The Lighthouse

by R. M. Ballantyne

  CHAPTER NINE.

  STORMS AND TROUBLES.

  A week of fine weather caused Ruby Brand to fall as deeply in love withthe work at the Bell Rock as his comrades had done.

  There was an amount of vigour and excitement about it, with a dash ofromance, which quite harmonised with his character. At first he hadimagined it would be monotonous and dull, but in experience he found itto be quite the reverse.

  Although there was uniformity in the general character of the work,there was constant variety in many of the details; and the spot on whichit was carried on was so circumscribed, and so utterly cut off from allthe world, that the minds of those employed became concentrated on it ina way that aroused strong interest in every trifling object.

  There was not a ledge or a point of rock that rose ever so little abovethe general level, that was not named after, and intimately associatedwith, some event or individual. Every mass of seaweed became a familiarobject. The various little pools and inlets, many of them not largerthan a dining-room table, received high-sounding and dignified names--such as _Port Stevenson, Port Erskine, Taylor's Track, Neill's Pool_,etcetera. Of course the fish that frequented the pools, and theshell-fish that covered the rock, became subjects of much attention,and, in some cases, of earnest study.

  Robinson Crusoe himself did not pry into the secrets of his island-homewith half the amount of assiduity that was displayed at this time bymany of the men who built the Bell Rock Lighthouse. The very fact thattheir time was limited acted as a spur, so that on landing each tidethey rushed hastily to the work, and the amateur studies in naturalhistory to which we have referred were prosecuted hurriedly during briefintervals of rest. Afterwards, when the beacon house was erected, andthe men dwelt upon the rock, these studies (if we may not call themamusements) were continued more leisurely, but with unabated ardour, andfurnished no small amount of comparatively thrilling incident at times.

  One fine morning, just after the men had landed, and before they hadcommenced work, "Long Forsyth", as his comrades styled him, went to apool to gather a little dulse, of which there was a great deal on therock, and which was found to be exceedingly grateful to the palates ofthose who were afflicted with sea-sickness.

  He stooped over the pool to pluck a morsel, but paused on observing abeautiful fish, about a foot long, swimming in the clear water, asquietly as if it knew the man to be a friend, and were not in the leastdegree afraid of him.

  Forsyth was an excitable man, and also studious in his character. He atonce became agitated and desirous of possessing that fish, for it wasextremely brilliant and variegated in colour. He looked round forsomething to throw at it, but there was nothing within reach. He sighedfor a hook and line, but as sighs never yet produced hooks or lines hedid not get one.

  Just then the fish swam slowly to the side of the pool on which the mankneeled, as if it actually desired more intimate acquaintance. Forsythlay flat down and reached out his hand toward it; but it appeared tothink this rather too familiar, for it swam slowly beyond his reach, andthe man drew back. Again it came to the side, much nearer. Once moreForsyth lay down, reaching over the pool as far as he could, andinsinuating his hand into the water. But the fish moved off a little.

  Thus they coquetted with each other for some time, until the man'scomrades began to observe that he was "after something."

  "Wot's he a-doin' of?" said one.

  "Reachin' over the pool, I think," replied another.

  "Ye don't mean he's sick?" cried a third.

  The smile with which this was received was changed into a roar oflaughter as poor Forsyth's long legs were seen to tip up into the air,and the whole man to disappear beneath the water. He had overbalancedhimself in his frantic efforts to reach the fish, and was now making itsacquaintance in its native element!

  The pool, although small in extent, was so deep that Forsyth, longthough he was, did not find bottom. Moreover, he could not swim, sothat when he reached the surface he came up with his hands first and histen fingers spread out helplessly; next appeared his shaggy head, withthe eyes wide open, and the mouth tight shut. The moment the latter wasuncovered, however, he uttered a tremendous yell, which was choked inthe bud with a gurgle as he sank again.

  The men rushed to the rescue at once, and the next time Forsyth rose hewas seized by the hair of the head and dragged out of the pool.

  It has not been recorded what became of the fish that caused such analarming accident, but we may reasonably conclude that it sought refugein the ocean cavelets at the bottom of that miniature sea, for LongForsyth was so very large, and created such a terrible disturbancetherein, that no fish exposed to the full violence of the storm couldhave survived it!

