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

"I'm the keeper of this 'ere light, ain't I?"

"You are for a fact," Mr. Peters replied meekly.

"Well, that bein' the case, Sammy, after I've entered in the watch book an account of his comin' here, an' set down the fact that I count on keepin' the lad till somebody comes to claim him, I reckon it's nobody's business but mine an' the United States Government's. He's here, an' here he stays, unless the inspector says he must be turned adrift, in which case I'll go with him."

Having thus settled the matter so far as he and the Government were concerned, Captain Eph began to drink his coffee in as leisurely a manner as if the lantern had already been cared for according to the "rules an' regerlations."

CHAPTER II

SIDNEY HARLOW

For the first time since Ephraim Downs had been appointed keeper of Carys' Ledge light, was the work in the lantern left undone until after the crew had eaten breakfast, and also for the first time had the second assistant failed of having an appetizing meal served in a proper manner.

It was, as Mr. Peters afterward said, as if the "rules an' regerlations had been trampled in the mire," owing to the arrival of one small boy.

No sooner, however, had the poor apology for a breakfast been eaten than Captain Eph suddenly awakened to a full realization of the situation, and then he stormed at his assistants as if they were wholly at fault because the regular routine had been broken in upon.

"It strikes me, Sammy," the keeper began when he had eaten the last morsel of johnny-cake, and washed it down with the last mouthful of coffee, "that instead of loafin' around this 'ere kitchen, you'd better be in the lantern, else the inspector may get it into his head that the good of the service demands that a new assistant keeper be appointed for Carys' Ledge."

Mr. Peters looked in speechless astonishment, first at Captain Eph, and then at Uncle Zenas, after which he held up both hands as if in token of his bewilderment, and went slowly toward the stairway.

"An' I'd also like to know why this 'ere kitchen looks as if it was ridin' out to a fair?" Captain Eph continued sharply. "There's got to be a change 'round here mighty soon, or I'll court-martial this whole idle crew."

Uncle Zenas' face flushed a deeper red, if indeed that could be possible, as he said slowly:

"I've studied the rules an' regerlations ever since I was so misfortunate as to be appointed second assistant keeper of this 'ere light, an' so far I haven't found anything laid down agin answerin' the keeper back when he tries to ride over a man. I allow you're in command of the lantern, Captain Eph; but I've got some rights all to myself here in the kitchen, an' there's goin' to be trouble if them as belong up-stairs interfere while I'm 'tendin' to my reg'lar duties."

Then Uncle Zenas began to bustle around, as if every moment was precious and he seemingly filled the little kitchen so full, as he moved his ponderous body from one side to another, that there was really no room for any other person in the little apartment.

Captain Eph did not venture to make any reply; but at the first opportunity followed Mr. Peters up the stairway, tip-toeing through the apartment where the lad lay asleep, and making no halt until gaining that floor known as the lantern deck.

During five minutes or more the keeper and his assistant worked industriously at those tasks which should have been performed earlier in the day, and then Mr. Peters asked:

"How long do you allow that little chap will sleep, Cap'n Eph?" and the keeper replied:

"It wouldn't surprise me a bit if he run his nap way over till to-morrow mornin'. You see it ain't likely he got much sleep while he was alone in the boat."

"An' it stands to reason that he didn't have a great deal to eat, for I couldn't see anything on the craft that looked like provisions."

"I reckon there's no question but that he went hungry, Sammy."

"In which case he's needin' food as much as sleep," Mr. Peters said thoughtfully, "an' I'm askin' if it ain't our duty to rouse him up after a while, so's to shove somethin' inter his stomach."

"Well I declare, Sammy!" Captain Eph cried emphatically. "I never once took heed to anythin' of that kind, an' yet it's only common sense. I'll run down an' see what Uncle Zenas can fix up that'll hit his case."

"You look after the boy, an' I'll 'tend to things in the lantern," Mr. Peters said as he wiped here and there with the buff-skin over imaginary specks of dust on the lens.

"That 'ere Sammy breaks out in spots of good, sound sense every once in a while," Uncle Zenas said when the keeper repeated to him the conversation which had been held in the lantern. "It stands to reason the little shaver needs somethin' in his stomach, an' I'll fix up a mess right away. Perhaps we might pour a little broth down his throat without disturbin' him very much."

