The Light Keepers Part 12

"I'm lookin' for clear weather to-morrow," Mr. Peters said as if he expected to be contradicted, and much to his surprise the keeper said promptly:

"So am I. 'Cordin' to the way I figger it out, the wind'll haul to the west'ard when the tide turns, an' this smother will be well out to sea by sunrise."

"An' s'posin' it all turns out as you predict, what about our goin'

ash.o.r.e?" Mr. Peters asked.

"I'll agree to it if it so be Uncle Zenas is willin' to keep s.h.i.+p alone," the keeper replied. "If the wind _does_ haul 'round, it won't be any great hards.h.i.+p if you an' the cook turn out an hour earlier than usual, so's we can get the lantern put to rights early."

"You can call all hands at three o'clock, so far as I'm concerned,"

Uncle Zenas interrupted, "an' then I'll be so far along with my end of the work that I can give you a lift in the lantern."

"I don't reckon there's any great need of turnin' out quite so early as that; but Sammy might wake me an hour sooner than usual, so's he could get somethin' of a nap, an' we'll make it all hands 'bout four o'clock."

And thus it was arranged when Sidney went to bed, hoping most fervently that he might waken in time to share the watch with Captain Eph; but it so chanced that he did not open his eyes until nearly three o'clock next morning, much to the disappointment.

He hurried into the watch-room as soon as possible, however, and there found the keeper studying over the drawing he had made for the purpose of showing how the rays of light were "bent."

"What are you doing, sir?" Sidney asked laughingly.

"Tryin' to figger this thing out so's to understand it myself," the captain replied grimly. "I put it to you same's I'd heard the inspector talk, but what puzzles me is why the light should go toward the thick end of the prism any quicker than the other way."

Captain Eph had before him all the books of the library which might aid in the work, and Sidney found the problem so interesting that it seemed as if he had no more than begun before Uncle Zenas' voice was heard from the room below, as he said petulantly:

"It strikes me if I was standin' watch I'd know when it was four o'clock. How do you ever expect to get off on your voyage early, Ephraim Downs, if you can't keep better run of the time than this?"

"All right, Uncle Zenas, all right! If you'll call Sammy we'll get our odd ch.o.r.es done up before sunrise," the keeper cried, and the cook replied:

"He'd ought'er be awake by this time; I've turned him clean over twice, an' count on pullin' him out bodily if he don't make some kind of a move before I count five."

The sound of a heavy body striking the floor below told that Mr. Peters had "moved," and Sidney cried in surprise:

"If you'll believe it, I'd almost forgotten that we might go ash.o.r.e this morning. Has the fog cleared away?"

"Every blessed drop of it went to sea when the tide turned, jest as I allowed; but I got so mixed up about the lens that it went straight out'er my mind. Now it's a case of gettin' things inter shape with a hustle."

Sidney went into the kitchen, believing he could be of more service there than anywhere else, and, thanks to the will with which the crew worked, the start was made in considerably less than an hour after sunrise.

"Lay in all the stores that you've got on the list, for there's no knowin' when you'll have another chance." Uncle Zenas cried as, the voyagers having taken their places, he pushed the bow of the boat out from the rocks.

Sidney reversed the screw until the little craft was clear by the ledge, and then sent her ahead at a fair rate of speed, Captain Eph acting as helmsman.

"There's some sense in goin' ash.o.r.e this fas.h.i.+on," Mr. Peters said as he lay back in the bow, resting his head on his hands. "If we had a craft like this, I'd feel like takin' a day off every once in a while; but when a man is obleeged to pull a lumberin' old dory a dozen miles or more, it don't seem like takin' much of a rest."

"You go ash.o.r.e as much as is good for you, Sammy," Captain Eph said gravely. "I don't approve of gallivantin' 'round very much, an' it ain't sich a great spell since you was off duty three whole days."

"That was more'n two years ago," Mr. Peters replied in an injured tone.

"Wa'al, I'll agree it was, an' what do you want? To go away every time the moon changes? If you do, it would be a good idee to look up a different job from tendin' one of the most important lights on this 'ere coast."

Sidney, fearing lest the keeper and his a.s.sistant might come to sharp words on the subject of vacations, put an end to the dispute by proposing to show how fast the boat could run when all the power was applied; but Captain Eph had no desire to try experiments.

"Fair an' softly, Sonny, is the best. I've never had much to do with this kind of a craft, an' shouldn't feel overly easy to know you was tryin' to shove her, for n.o.body can tell what may happen. Let her go along easy-like, 'cause we've got time enough an' to spare 'twixt this an' sunset."

