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

by Roy J. Snell

  CHAPTER XVI.

  AS IF FROM THE GRAVE.

  After Captain Eph had moved into his own room it became necessary, as amatter of course, to carry his food up to him, and when the first mealhad been served by Sidney, and eaten by the old keeper without any verygreat evidence of enjoyment, he said to the lad:

  "What's to hinder your messin' with me, Sonny? I didn't realize howkind'er lonesome it was goin' to be up here alone, an' Sammy will becompany enough for Uncle Zenas."

  "I'll be glad to do it, sir, if the others won't think that I don't wantto stay with them."

  "I'll 'tend to that part of it," the keeper said sharply. "Things are ata pretty pass if I've got to be shoved up here all by myself, an' can'tcall on any one to sit with me!"

  "You wouldn't be up there, Ephraim Downs, if hadn't been for your ownpig-headedness!" Uncle Zenas called from below, and Captain Ephwhispered 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 healin 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, whenyou know Sammy an' I were both set against it!" and Uncle Zenas' tonewas what might truthfully be called "vinegary."

  "Hello down there!" Mr. Peters called from the lantern, and, running tothe 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 Ican make out, there are two men aboard, but they don't seem to have herin hand very well."

  "A dory from the east'ard," the old keeper repeated, he having heard thefirst assistant's report. "There's likely to have been trouble out thatway, Sonny, for the most venturesome fishermen who ever lived wouldn'tbe abroad in this blow unless somethin' had gone wrong. Tell Sammy tokeep his eye on 'em."

  Sidney repeated the instructions as Captain Eph had given them, and asmile 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 idjutwould have sense enough for that!"

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

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

  "That's a mighty bad habit Sammy has got. You can't rightfully say thathe's makin' back talk; but he chews over a lot of words that kind'erriles 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 couldnot hope to learn anything more than Mr. Peters had already reported.

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

  Sidney took the glasses, and after Mr. Peters had pointed out thedirection 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 ofsomething which might be human beings.

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

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

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

  The argument was not convincing to the lad; but since there was nothinghe could say against it, he returned to make his report to the keeper.

  "Ay, Sammy is right," Captain Eph said thoughtfully when Sidneyexplained what could be seen. "It must be some poor fellows who havebeen blown away from their vessel while settin' trawls, or hand-linefishin'. 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 arebreaking 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 handin some way. Tied up as I am, it would be out of the question even topass 'em a rope if they were right under the window. Bring down theglasses, 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 carryingout the latter portion of the order, and when everything had been donein accordance with his wishes, the old keeper, seated in front of theopen window regardless of the chilling wind, gazed intently at the tinyobject so far away, in which might be human beings sorely needingassistance.

  "They should be close aboard the ledge within an hour," Captain Eph saidhalf 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 hetried 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' havelikely parted company with their vessel in a fog--"

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

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

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

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

  "It'll be a case of seein' the poor creeters perish right under ournoses!" he exclaimed. "What with Cap'n Eph so lame that he can't standon 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 muchsufferin' may heave in sight."

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

  The first assistant was standing near the lens, looking into the glassintently, 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 ithadn't anything to do with what is in my mind. I was tryin' to figgerhow we might lend a hand if that 'ere dory strikes the ledge, as Ireckon she will."

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

  "I ain't so certain 'bout that, though I'll admit that a man couldn'tkeep his footin' there, an' 'tend to much of anything else; but the tideis 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 ofCarys' 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 backnow."

  Mr. Peters did not attempt to detain the lad; he was so deeply engrossedwith the problem which presented itself, that it made little differencewhether 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 shestrikes the ledge, sir."

  "I kn
ew 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 heartswells out till it's too big for his body. He never counts the danger ifthere'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'salive, for I saw him climb over the for'ard thwart. I allow they'rehopin' 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 thedory might have no living freight, and now he grew literally sick withfear. It would be far more horrible for the men to be thrown up on theledge 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, whichcould 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 toinsist on gettin' inter this room!"

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

  "If I'd staid in the kitchen where I belonged, we could have rigged ablock 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 thatwould reach from the tower, well down inter the water."

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

  "With the loose end, well padded so's it wouldn't cut, belayed jestunder your arms, there'd be a good chance for you to go well inter thesurf, seein's how Uncle Zenas an' I could haul you out all right; butthe 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 myback, 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 madethe painful attempt; but he was quite as eager to lend the sufferers ahelping hand as was the first assistant, and Sidney was astounded by therapidity 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 hecould have done without a burden.

  Uncle Zenas cried out in alarm at the sudden appearance of the firstassistant with the keeper on his back, and when Mr. Peters had loweredhim 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, EphraimDowns," Uncle Zenas cried scornfully. "We're two poor old cripples whocan'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'mreckonin' that both you an' I can lend a hand. Hold on an' see whatSammy is doin'."