"All right; see what you can do, an' I'll take a squint at his boat. It ain't certain but that she can be patched up, an' he may need her powerful bad before the inspector comes this way."

Having said this, Captain Eph, forgetting that, according to the "regerlations," he should remain in the lantern until everything there had been put to rights, descended the outside ladder leading to the rocks below, and made his way to where the lad's boat had been left.

Here he found nothing contrary to the opinion he and his first assistant had already formed – that she had been built as a tender to a large vessel. A gasoline motor of 3 horse-power, with the appearance of having been well cared for, was aft where the helmsman could attend to it while holding the boat on her course, and lashed on either side inboard were oars and spare fittings. Everything about the craft told that she had lately been looked after by sailormen, and, having ascertained this much, Captain Eph set about learning how seriously she had been damaged by the rocks.

Both bows two or three feet abaft the stem were stove in; but the injuries were not so serious that they could not be repaired by ordinary workmen, and Captain Eph said to himself as he pulled the boat around on the ways:

"I reckon Sammy an' I can put her in shape, pervidin' the weather holds good; but if we get much of a gale she's bound to go, for it won't do to take the Government boat out of the house in order to run her in, even if she is worth four or five times as much as ours."

The keeper brought down from the tiny boat-house of cement, a rope, which was attached to a small windlass or winch, and, making one end fast to the bow of the disabled craft, hauled her up the incline until she was in some slight degree sheltered by the little building. Then he carefully covered the motor with a spare sail belonging to his own boat.

All this had required no small amount of time, and when he again entered the kitchen, Mr. Peters, his labors in the lantern having been performed, was moving in an aimless manner around the apartment, evidently under the impression that he was assisting Uncle Zenas in preparing a thin soup to be given the involuntary visitor.

"Well?" the keeper asked as he entered, and Mr. Peters replied:

"Uncle Zenas an' I believe he ought'er have some of this stuff inside of him as soon as we can get it there. He'll sleep better with a full stomach."

"What is it you've made?"

"I've thinned down one of them 'ere cans of soup you was so extravagant as to buy when Sammy went ashore last," Uncle Zenas replied, "an' it smells good enough to eat."

Captain Eph tasted the savory mixture critically and then said thoughtfully:

"I reckon you're right about his needin' it, though it does seem too bad to waken the little shaver while he's bottlin' up so much sleep. But have your own way. How are you goin' to do the job?"

"You lift him up, an' I'll pour it down," Uncle Zenas replied in a tone which showed that he had already settled the details in his own mind. "The sooner we do it the better, 'cordin' to my way of thinkin', so s'pose you lead the way."

There was an expression of deepest anxiety on Captain Eph's face as he ascended the iron stairs, and on arriving at the floor above he stood for a moment gazing at the childish face which could be seen amid the mountain of bed-clothing, for in his desire to do all that might be possible for the little fellow, Mr. Peters had piled upon the bed every blanket and comfortable to be found in the tower.

"Better get right at it," Uncle Zenas said in a whisper, as he halted by the bedside with the bowl of soup in his hands.

Captain Eph raised the boy so gently that his slumber was not disturbed; but when Uncle Zenas attempted to pour the warm liquid down his throat, he opened his eyes, crying in distress:

"What is it? What do you men want? Where am I?"

"You're safe and sound in Carys' Ledge light, Sonny, an' we've come up to give you somethin' to eat," Captain Eph replied, as he pressed the lad closely to him. "You've been havin' a hard time, an' are needin' what we've brought. Drink it down like a little man, an' then you may go to sleep agin."

Just for an instant the little fellow looked around wildly, and then, as if reassured by the friendly pressure of Captain Eph's arms, began to swallow the soup, slowly at first, as if from a sense of duty, and then eagerly as hunger asserted itself.

"My! but that was good!" he exclaimed as Captain Eph laid him back upon the pillow, and Uncle Zenas asked eagerly:

"Do you want some more? There's plenty in the kitchen, an' it'll do you good."

"If I could have a little more. It's so good, and I didn't know I was hungry till I got a taste of it," the little fellow said, rising to a sitting posture, and as Uncle Zenas hurried down the stairway Captain Eph whispered solicitously:

"Why not lay down agin, Sonny? You're mighty sleepy, an' it'll do you good to get another nap."