  "Wot a hobject!" exclaimed Joe Dumsby, a short, thickset, littleEnglishman, who, having been born and partly bred in London, was ratheraddicted to what is styled chaffing. "Was you arter a mermaid,shipmate?"

  "Av coorse he was," observed Ned O'Connor, an Irishman, who wasafflicted with the belief that he was rather a witty fellow, "av coorsehe was, an' a merry-maid she must have bin to see a human spider likehim kickin' up such a dust in the say."

  "He's like a drooned rotten," observed John Watt; "tak' aff yer claes,man, an' wring them dry."

  "Let the poor fellow be, and get along with you," cried Peter Logan, theforeman of the works, who came up at that moment.

  With a few parting remarks and cautions, such as,--"You'd better bring adry suit to the rock next time, lad," "Take care the crabs don't makeoff with you, boy," "and don't be gettin' too fond o' the girls in thesea," etcetera, the men scattered themselves over the rock and begantheir work in earnest, while Forsyth, who took the chaffing in goodpart, stripped himself and wrung the water out of his garments.

  Episodes of this kind were not unfrequent, and they usually furnishedfood for conversation at the time, and for frequent allusion afterwards.

  But it was not all sunshine and play, by any means.

  Not long after Ruby joined, the fine weather broke up, and a successionof stiff breezes, with occasional storms, more or lees violent, set in.Landing on the rock became a matter of extreme difficulty, and the shortperiod of work was often curtailed to little more than an hour eachtide.

  The rolling of the _Pharos_ lightship, too, became so great thatsea-sickness prevailed to a large extent among the landsmen. One goodarose out of this evil, however. Landing on the Bell Rock invariablycured the sickness for a time, and the sea-sick men had such an intenselonging to eat of the dulse that grew there, that they were always readyand anxious to get into the boats when there was the slightestpossibility of landing.

  Getting into the boats, by the way, in a heavy sea, when the lightshipwas rolling violently, was no easy matter. When the fine weather firstbroke up, it happened about midnight, and the change commenced with astiff breeze from the eastward. The sea rose at once, and, long beforedaybreak, the _Pharos_ was rolling heavily in the swell, and strainingviolently at the strong cable which held her to her moorings.

  About dawn Mr Stevenson came on deck. He could not sleep, because hefelt that on his shoulders rested not only the responsibility ofcarrying this gigantic work to a satisfactory conclusion, but also, to alarge extent, the responsibility of watching over and guarding the livesof the people employed in the service.

  "Shall we be able to land to-day, Mr Wilson?" he said, accosting themaster of the _Pharos_, who has been already introduced as thelanding-master.

  "I think so; the barometer has not fallen much; and even although thewind should increase a little, we can effect a landing by the Fair Way,at Hope's Wharf."

  "Very well, I leave it entirely in your hands; you understand theweather better than I do, but remember that I do not wish my men to rununnecessary or foolish risk."

  It may be as well to mention here that a small but exceedingly strongtramway of iron-grating had been fixed to the Bell Rock at an elevationvarying from two to four feet above it, and encircling the site of thebuilding. Th
is tramway or railroad was narrow, not quite three feet inwidth; and small trucks were fitted to it, so that the heavy stones ofthe building might be easily run to the exact spot they were to occupy.From this circular rail several branch lines extended to the differentcreeks where the boats deposited the stones. These lines, although onlya few yards in length, were dignified with names--as, _Kennedy's Reach,Logan's Reach, Watt's Reach_, and _Slight's Reach_. The ends of them,where they dipped into the sea, were named _Hope's Wharf, Duff's Wharf,Rae's Wharf_, etcetera; and these wharves had been fixed on differentsides of the rock, so that, whatever wind should blow, there wouldalways be one of them on the lee-side available for the carrying on ofthe work.

  _Hope's Wharf_ was connected with _Port Erskine_, a pool about twentyyards long by three or four wide, and communicated with the side of thelighthouse by _Watt's Reach_, a distance of about thirty yards.

  About eight o'clock that morning the bell rang for breakfast. Such ofthe men as were not already up began to get out of their berths andhammocks.

  To Ruby the scene that followed was very amusing. Hitherto all had beencalm and sunshine. The work, although severe while they were engaged,had been of short duration, and the greater part of each day had beenafterwards spent in light work, or in amusement. The summons to mealshad always been a joyful one, and the appetites of the men were keenlyset.

