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

"You wouldn't be up there, Ephraim Downs, if hadn't been for your own pig-headedness!" Uncle Zenas called from below, and Captain Eph whispered to the lad: "I never thought he could hear me, else I wouldn't have spoken so loud, for he's terrible kind of fretty since his wounds are beginnin' to heal in good shape," and he added in a louder tone to the second assistant, "I reckon I can make talk to Sonny, if I want'er, without your mixin' your tongue in, eh?"

"I'll mix in jest as often as you tell 'bout bein' shoved up there, when you know Sammy an' I were both set against it!" and Uncle Zenas' tone was what might truthfully be called "vinegary."

"Hello down there!" Mr. Peters called from the lantern, and, running to the foot of the stairs, Sidney answered the hail.

"Tell Cap'n Eph there's a dory comin' in from the east'ard. As nigh as I can make out, there are two men aboard, but they don't seem to have her in hand very well."

"A dory from the east'ard," the old keeper repeated, he having heard the first assistant's report. "There's likely to have been trouble out that way, Sonny, for the most venturesome fishermen who ever lived wouldn't be abroad in this blow unless somethin' had gone wrong. Tell Sammy to keep his eye on 'em."

Sidney repeated the instructions as Captain Eph had given them, and a smile overspread his face as he heard Mr. Peters mutter irritably:

"Keep my eye on 'em? I'd like to know what else I can do? Any idjut would have sense enough for that!"

"What's he sayin'?" the keeper asked sharply.

"Nothing more than talking to himself, I guess," Sidney replied, and Captain Eph retorted:

"That's a mighty bad habit Sammy has got. You can't rightfully say that he's makin' back talk; but he chews over a lot of words that kind'er riles a man, 'specially when he hasn't really got a right to find fault. Go up an' see what you can make out, Sonny."

Sidney obeyed promptly, although feeling quite confident that he could not hope to learn anything more than Mr. Peters had already reported.

"There's trouble of some kind out yonder," the first assistant said when he handed the glasses to the lad, "an' the worst of it is, that with both Cap'n Eph an' Uncle Zenas under the weather, we've got to sit still an' see those poor fellows drift past us while we're suckin' our thumbs."

Sidney took the glasses, and after Mr. Peters had pointed out the direction in which he should look, it was possible to see now and then, as she rose on the crest of a wave, a dory in which was a mass of something which might be human beings.

"Can you see 'em?" Mr. Peters asked impatiently, after Sidney had gazed in silence several moments.

"Yes; but I'm trying to make out why you should think that dark stuff may be men."

"Because the craft must have belonged to a fisherman, Sonny, an' they don't very often let their boats go adrift. Then agin, what else could be in her but men?"

The argument was not convincing to the lad; but since there was nothing he could say against it, he returned to make his report to the keeper.

"Ay, Sammy is right," Captain Eph said thoughtfully when Sidney explained what could be seen. "It must be some poor fellows who have been blown away from their vessel while settin' trawls, or hand-line fishin'. Is the dory comin' straight for the ledge?"

"That's the way it looks now, sir."

"An' here I am tied down like a log!" Captain Eph cried bitterly.

"What could be done if you were in good condition, sir? The waves are breaking over the ledge, and the boat-house is nearly under water."

"I know all that, Sonny, an' yet there might be a chance to lend a hand in some way. Tied up as I am, it would be out of the question even to pass 'em a rope if they were right under the window. Bring down the glasses, an' help me move around near the window, where I can look out."

It was necessary for Sidney to ask Mr. Peters to assist him in carrying out the latter portion of the order, and when everything had been done in accordance with his wishes, the old keeper, seated in front of the open window regardless of the chilling wind, gazed intently at the tiny object so far away, in which might be human beings sorely needing assistance.

"They should be close aboard the ledge within an hour," Captain Eph said half to himself, "an' it looks as if she might strike near about here, unless them as are on board can pull her around so's to pass it."

"Do you really think there are men in her, sir?" Sidney asked, as he tried in vain to see the distant object without the aid of glasses.

"That I'd be willin' to swear to, Sonny, though how much life may be in 'em is another matter. They're fishermen, that's certain, an' have likely parted company with their vessel in a fog – "

"What's goin' on up there?" Uncle Zenas cried from below. "It seems as if you'd struck somethin' out of the common, else you're makin' a good deal of talk 'bout nothin'."

"You'd better run down an' tell him what's in sight, Sonny," the old keeper whispered. "Uncle Zenas is one of them fretty men that can't seem to wait with any show of patience when they think anything 'special is goin' on."

"What's the matter?" came in tones of impatience from the kitchen. "Have you all gone crazy?"

"I'm comin' down to tell you about it," Sidney cried, and a moment later the second assistant's face paled as he learned that human beings who stood in sore need of aid were probably near at hand.

"It'll be a case of seein' the poor creeters perish right under our noses!" he exclaimed. "What with Cap'n Eph so lame that he can't stand on more'n one leg, an' me laid up through bein' pretty nigh broiled, this 'ere crew ain't in shape to lend a hand, no matter how much sufferin' may heave in sight."

Mr. Peters had gone into the lantern after helping the lad move Captain Eph, and, because he found it difficult to remain in any one place very long at a time, Sidney went up to him.

The first assistant was standing near the lens, looking into the glass intently, and Sidney asked in surprise:

"What's the matter? Anything wrong there?"

"Not a bit, Sonny; I was tryin' to figger somethin' out."

"Has it to do with the lens, that you are looking at it so sharply?" Sidney asked, and Mr. Peters wheeled suddenly around as he replied:

"I declare I don't know why my eyes happened to be on that, for it hadn't anything to do with what is in my mind. I was tryin' to figger how we might lend a hand if that 'ere dory strikes the ledge, as I reckon she will."

"You couldn't even stand on the rocks, while the sea is running as it is now."

"I ain't so certain 'bout that, though I'll admit that a man couldn't keep his footin' there, an' 'tend to much of anything else; but the tide is ebbin' now, an' it'll be within an hour of low water by the time that 'ere dory gets here. I'm thinkin' you'll be able to see quite a bit of Carys' Ledge by that time. Has Cap'n Eph made out anything new?"

"I didn't stop to ask him when I came up, and I may as well go back now."

Mr. Peters did not attempt to detain the lad; he was so deeply engrossed with the problem which presented itself, that it made little difference whether he was alone, or surrounded by the entire crew.

When he entered the keeper's room Captain Eph asked sharply:

"What's Sammy doin'?"

"Trying to figure out how he can help those who are in the dory, if she strikes the ledge, sir."

"I knew he was up to somethin' of that kind! Sammy may be pig-headed an' irritable at times, but let anything like this come up, an' his heart swells out till it's too big for his body. He never counts the danger if there's a show for helpin' them as are in trouble."

"He asked if you had made out anything new, sir."

"There's no question about men bein' in the dory – two of 'em, an' one's alive, for I saw him climb over the for'ard thwart. I allow they're hopin' the boat will drift this way, believin' we can pick 'em up."

Until this moment there had been a faint hope in Sidney's heart that the dory might have no living freight, and now he grew literally sick with fear. It would be far more horrible for the men to be thrown up on the ledge when nothing might be done to aid them, than when the Nautilus foundered, for then the sufferers could not be seen.

He had turned away that he might not look out upon the cruel sea, which could be so calm and smiling at times, when Captain Eph said suddenly:

"Tell Sammy to come down here. Oh, if I hadn't been so stubborn as to insist on gettin' inter this room!"