"If you don't care, I'd rather keep awake till I've had more of the soup. How nice it is to be here where it's warm and dry!"

"Bless your dear heart, you shall do as you want to in this 'ere light!" Captain Eph cried. "Only don't forget that you've been havin' a hard time, an' need sleep as much as food."

"There isn't much chance I'll forget anything of that kind while you're all so good to me. When do you suppose my father will come to take me away?"

"Who is your father, Sonny?" Mr. Peters asked.

"Captain Harlow, of the schooner West Wind– she's a five-master, and a beauty. This is her first voyage, and I'm going all the way to Porto Rico in her," the lad cried, and then suddenly remembering how long it had been since he was on board the West Wind, he cried, turning toward Captain Eph, "Do you suppose he can find me, now that I've come ashore, sir?"

"If he don't it won't be any very great job to let him know where you are, Sonny," the keeper replied emphatically. "It'll go hard if we can't hail a fisherman, or a pilot boat, an' send a letter ashore to the post-office, so you needn't worry about that part of it. But tell me how you happened to be adrift in that motor boat."

"We went out to look at what seemed to be a lot of wreckage; it was so calm that the West Wind hardly moved through the water, and father said I might go with Mr. Sawyer, because I know how to run the motor and steer. Then, before we'd got to the wreckage, the fog shut in, and we couldn't see the schooner. I believe I could have gone straight to her at first, but after Mr. Sawyer fell over-board, I turned the boat around so many times trying to pick him up, that I couldn't tell where the West Wind might be."

"Who was Mr. Sawyer?" Captain Eph asked.

"The second mate; he was a good friend of mine, and I wouldn't have been allowed to go out to look at the wreckage if he hadn't coaxed father."

"How did a sailorman contrive to tumble over-board?" Mr. Peters asked curiously, as if it seemed to him impossible such an accident could occur.

"We ran down a spar, and he was leaning over the bow trying to make out if it was a buoy that had gone adrift, or a portion of the wreckage we had sighted, when a heavy sea came. It seemed to me as if the timber struck Mr. Sawyer on the head, for over he went like a log, and although I put the boat back and forth until it grew too dark to see, I couldn't find him."

"Wasn't you frightened, Sonny?" Mr. Peters asked, and the lad replied with a sigh:

"I was feeling too sorry for that, sir, and I thought certain the schooner would pick me up, even if the fog was thick; but I did get frightened when the night shut in, and the wind began to blow so that the spray from the tops of the waves came aboard, soaking me with water. My name is Sidney, if you please, sir."

"Then what did you do?" Captain Eph asked in a whisper.

"I just sat there and cried, sir, till I remembered what father has often told me, that when a boy, or a man, for that matter, loses his courage, he is a great deal worse off than if he kept up his spirits. I had often run the motor while the West Wind was in port, and I tried to make out how much gasolene there was in the tank, for I knew steerage-way was needed, else I couldn't keep her head up into the wind. It was a terribly long while before day came again, and then the fog covered everything so that I couldn't see very far in either direction. Of course father hunted for me; but I knew he didn't have much chance of finding me in that kind of weather."

"Wasn't you hungry?" Mr. Peters asked.

"Perhaps so, sir; but I was too much frightened and sorry to know it until I got a taste of the soup."

"What did you do all the long day and second night?" and Captain Eph put his arms around the lad as he asked the question.

"I sang a little, sir, and cried a good deal; but the most of the time I prayed, and once when I fell asleep without knowing it, I thought I saw my mother, who went to Heaven when I was only a little shaver."

At this point in the story Uncle Zenas appeared with a fresh supply of soup, and after Sidney had drank it eagerly, Captain Eph said as he forced the boy to lie down again:

"You're a brave little lad, Sidney, an' I have no doubt but that you really saw your mother, for surely God would have let her go to her baby boy when he was in such trouble. Now you must sleep again, an' while you're growin' stronger we'll cook up a letter to send your father, tellin' him where you are, for I reckon he's feelin' mighty bad about this time."

Then, motioning for his assistants to follow, Captain Eph led the way to the watch-room, and Uncle Zenas, who brought up the rear, closed each door behind him lest the sound of their voices should prevent Sidney from sleeping.

