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

The stranger clambered over the window-sill, unfastened the rope from his body, and flung the free end down to Mr. Peters, after which he took Sidney's face in both his hands, as he asked again:

"Are you Sidney Harlow?"

"Of course I am; but you can't be Mr. Sawyer?"

"Why not, lad?"

"Because he was drowned. I saw him sink!"

"Ay, lad, but he came up within reach of the wreckage we went out to look at. Again and again I yelled while you were cruising around expecting to see me come to the surface near where I had disappeared; but you didn't hear me, and then the fog shut down again. I gave myself up for lost; but within an hour two fishermen in a dory blundered along, and took me to their vessel three or four miles away. There was no such thing as finding the West Wind while the sea was covered with fog so thick that it could almost be cut with a knife, and I've served an apprenticeship as fisherman, eating my heart out because the skipper wouldn't put into port until he had a full fare."

Then Mr. Sawyer, one-time mate of the schooner West Wind, lifted Sidney in his arms as if he had been a baby, and covered his face with kisses, while Captain Eph and Uncle Zenas, regardless of the shivering first assistant on the rocks below, stared at the two in open-mouthed astonishment.

"Do you mean to tell me you're the sailorman who fell out of the motor boat, leavin' Sonny alone?" the old keeper cried as soon as the stranger had ceased caressing the lad.

"I'm the same one," Mr. Sawyer replied with a laugh, "an' it surely seems as if I wasn't born to be drowned, for this is the second time I've been rescued when the chances were big against me; but how does it happen that Sidney is here, and where is the West Wind?"

"If you people are countin' on spinnin' yarns, don't you think it would be a good idee to pull me in where I wouldn't freeze to death quite so soon?" Mr. Peters cried from the ledge beneath the window. "I don't want to be fussy; but I'd rather be behind the stove than out here."

"I declare if I hadn't forgot all about poor little Sammy!" Captain Eph cried in a tone of contrition. "He must be chilled clean through to the bone by this time. Haul in, Uncle Zenas, an' stand by for squalls when he gets here, 'cause his temper ain't of the best jest now, an' there's good reason for losin' it."

Two minutes later Mr. Peters clambered through the window, looking around for a moment, and then he said that which gave his comrades to understand that he had heard all Mr. Sawyer said:

"I'm wonderin' how big a schooner I could pull inter the cove, if I hadn't anybody but two blessed old cripples to help me," and Uncle Zenas asked in surprise:

"What on earth do you mean, Sammy?"

"I was only tryin' to figger the thing out, 'cause after we've saved all hands belongin' to the West Wind, it will be a shame to let the schooner drift around instead of haulin' her up on the ledge," and having said this Mr. Peters slowly ascended to his own room that he might put on dry clothing.

This served to remind Captain Eph that Mr. Sawyer needed some attention, and he said to Sidney:

"S'pose you take the mate up-stairs, an' give him anything of mine that he can wear, Sonny? By the time he's made a change, Uncle Zenas will have plenty of hot coffee, which I reckon he'll be glad to drink."

Sidney did as he was bidden, the mate following at his heels, and when the two had disappeared from view Uncle Zenas said solemnly:

"The ocean does cut some queer capers now an' then; but the queerest I've ever heard of is that both them who left the West Wind in the motor boat should have drifted in here to Carys' Ledge."

And Captain Eph replied in quite as grave a tone:

"If this last one brings us as much comfort as the first has, we'll be two mighty lucky old men, Uncle Zenas."

CHAPTER XVII

THE INSPECTOR

Sidney told the story of his rescue to Mr. Sawyer, while the two were up-stairs selecting such articles from Captain Eph's wardrobe as the mate needed, and dwelt at length on the care and affection which the light-house crew had bestowed upon him.

When they descended to the kitchen again a substantial meal was set before the rescued sailor, and after it had been eaten, he explained how he chanced to be adrift in the dory with neither food nor water.

He, with one of the men from the fisherman, had been sent out to set trawls, and while they were thus engaged a white squall struck them. To make any effort at battling against it was out of the question, and they allowed their boat to drift before it, doing no more than to keep her head on to the seas, believing the fishing schooner would be able to pick them up.

Their story was not unlike the many which we read of from time to time, among the disasters to the fishing fleet. During the remainder of that day, and all the night, they scudded before the wind, and when morning came, with nothing to be seen on the angry waste of waters, they exhausted themselves in the effort to row the dory back whence they came, believing the schooner had been hove to.