Therefore it was that the boat was kept down to two-thirds the speed which could readily have been maintained, and at the end of two hours she had arrived at a little settlement which to Sidney looked very small and mean; but to Captain Eph and Mr. Peters was almost a metropolis.

When the boat had been made fast to the dock, and the first a.s.sistant had clambered ash.o.r.e, the keeper whispered in Sidney's ear:

"I reckon, Sonny, you'll see a good many things you'd like to have, an', comin' away from the schooner as you did, it ain't likely you've got any great amount of money with you. Now jest take this, an' then you can hold your end up with Sammy, for I expect he'll try to make a terrible big showin' when we go into the shops."

"I don't want a thing, sir, indeed I don't," Sidney replied as he squeezed the old keeper's hand, but without taking the silver pieces which were in it. "Mr. Peters can make all the showing of money he likes, and it won't make me feel queer."

"But I'd rather you was kind of independent, Sonny, an' it would do me a heap of good if you took it."

Sidney began to understand that Captain Eph would consider it a privilege to supply him with money, and he compromised the matter by saying:

"There isn't a thing that I would be likely to want, sir; but if I should see anything, I'll ask you to buy it for me."

"Will you really an' truly, Sonny?"

"Indeed I will, sir," the lad replied, and then the two joined Mr.

Peters on the wharf.

The first a.s.sistant led the way up through the one street of the settlement as if he believed the new uniform he wore would cause a great deal of excitement, and he was, in fact, the center of attraction while he remained on sh.o.r.e, for even the children of the village had heard of the three old cronies who kept the light on Carys' Ledge, holding to their duties so closely as to visit the mainland no oftener than once in two or three years.

Captain Eph, with the list of wants in his hand, stopped at the shop in which was the post-office, where he mailed the report with strict injunctions to the postmaster to "see that it left town the first thing in the mornin'," and then began purchasing the supplies, stopping every now and then to ask Sidney in a whisper if he "hadn't seen something he wanted."

Mr. Peters had a little list of his own, much to the surprise of the keeper, who had supposed that all the purchases were to be made from the common purse, and it was not until nearly noon that the business was finished.

The postmaster gave the three customers an urgent invitation to take dinner with him; but Captain Eph pleaded that it was of the utmost importance they get back to the ledge before dark, and at once began to carry his stores to the wharf.

The motor boat was well loaded when the last package had been put on board, and Mr. Peters, who seemed bent on keeping his goods separate from the others, said as he stowed them snugly in the bow:

"I reckon it's well we didn't buy anything more, else we'd had to make two trips in order to carry 'em all. Uncle Zenas will keep himself busy for the next two months cookin' up fancy dishes, 'cordin' to the stuff he ordered. I thought one spell you was goin' to clean the shop out."

"I bought what we agreed on yesterday, an' reckoned that made up the lot; but it seems you wasn't satisfied," Captain Eph said, much as if he was accusing the first a.s.sistant of some misdemeanor.

"Oh yes I was; everything you had on the list hit me to a T, for I'm willin' to stand my part of the expense if Uncle Zenas wants to spread himself as a cook, 'cause I can eat my full share three times every day," and Mr. Peters indulged in a gurgling spell, such as always caused Sidney considerable alarm.

"Then what did you need that the rest of us mustn't know anything about?" Captain Eph asked sternly. "When Sonny an' me saw that you wanted to be so terrible private over what you was buyin', we went out on the sidewalk, so's to let you have your fling."

"Yes, I noticed that," Mr. Peters replied, as he continued to stow his goods in the bow with the utmost caution, as if they might be injured in case the motor boat s.h.i.+pped a little water; but he did not make any explanations.

"When you get through fiddlin' with your--whatever it is you bought--we'll get under way," and Captain Eph spoke sharply, as if he was irritated, whereupon Sidney took his station in front of the motor, ready to start the screw when the word should be given; but before the first a.s.sistant could reply, even if he had been intending to do so, the postmaster came down on the wharf, moving at a rapid pace as if his business was urgent.

"I reckon you wanted that letter to go in the next mail, eh?"

"Sure, an' there mustn't be any mistake about it, for it's my official report, an' n.o.body knows what might happen to the Light-House Board if it didn't get to the inspector on time."

"When you was at the store I forgot to ask if anythin' had gone wrong over on the ledge. It kind'er seemed as if there was somethin' out'er the reg'lar, else you wouldn't be in sich a pinch to send a report," and the postmaster looked inquiringly from one to the other.