When the three men were in the apartment directly under the lantern they stood in silence, gazing at each other, while one might have counted twenty, and then Captain Eph said in a low tone:

"Wa'al, you've heard about all the story he can tell, an' now what do you think?"

"I reckon it's the truth all right," Mr. Peters replied in what he intended should be a jovial tone, and on the instant the keeper was aroused to anger.

"I hope there ain't any one here so mean an' bad-minded as to question any statement that little shaver has made! The truth! Of course it is, every word, an' – "

"Now, look here, Cap'n Eph, there ain't any call for you to get up so high on your ear," Mr. Peters interrupted. "I wasn't allowin' it could be anything but the truth, an' only spoke that way because there didn't seem to be much else to say. We've got him here, an' are bound to take care of him, no matter what the rules an' regerlations say about boardin' or lodgin' houses."

"Right you are," Uncle Zenas added, "an' I for one don't see as there is any need of talk. We've got stuff enough to eat, an' jest so long as his appetite sticks by him I'll give him a chance to find out what kind of a cook I am, though it stands to reason I can't come anywhere near mixin' up what he's been in the habit of gettin' on board one of them big schooners."

"Now see here, Uncle Zenas," Captain Eph said sharply. "I've sat under the droppin' of your cookin' quite a spell, an' so has Sammy. We've never had any fault to find, an' as long as there's breath left in my body I'll maintain that you can hold your own with the cook of any craft that sails."

"Then what did we come up here to talk about?" Uncle Zenas asked as if in perplexity.

"About that boy of our'n, for I reckon he belongs to us till his father comes after him. I ain't wishin' harm to any man; but it wouldn't make me feel very bad if nobody ever showed up to claim the little shaver, 'cause it makes this 'ere tower seem a good deal like home to have a baby in it."

"Are you tryin' to fix up some plan so's it sha'n't be known he's here?" Mr. Peters asked as if in astonishment, and Captain Eph roared angrily:

"See here, Sammy, there are times when you try a patient man like me, as nobody has been tried since the days of Job. Of course I ain't tryin' to keep any baby away from his own true an' lawful father, an' I called you up here so's we could decide how to get word to the capt'n of the West Wind that his boy is here as safe an' snug as a bug in a rug."

"You seemed to allow a spell ago that we might hail a fisherman, an' send a letter ashore," Mr. Peters said in perplexity.

"It don't seem jest the thing to wait a great while for some craft to come within hail, for it stands to reason the poor man is jest about crazy thinkin' the lad's knockin' around in that boat, starvin' to death," and the keeper rubbed his chin vigorously, as if by so doing it might be possible to more readily solve the problem which was before them.

"It wouldn't be any fool of a trip from here to the mainland, at this season of the year, in a dory," Uncle Zenas suggested, and Mr. Peters cried as if he saw a way out of the difficulty.

"The first thing, whatever we agree on, is to write the letter, an' after that's been done we'll have time enough to figger how it's to be sent. I reckon it'll get there all right if you put on it the name of the captain an' the schooner, to be found at Porto Rico, eh?"

"That's what's puzzlin' me a good bit," Captain Eph replied. "I ain't sure but that there may be more than one post-office in Porto Rico. I never was on the island, so don't know much about it."

"Why not send your letter to the light?" Uncle Zenas asked. "No matter what kind of an island it is, there's bound to be a light on it."

"An' who's to tell me where or what it is?" the keeper cried petulantly. "The place may only be buoyed out, or have nothin' more'n a beacon on it."

"Wa'al, you've got the report of the Board in your room, an' all the facts are certain to be put down in that, since we've adopted the place so to speak," Mr. Peters suggested, and Captain Eph's face brightened at once, as he cried:

"There are times, Sammy, when you do really seem to have quite a lot of sense! Now any idjut ought'er thought of doin' that same thing; but I've been so mixed up since daybreak that my brain seems to be off somewhere on a strike. Wait a bit while I fetch the book."

"Sneak inter the room quiet-like, or you may wake the lad," Uncle Zenas said warningly, and Captain Eph, who was already half-way through the door in the floor, stopped to say in a tone of reproof:

"Any one would think, to hear you two old shell-backs talk, that I never knew anything about babies, an' yet I've handled more of 'em than you ever saw."