  Now, all this was changed. The ruddy faces of the men were becomegreen, blue, yellow, and purple, according to temperament, but few wereflesh-coloured or red. When the bell rang there was a universal groanbelow, and half a dozen ghostlike individuals raised themselves on theirelbows and looked up with expressions of the deepest woe at the dimskylight. Most of them speedily fell back again, however, partly owingto a heavy lurch of the vessel, and partly owing to indescribablesensations within.

  "Blowin'!" groaned one, as if that single word comprehended the essenceof all the miseries that seafaring man is heir to.

  "O dear!" sighed another, "why did I ever come here?"

  "Och! murder, I'm dyin', send for the praist an' me mother!" criedO'Connor, as he fell flat down on his back and pressed both handstightly over his mouth.

  The poor blacksmith lost control over himself at this point and--foundpartial relief!

  The act tended to relieve others. Most of the men were much toomiserable to make any remark at all, a few of them had not heart even togroan; but five or six sat up on the edge of their beds, with a weakintention of turning out. They sat there swaying about with the motionsof the ship in helpless indecision, until a tremendous roll sent themflying, with unexpected violence, against the starboard bulkheads.

  "Come, lads," cried Ruby, leaping out of his hammock, "there's nothinglike a vigorous jump to put sea-sickness to flight."

  "Humbug!" ejaculated Bremner, who owned a little black dog, which lay atthat time on the pillow gazing into his master's green face, withwondering sympathy.

  "Ah, Ruby," groaned the smith, "it's all very well for a sea-dog likeyou that's used to it, but--"

  James Dove stopped short abruptly. It is not necessary to explain thecause of his abrupt silence. Suffice it to say that he did notthereafter attempt to finish that sentence.

  "Steward!" roared Joe Dumsby.

  "Ay, ay, shipmate, what's up?" cried the steward, who chanced to passthe door of the men's sleeping-place, with a large dish of boiled saltpork, at the moment.

  "Wot's up?" echoed Dumsby. "Everythink that ever went into me since Iwas a hinfant must be `up' by this time. I say, is there any chance ofgettin' on the rock to-day?"

  "O yes. I heard the cap'n say it would be quite easy, and they seem tobe makin' ready now, so if any of 'ee want breakfast you'd better turnout."

  This speech acted like a shock of electricity on the wretched men. In amoment every bed was empty, and the place was in a bustle of confusionas they hurriedly threw on their clothes.

  Some of them even began to think of the possibility of venturing on ahard biscuit and a cup of tea, but a gust of wind sent the fumes of thesalt pork into the cabin at the moment, and the mere idea of food filledthem with unutterable loathing.

  Presently the bell rang again. This was the signal for the men tomuster, the boats being ready alongside. The whole crew at once rushedon deck, some of them thrusting biscuits into their pockets as theypassed the steward's quarters. Not a man was absent on the roll beingcalled. Even the smith crawled on deck, and had spirit enough left toadvise Ruby not to forget the bellows; to which Ruby replied byrecommending his comrade not to forget the matches.

  Then the operation of embarking began.

  The sea at the time was running pretty high, with little white flecks offoam tipping the crests of the deep blue waves. The eastern sky wasdark and threatening. The black ridges of the Bell Rock were visibleonly at times in the midst of the sea of foam that surrounded them.Anyone ignorant of their nature would have deemed a landing absolutelyimpossible.

  The _Pharos_, as we have said, was rolling violently from side to side,insomuch that those who were in the boats had the greatest difficulty inpreventing them from being stove in; and getting into these boats hadmuch the appearance of an exceedingly difficult and dangerous feat,which active and reckless men might undertake for a wager.

  But custom reconciles one to almost anything. Most of the men had hadsufficient experience by that time to embark with comparative ease.Nevertheless, there were a few whose physical conformation was such thatthey could do nothing neatly.

  Poor Forsyth was one of these. Each man had to stand on the edge of thelightship, outside the bulwarks, holding on to a rope, ready to let goand drop into the boat when it rose up and met the vessel's roll. Inorder to facilitate the operation a boat went to either side of theship, so that two men were always in the act of watching for anopportunity to spring. The active men usually got in at the first orsecond attempt, but others missed frequently, and were of course"chaffed" by their more fortunate comrades.

