather than go away without searchin' this 'ere hulk."

It was no more than natural that the lad should be frightened by the muttered words, and he was trembling violently as he obeyed the command.

"Fair an' softly, Sonny!" Captain Eph cried. "Don't get worked up over what may all turn out to be the simplest kind of a simple matter, an' keep your wits about you. Now! Back water for all you're worth!"

As he spoke the keeper had leaped for the shattered timbers of the hulk, and not daring to turn his head in order to see if a landing had been effected safely, Sidney threw all his strength on the oars, until the burden on his mind was lifted by hearing Captain Eph's cheery cry, which told that no accident had befallen him:

"Way enough, Sonny! Hold her as she is a minute!"

Sidney did not dare venture to turn his head lest the wind should swing the little craft around where the waves might throw her against the hulk; but worked at the oars to hold her as nearly in one position as possible, until he heard Captain Eph cry again:

"Now pull in, Sonny; but stand by to stop her mighty sudden when you get the word. Way enough! Keep her steady! One more stroke! Back! Back the best you know how!" and at the instant Sidney put all his strength on the oars, the dory rocked to and fro violently as Captain Eph leaped aboard.

An instant later and the keeper was pulling the little craft around, while Sidney clambered astern to his former seat.

"You didn't find anything, sir?" the lad asked timidly.

"No, Sonny, meanin' that Sammy wasn't there; but he's left signs enough to show he made into a raft sich timbers as he could get at, which gives us the biggest kind of a hope, for I'm allowin' he was on the raft when the dory went adrift."

"Would he be carried out to sea, sir?"

"This wind ought'er sent him toward the mainland, an' it's in that direction we must look for him."

It was quite natural Sidney should suppose Captain Eph would set off on the search without delay; but to his surprise the keeper ordered him to steer for the ledge, and at the same time keep a sharp lookout for anything in the shape of a raft.

"Why are we going back to the light, sir? Do you think he may have drifted in there?"

"Not a bit of it, Sonny. He must have pulled the raft clear of the wreck, an' then, when well off the shoal, stepped on it to make some of the timbers fast. In which case the wind would take him clear of Carys' Ledge."

"Then why don't we pull in the direction you think he may have gone?"

Instead of answering the question, Captain Eph asked abruptly: "Think you'd have any trouble in lightin' the lamp an' startin' the clock, Sonny?"

"I could do that much all right, I am positive."

"Then I'm goin' to leave you in charge while Uncle Zenas an' I go after Sammy. It ain't anyways likely we shall be away till after sunset; but there's allers the chance; an' no one can say how fast his raft may be travelin'."

"You don't want me in the boat with you?" Sidney asked tremulously.

"No, Sonny, an' for two mighty good reasons. The first is that it's goin' to blow hard inside of an hour, an' I'll need Uncle Zenas at one pair of oars. Then agin, the place is not to be left alone, no matter what straits we are in. Sammy would be the first to say we mustn't try to help him if it can't be done without takin' the risk of showin' no light at sunset. You'll be safe on the ledge, an' that's what I'm thinkin' about."

The temptation to beg that he might go to the rescue with Captain Eph, leaving the cook to care for the light, was very great; but he succeeded in holding his peace, knowing that it was not for him, at such a time, to make any change in the plan the keeper had formed.

"I'm allowin' we may have to pull eight or ten miles before catchin' the poor fellow, an' it'll be hard work in a heavy sea, so Uncle Zenas must do his share."

It was not necessary to spend any time warning the second assistant of what had been learned. Uncle Zenas was at the head of the cove when they pulled in, and in the fewest possible words Captain Eph made him acquainted with the situation.

"Get in, Uncle Zenas. Sonny will take care of the light, if so be we're called on to go further than now seems likely."

"An' I sent the poor fellow off without any breakfast!" the cook said tearfully, as he clambered aboard the boat with a certain eagerness which told how anxious he was to have a share in the rescue. "If I had only been half-way decent when he asked for somethin' to eat!"

"Keep your upper lip stiff, Sonny!" Captain Eph cried as he pulled the dory around. "By stayin' to care for the light you're doin' a good deal more towards findin' Sammy, than if you went with us in the boat. You can watch us best by goin' inter the lantern with the glasses."