*Reprinted by permission of Little, Brown and Company
I
On a time it happened that the lighthouse keeper in Aspinwall, not
far from Panama, disappeared without a trace. Since he disappeared
during a storm, it was supposed that the ill-fated man went to the
very edge of the small, rocky island on which the lighthouse stood,
and was swept out by a wave. This supposition seemed the more likely
as his boat was not found next day in its rocky niche. The place of
lighthouse keeper had become vacant. It was necessary to fill this
place at the earliest moment possible, since the lighthouse had no
small significance for the local movement as well as for vessels
going from New York to Panama. Mosquito Bay abounds in sandbars and
banks. Among these navigation, even in the daytime, is difficult;
but at night, especially with the fogs which are so frequent on those
waters warmed by the sun of the tropics, it is nearly impossible.
The only guide at that time for the numerous vessels is the
lighthouse.
The task of finding a new keeper fell to the United States consul
living in Panama, and this task was no small one: first, because it
was absolutely necessary to find the man within twelve hours; second,
the man must be unusually conscientious,--it was not possible, of
course, to take the first comer at random; finally, there was an
utter lack of candidates. Life on a tower is uncommonly difficult,
and by no means enticing to people of the South, who love idleness
and the freedom of a vagrant life. That lighthouse keeper is almost
a prisoner. He cannot leave his rocky island except on Sundays. A
boat from Aspinwall brings him provisions and water once a day, and
returns immediately; on the whole island, one acre in area, there is
no inhabitant. The keeper lives in the lighthouse; he keeps it in
order. During the day he gives signals by displaying flags of
various colours to indicate changes of the barometer; in the evening
he lights the lantern. This would be no great labour were it not
that to reach the lantern at the summit of the tower he must pass
over more than four hundred steep and very high steps; sometimes he
must make this journey repeatedly during the day. In general, it is
the life of monk, and indeed more than that,--the life of a hermit.
It was not wonderful, therefore, that Mr. Isaac Falconbridge was in
no small anxiety as to where he should find a permanent successor to
the recent keeper; and it is easy to understand his joy when a
successor announced himself most unexpectedly on that very day. He
was a man already old, seventy years or more, but fresh, erect, with
the movements and bearing of a soldier. His hair was perfectly
white, his face as dark as that of a Creole; but, judging from his
blue eyes, he did not belong to a people of the South. His face was
somewhat downcast and sad, but honest. At the first glance he
pleased Falconbridge. It remained only to examine him. Therefore
the following conversation began:
"Where are you from?"
"I am a Pole."
"Where have you worked up to this time?"
"In one place and another."
"A lighthouse keeper should like to stay in one place."
"I need rest."
"Have you served? Have you testimonials of honourable government
service?"
The old man drew from his bosom a piece of faded silk resembling a
strip of an old flag, unwound it, and said:
"Here are the testimonials. I received this cross in 1830. This
second one is Spanish from the Carlist War; the third is the French
legion; the fourth I received in Hungary. Afterward I fought in the
States against the South; there they do not give crosses."
Falconbridge took the paper and began to read.
"H'm! Skavinski? Is that your name? H'm! Two flags captured in a
bayonet attack. You were a gallant soldier."
"I am able to be a conscientious lighthouse keeper."
"It is necessary to ascend the tower a number of times daily. Have
you sound legs?"
"I crossed the plains on foot." (The immense steppes between the
East and California are called "the plains.")
"Do you know sea service?"
"I served three years on a whaler."
"You have tried various occupations."
"The only one I have not known is quiet."
"Why is that?"