Then the keeper disappeared from view, and a full five minutes elapsed before he reappeared, to explain his long absence by saying:

"I couldn't help stoppin' to look at the little rascal as he lays there asleep. I declare he is handsome as a picter, an' twice as sweet."

"Did you get the report?" Mr. Peters asked impatiently.

"Of course I did. What else do you reckon I went after? Now we'll soon know if there's a light on that island of Porto Rico."

Captain Eph had not pored over the pages of the report many minutes, before he looked up at his mates in dismay, as he said:

"What do you think, boys? There's no less than fourteen lights on the blessed place, an' it must be quite an island. Now we're up a tree for sure!"

"If I was the keeper of this 'ere light I'd make an official report to the inspector, of how the lad came to the ledge, an' ask the Government to hunt up the father," Uncle Zenas said quietly. "I ain't so certain that it's the Government's business to go 'round huntin' for stray fathers; but it seems to me, seem's how he landed on this 'ere ledge, an' is stayin' here, the least them as are at Washington could do would be to take one end of the job, if we're willin' to handle the other."

"You've hit the nail right on the head, Uncle Zenas!" and Captain Eph gravely shook his second assistant by the hand. "I'll make a report, an' from this on, till we decide upon somethin' better, all hands are to be on the lookout for a craft that can be hailed."

"If you're goin' to settle down to a spell of writin', an' I'm allowin' it won't be any small job to put the thing together ship-shape, I'll see what can be done toward patchin' up the boy's boat," Mr. Peters said as if making a suggestion. "If we get any good weather, an' the motor is in fair shape, it mightn't be very much of a trip to run across."

"Get at it, Sammy, get at it. Seems to me I'm the only one in this 'ere crew that don't rightly know what to do," and once more Captain Eph crept softly to his own room in search of writing materials.

Half an hour later the keeper and his assistants were busily engaged on their respective tasks. Captain Eph sat in the watch-room laboring over his report; Uncle Zenas was cooking as if his very life depended upon getting the largest amount of provisions prepared for eating in the shortest possible space of time, and on the rocks Mr. Peters was measuring and figuring on the shattered boat, confident that he could soon put her in a seaworthy condition, provided he should be able to find the proper material.

The cook was spearing doughnuts out of a kettle of hot fat with a long-handled fork, bringing into play all his professional knowledge to the end that each one should be of the proper color and degree of crispness, when he was startled so badly that he actually squeaked, by hearing a light footstep on the floor directly behind him.

"I'll be roasted if I didn't think you was a ghost!" he cried as, turning quickly, he saw Sidney standing near the foot of the staircase. "Why didn't you stay in bed, lad, since that's where you belong for the next four an' twenty hours?"

"I guess I've slept long enough, for I wakened without being called, and those doughnuts smelled so good I had to come after one. What a nice kitchen this is!"

"It's a bit small for so big a cook," Uncle Zenas said with a laugh as he held the pan half-filled with delicately browned cakes toward the boy. "Help yourself to whatever you want so long as you're on Carys' Ledge, for everything here that don't belong to the Government is the same as yours."

"You have all been awfully kind to me, and if father could only know where I am, it would be very nice to stay here a while, for I was never in a light-house before."

"Where do you live when you're at home?" Uncle Zenas asked, as he speared more doughnuts from the kettle of fat.

"I haven't got any home now. I did board with a very nice family in Malden; but they moved out west, and father said I might stay on the schooner until spring, when I'm to go somewhere to school. Is there another room under this?" and Sidney tapped with his foot on a trap-door directly in the center of the floor.

"Wa'al, I don't reckon you can call it a room, seein's it's our cellar," and Uncle Zenas raised the door that the lad might look beneath.

In the middle was what appeared to be a well, while around the sides of the aperture were stores of all kinds, stacked up neatly with a view to economy of space.

"Yes, that's our well," Uncle Zenas said in reply to Sidney's question. "Least-ways it's a hole in the masonry which is filled every once in a while by the water-boat from the harbor, which comes out here for that purpose. Yonder is the oil, and our lamp eats lots of it. This 'ere is what is known as a first order light, an' we use somewhere over eight hundred gallons of oil in a year. The Light-House Board sends all our supplies, for it stands to reason we can't run out to the shop whenever we're needin' anythin' extra."