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

Sidney was considerably mystified by these last words; but he hastened to obey the command, and when the first assistant came down-stairs Captain Eph said hurriedly:

"If I'd staid in the kitchen where I belonged, we could have rigged a block to a bar across the outside of the west window, an' by overhaulin' all the spare line in the store room, have enough to make a tackle that would reach from the tower, well down inter the water."

"Yes, but what then?" Mr. Peters asked breathlessly, understanding that the keeper was eager to do something toward saving life.

"With the loose end, well padded so's it wouldn't cut, belayed jest under your arms, there'd be a good chance for you to go well inter the surf, seein's how Uncle Zenas an' I could haul you out all right; but the trouble is that I'm up here, an' he's down there."

"I can fix all that in a shake," Mr. Peters cried excitedly. "Get on my back, an' if I don't have you down there in short order, it'll be owin' to a stroke of hard luck."

Under almost any other circumstances the old keeper would not have made the painful attempt; but he was quite as eager to lend the sufferers a helping hand as was the first assistant, and Sidney was astounded by the rapidity with which the change was made.

Mr. Peters had not waited for Captain Eph to prepare for the move; but, swinging the old man's arms over his shoulders, he half-pulled, half-hoisted him on his back, running down the stairs as swiftly as he could have done without a burden.

Uncle Zenas cried out in alarm at the sudden appearance of the first assistant with the keeper on his back, and when Mr. Peters had lowered him into a chair, Captain Eph said grimly, striving to repress a groan:

"We had to come, Zenas, for we count on bein' ready for that 'ere dory, if so be she drifts in here."

"You look about as fit as I am for anything of that kind, Ephraim Downs," Uncle Zenas cried scornfully. "We're two poor old cripples who can't even help ourselves."

"I ain't so certain 'bout that, Uncle Zenas," the keeper said cheerily, for the hope of aiding others had brightened him up wonderfully. "I'm reckonin' that both you an' I can lend a hand. Hold on an' see what Sammy is doin'."

Mr. Peters had not waited to hear the conversation, but, immediately after depositing the keeper in a chair, had hastened to the store room, returning a moment later with a short length of joist and some seizing stuff.

Opening the window which looked toward the west, he shoved the timber through, pulling it across the aperture on the outside of the tower, and there making it fast.

A second visit to the store room, and he returned with a small pulley block, and a large quantity of rope about the size of that used on vessels as heaving-lines.

By the time he had made the block fast to the timber, Uncle Zenas began to have some idea of the plan, and he cried approvingly:

"You've got a great head, Ephraim, an' I reckon that's why you're so set in your ways. Sammy can stray off quite a bit from the tower, with us to look after him."

"Yes, an' the tide is fallin'," Mr. Peters added as he continued his work of making ready by taking off his coat and vest, and wrapping one end of the line with an old coat.

"There's no need of your goin' out yet a while, Sammy," Captain Eph said as he noted the first assistant's movements.

"I was allowin' that we'd better give the contrivance a try while we had time, so's to make certain it would work smooth."

This seemed a reasonable precaution, and Captain Eph knotted the padded rope around the first assistant's body, after which the window overlooking the eastern side of the ledge was opened, and Mr. Peters clambered up on the sill.

The keeper and Uncle Zenas, sitting near each other, hauled the line taut as it ran through the block, and when Mr. Peters swung himself off the sill of the window, they lowered him slowly to the rocks below.

Sidney, standing near by, could see the first assistant as he went boldly into the surf, and, as the waves carried him from his feet, the two men in the kitchen readily pulled him backward and upward until it was possible for him to regain his footing.

"It's a good plan, Uncle Zenas," Captain Eph said approvingly; "but I allow that Sammy stands a chance to get more or less skin scraped off of him if we're called upon to do the job in a hurry."

"He won't know it until the job is done, an' then we'll have plenty of time to patch him up. Sonny, s'pose you get the glasses, an' keep your eye on the dory."

When Sidney returned to the kitchen with the glasses in his hand, Mr. Peters had just been hauled up through the window, and was standing by the stove while the water, unheeded by Uncle Zenas, ran in streams from his garments to the floor.

It was now possible to see the oncoming dory plainly with the naked eye, for she was hardly more than a mile away, and drifting rapidly toward the ledge; but by the aid of the glasses the lad could make out plainly the forms of the two occupants, one of whom appeared to be crouching in the bow with his head above the rail as if watching, while the other lay without movement in the stern.