When another night approached they were no longer able even to guide the boat. Both suffered bitterly with thirst and hunger, and as the wind continued to blow with great fury, it looked as if they were doomed to a lingering death, with but the faintest hope of a rescue. Mr. Sawyer's companion gave up the unequal struggle in despair, refusing to raise a hand in his own behalf.

"From that moment," Mr. Sawyer said as he concluded the sad story, "he remained aft in the bottom of the boat, and I was unable to arouse him. How long we drifted after that, I cannot rightly say; but when I saw you making preparations to aid us, I tried to pull him to his feet, that he might be in shape to help himself in some slight degree. I believe he was already dead, and, knowing that I could not get ashore through the surf burdened with his lifeless body, I gave no further heed to him. Even as it was, I came near drowning Mr. Peters, for the two of us were rolled over and over half a dozen times before you pulled us to our feet, and then I was so dazed that but for his grip on my collar I must have fallen back into the surf."

"If Sammy once got hold of you it was a case of your comin' out," Uncle Zenas said with a laugh. "He's so stubborn that nothin' short of bein' really choked to death would have made him give up."

Then the conversation turned upon the possibilities of Mr. Sawyer's being able to gain the mainland, and before it had come to an end Mr. Peters and Sidney were forced to go into the lantern to light the lamp.

Captain Eph was determined to return to his own room, and once more he was half-dragged, half-carried up-stairs; but this time the task was accomplished with less pain to him because of the assistance Mr. Sawyer was able to give.

Next morning the wind showed signs of abating, and the old keeper predicted that within eight and forty hours it would be possible to make a landing on the ledge.

"Then we shall see the tender again, if it so be the inspector wants to get some word to us, an' you can go back in her," Captain Eph said as if there was no question in his mind as to what would happen; and Mr. Sawyer asked concerning Sidney's plans for the future.

The lad himself explained that he proposed to remain on the ledge, unless his father should send instructions to the contrary, and Mr. Sawyer said in a matter-of-fact tone:

"I'll tell the captain how comfortably you are situated here, and even if he has made arrangements for you to go else-where, there's little doubt but that he'll change them."

"Do you expect to see father very soon?" Sidney asked in surprise.

"Ay, lad, if I can get ashore, and am lucky enough to find a vessel ready to sail for Porto Rico, I'm hopin' to get there before he leaves. I'd offer to take you with me; but in case my plan shouldn't work exactly as I've figgered, you would be in a bad fix."

"Sonny had better stay where he is," Captain Eph said emphatically, and Uncle Zenas added:

"We couldn't let him go while two of us are crippled, for we wouldn't be able to run the light without him."

Before night came the wind and sea had so far subsided that there was no longer any question about its being possible for the tender to send a boat ashore in case she came out to the reef within the next twenty-four hours, and Mr. Peters and Sidney worked like beavers to put the interior of the tower in the best possible shape for the reception of visitors.

When another day dawned the weather was all the veriest fresh-water sailor could have asked for, save that the sea still ran in long, heavy swells which might have caused any but seasoned sailors considerable discomfort, and from the time breakfast had been eaten all hands kept watch for the approach of the steamer.

It was Captain Eph who first saw her in the distance, and he said, after making known the fact that she was heading for the ledge:

"The inspector must have got it into his head that things have been goin' wrong in this 'ere tower, else he'd never come so soon again jest to bring a message from Sidney's father."

There is no need of saying that all hands were considerably excited by the time the little steamer slowed down on the western side of the ledge that a boat might be lowered, and Mr. Peters said, as he and Sidney went to the cove that they might meet whosoever was coming ashore:

"There's no sense of our gettin' into a stew before hand, Sonny. If so be we've done wrong without knowin' it, we'll hear about it soon enough, an' if it's a message from your father, there ain't any call to feel bad. Wa'al, I declare, if that ain't the inspector himself gettin' into the boat!" the first assistant added as he saw the officer. "This ain't the time for his reg'lar visit, an' I reckon we're goin' to be overhauled in great shape, though what it can be about beats me!"

Five minutes later the small boat was entering the cove, and a kindly-faced gentleman in the stern-sheets cried out:

"Well, Mr. Peters, I hear that the crew of this light have been distinguishing themselves. So that is the new assistant you have taken on?" and he nodded toward Sidney. "How are Captain Downs and Mr. Stubbs getting on?"

"Uncle Zenas is so he can 'tend to the cookin' all right, sir; but he can't amble 'round very lively. Cap'n Eph is likely to be lame quite a spell yet."

"Who is the stranger in the doorway?" and the inspector looked curiously toward the tower.