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

  Opening the window which looked toward the west, he shoved the timberthrough, pulling it across the aperture on the outside of the tower, andthere making it fast.

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

  By the time he had made the block fast to the timber, Uncle Zenas beganto 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 setin your ways. Sammy can stray off quite a bit from the tower, with us tolook after him."

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

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

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

  This seemed a reasonable precaution, and Captain Eph knotted the paddedrope around the first assistant's body, after which the windowoverlooking the eastern side of the ledge was opened, and Mr. Petersclambered up on the sill.

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

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

  "It's a good plan, Uncle Zenas," Captain Eph said approvingly; "but Iallow that Sammy stands a chance to get more or less skin scraped off ofhim 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 oftime to patch him up. Sonny, s'pose you get the glasses, an' keep youreye 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 bythe stove while the water, unheeded by Uncle Zenas, ran in streams fromhis 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 towardthe ledge; but by the aid of the glasses the lad could make out plainlythe forms of the two occupants, one of whom appeared to be crouching inthe bow with his head above the rail as if watching, while the other laywithout movement in the stern.

  "She couldn't make a better course for this 'ere ledge if the bestsailor who ever walked a plank was steerin' her," Captain Eph said as helooked seaward. "She'll strike nearabout the cove, an' the question iswhether 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 tothose fellows, if so be the dory strikes anywhere near where we'reexpectin'," Mr. Peters said as he came toward the window. "We won't behavin' any too much time, if I start now," and he stepped out of thewindow, clutching the sill until the two at the rope were ready to lowerhim away.

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

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

  Tossing on the crest of a wave, and then disappearing entirely in thetrough of the sea, the dory pitched and staggered onward, coming asstraight 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 todrag the other to his feet; but it was as if he clutched one from whomlife had already departed, and, with a gesture of despair, he wentforward to the extreme bow.

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

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

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

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

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

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

  "He's got one of 'em! He's got one, an' what's more, the little runtlooks 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 gentlyafter a time lest their comrade be dragged too roughly across the jaggedrocks, Mr. Peters staggered to his feet as he held close to his breastthe 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 theslack!" Captain Eph cried, and, raising his voice, he shouted as thewind lulled for an instant, "What about the other one, Sammy?"

  "He was the same as dead before the boat struck, so this fellow tellsme, leastways, I didn't see anything of him," Mr. Peters replied as hestaggered onward toward the tower, and when he reached the base it couldbe 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 strengthenough left to make himself fast," Mr. Peters replied, and a momentlater he gave the word, "Haul away!"

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

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

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

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

  "Are you Sidney Harlow?"

  "Hold hard, matey!" Captain Eph said, shaking the rope as if to attractthe 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 muchtongue-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 onlysound keeper we've got on this 'ere light freeze to death on youraccount."

  The stranger clambered over the window-sill, unfastened the rope fromhis body, and flung the free end down to Mr. Peters, after which he tookSidney'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 tolook at. Again and again I yelled while you were cruising aroundexpecting 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 myselfup for lost; but within an hour two fishermen in a dory blunderedalong, and took me to their vessel three or four miles away. There wasno such thing as finding the _West Wind_ while the sea was covered withfog so thick that it could almost be cut with a knife, and I've servedan apprenticeship as fisherman, eating my heart out because the skipperwouldn't put into port until he had a full fare."

  Then Mr. Sawyer, one-time mate of the schooner _West Wind_, liftedSidney in his arms as if he had been a baby, and covered his face withkisses, while Captain Eph and Uncle Zenas, regardless of the shiveringfirst assistant on the rocks below, stared at the two in open-mouthedastonishment.

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

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

  "If you people are countin' on spinnin' yarns, don't you think it wouldbe a good idee to pull me in where I wouldn't freeze to death quite sosoon?" Mr. Peters cried from the ledge beneath the window. "I don'twant 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 Ephcried in a tone of contrition. "He must be chilled clean through to thebone by this time. Haul in, Uncle Zenas, an' stand by for squalls whenhe gets here, 'cause his temper ain't of the best jest now, an' there'sgood reason for losin' it."

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

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

  "What on earth do you mean, Sammy?"

  "I was only tryin' to figger the thing out, 'cause after we've saved allhands belongin' to the _West Wind_, it will be a shame to let theschooner drift around instead of haulin' her up on the ledge," andhaving said this Mr. Peters slowly ascended to his own room that hemight 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 thathe can wear, Sonny? By the time he's made a change, Uncle Zenas willhave 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 whenthe two had disappeared from view Uncle Zenas said solemnly:

  "The ocean does cut some queer capers now an' then; but the queerestI've ever heard of is that both them who left the _West Wind_ in themotor 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 betwo mighty lucky old men, Uncle Zenas."