"She couldn't make a better course for this 'ere ledge if the best sailor who ever walked a plank was steerin' her," Captain Eph said as he looked seaward. "She'll strike nearabout the cove, an' the question is whether Sammy can get that far before bein' knocked down."

"Don't be in too big a hurry to pull me out, an' I'll get mighty near to those fellows, if so be the dory strikes anywhere near where we're expectin'," Mr. Peters said as he came toward the window. "We won't be havin' any too much time, if I start now," and he stepped out of the window, clutching the sill until the two at the rope were ready to lower him away.

Sidney no longer held the glasses to his eyes. It was possible to see everything plainly by this time, and, breathing heavily because of his excitement, the lad watched intently the movements of the boat, which now seemed to be close upon the rocks.

The man in the bow was standing up, having seen Mr. Peters' descent from the window, and understanding how a rescue was to be effected, if indeed such should prove to be the case.

Tossing on the crest of a wave, and then disappearing entirely in the trough of the sea, the dory pitched and staggered onward, coming as straight as an arrow for the tower, despite the plunging and rolling.

The man in the bow stepped toward the stern and appeared to be trying to drag the other to his feet; but it was as if he clutched one from whom life had already departed, and, with a gesture of despair, he went forward to the extreme bow.

Mr. Peters had made his way over the rocks to the very line of surf, and stood there until the moment should come for the supreme effort, while Uncle Zenas and Captain Eph watched his every movement closely, prepared to slacken the rope or haul in as should be necessary when the battle with the waves was begun. Nearly in the center of the room, but where he could see all that took place, Sidney stood, his eyes fixed on the boat while his hands were clenched as if by much straining of the muscles he might aid in the coming struggle.

Then the dory was raised high in the air by a huge comber, and Mr. Peters ran swiftly forward, knowing when that crest of water fell, the frail craft would be dashed upon the rocks.

There was an instant of agonizing suspense, and then the brave light keeper was lost to view amid the swirl of water and foam.

While one might have counted ten, neither men nor boat could be distinguished in the turmoil, and then came a sudden jerk on the line as the undertow carried Mr. Peters seaward, when Captain Eph shouted hoarsely:

"Haul! Haul for your life, Zenas!" and Sidney grasped the line, putting forth all his strength with the keepers, that their comrade might the more quickly be drawn to the surface.

The strain upon the rope seemed to be enormous; it was quite as much as the three could do to gather in any of the length, and Captain Eph was muttering half to himself that the line was not sufficiently large to bear the weight, when Uncle Zenas cried excitedly:

"He's got one of 'em! He's got one, an' what's more, the little runt looks as if he was all right. Sammy Peters isn't anybody's fool, an' that's a living fact!"

Now the rope came in more readily, and as the three hauled, more gently after a time lest their comrade be dragged too roughly across the jagged rocks, Mr. Peters staggered to his feet as he held close to his breast the man whose life he had saved at the peril of his own.

"The waves won't bother him now; don't do any more than take in the slack!" Captain Eph cried, and, raising his voice, he shouted as the wind lulled for an instant, "What about the other one, Sammy?"

"He was the same as dead before the boat struck, so this fellow tells me, leastways, I didn't see anything of him," Mr. Peters replied as he staggered onward toward the tower, and when he reached the base it could be seen that he was unfastening the rope from his body.

"What's goin' on now?" Captain Eph demanded.

"I'll send this man up first, for I ain't sure as he has got strength enough left to make himself fast," Mr. Peters replied, and a moment later he gave the word, "Haul away!"

"Stand by to fend off, Sonny," Uncle Zenas cried, and just as Sidney stepped to the window in obedience to the command, the head of the rescued man appeared above the sill.

Sidney screamed shrilly as if in terror, and the stranger gave every evidence of fear while he seemed to shrink back, until Captain Eph cried sharply:

"What's the matter with you, Sonny? Why don't you bear a hand? There's nothin' to be afraid of; you've seen sailors who were in worse shape than he is."

"It frightened me because he looked so much like Mr. Sawyer," the lad said hesitatingly as he went to the window again, and the stranger cried hoarsely:

"Are you Sidney Harlow?"

"Hold hard, matey!" Captain Eph said, shaking the rope as if to attract the rescued man's attention. "I don't allow that it's the proper time, while you're strung up here on the end of a line, to do very much tongue-waggin', leastways, if it is, I'd rather somebody else held turn. Shin in, an' be quick about it, for we can't afford to let the only sound keeper we've got on this 'ere light freeze to death on your account."