  The embarking of "Long Forsyth" was always a scene in rough weather, andmany a narrow escape had he of a ducking. On the present occasion,being very sick, he was more awkward than usual.

  "Now, Longlegs," cried the men who held the boat on the starboard side,as Forsyth got over the side and stood ready to spring, "let's see howgood you'll be to-day."

  He was observed by Joe Dumsby, who had just succeeded in getting intothe boat on the port side of the ship, and who always took a livelyinterest in his tall comrade's proceedings.

  "Hallo! is that the spider?" he cried, as the ship rolled towards him,and the said spider appeared towering high on the opposite bulwark,sharply depicted against the grey sky.

  It was unfortunate for Joe that he chanced to be on the opposite sidefrom his friend, for at each roll the vessel necessarily intervened andhid him for a few seconds from view.

  Next roll, Forsyth did not dare to leap, although the gunwale of theboat came within a foot of him. He hesitated, the moment was lost, theboat sank into the hollow of the sea, and the man was swung high intothe air, where he was again caught sight of by Dumsby.

  "What! are you there yet?" he cried. "You must be fond of a swing--"

  Before he could say more the ship rolled over to the other side, andForsyth was hid from view.

  "Now, lad, now! now!" shouted the boat's crew, as the unhappy man oncemore neared the gunwale.

  Forsyth hesitated. Suddenly he became desperate and sprang, but thehesitation gave him a much higher fall than he would otherwise have had;it caused him also to leap wildly in a sprawling manner, so that he camedown on the shoulders of his comrades "all of a lump". Fortunately theywere prepared for something of the sort, so that no damage was done.

  When the boats were at last filled they pushed off and rowed towards therock. On approaching it the men were cautioned to pull steadily by MrStevenson, who steered the leading boat.

  It was a standing order in the landing department that every man shoulduse his greatest exertions in givi
ng to the boats sufficient velocity topreserve their steerage way in entering the respective creeks at therock, that the contending seas might not overpower them at places wherethe free use of the oars could not be had on account of the surroundingrocks or the masses of seaweed with which the water was everywhereencumbered at low tide. This order had been thoroughly impressed uponthe men, as carelessness or inattention to it might have proved fatal toall on board.

  As the leading boat entered the fairway, its steersman saw that morethan ordinary caution would be necessary; for the great green billowsthat thundered to windward of the rock came sweeping down on either sideof it, and met on the lee-side, where they swept onward withconsiderable, though much abated force.

  "Mind your oars, lads; pull steady," said Mr Stevenson, as they beganto get amongst the seaweed.

  The caution was unnecessary as far as the old hands were concerned; buttwo of the men happened to be new hands, who had come off with Ruby, anddid not fully appreciate the necessity of strict obedience. One ofthese, sitting at the bow-oar, looked over his shoulder, and saw a heavysea rolling towards the boat, and inadvertently expressed some fear.The other man, on hearing this, glanced round, and in doing so missed astroke of his oar. Such a preponderance was thus given to the rowers onthe opposite side, that when the wave struck the boat, it caught her onthe side instead of the bow, and hurled her upon a ledge of shelvingrocks, where the water left her. Having been _canted_ to seaward, thenext billow completely filled her, and, of course, drenched the crew.

  Instantly Ruby Brand and one or two of the most active men leaped out,and, putting forth all their strength, turned the boat round so as tomeet the succeeding sea with its bow first. Then, after makingconsiderable efforts, they pushed her off into deep water, and finallymade the landing-place. The other boat could render no assistance; but,indeed, the whole thing was the work of a few minutes.

  As the boats could not conveniently leave the rock till flood-tide, allhands set to work with unwonted energy in order to keep themselves warm,not, however, before they ate heartily of their favourite dulse--theblacksmith being conspicuous for the voracious manner in which hedevoured it.

  Soon the bellows were set up; the fire was kindled, and the ring of theanvil heard; but poor Dove and Ruby had little pleasure in their workthat day; for the wind blew the smoke and sparks about their faces, andoccasionally a higher wave than ordinary sent the spray flying roundthem, to the detriment of their fire. Nevertheless they plied thehammer and bellows unceasingly.

  The other men went about their work with similar disregard of the furyof the elements and the wet condition of their garments.