PLANS FOR THE FUTURE.
When Captain Ephraim entered the kitchen he held in his hand a sheet of
paper on which were several lines of written words, and before Sidney
could ask him any questions relative to the rations, as had been
suggested by Uncle Zenas, the keeper cried in a tone of triumph:
"Here's what I'm reckonin' will fill the bill all right, an' if Captain
Harlow don't get it in short order, the blame will be on the inspector.
See what you think of it, Uncle Zenas."
Then Captain Eph read the following, pausing now and then to look over
the top of his glasses that he might get some idea of how the statement
impressed the cook:
"To the Inspector of Light-Houses,
"District No. 1.
"Honored Sir:
"Me and my assistants believe it is our duty, though not so laid
down in the rules and regulations, to make a special report because
this morning a small boy came on to the ledge in a motor boat that
got smashed up pretty considerable on the rocks while making a
landing, said boy claiming to be the son of Captain Harlow of the
five-masted schooner _West Wind_ bound for Porto Rico, and he
wishing to let his father hear that he ain't drownded. Not knowing
how to send word to the said father that the boy is on this ledge
safe and sound, with us feeding him out of our rations so that the
Government won't come short of provisions, I hereby, being of sound
mind and disposition, make report to you that the said father ought
to be hunted up by your honorable and respected Board, so that he
may be able to know that his son ain't yet drownded.
"Your respectfully obedient servant to command,
"Ephraim Downs, Keeper of Carys' Ledge Light, and subscribed to by
his assistants, Zenas Stubbs and Sammy Peters.
"P.S. The said boy arove so unexpectedly jest about daylight,
that I have further to report that the lantern of Carys' Ledge
Light didn't get cleaned till nigh on to nine o'clock on this
same morning.
"Ephraim Downs, Keeper of Carys' Ledge Light."
"That's great, Cap'n Eph, jest great!" Uncle Zenas cried as the keeper
ceased reading and looked at him scrutinizingly. "There's no mistake but
what you've got a big head on you, for it would have taken me more'n a
week to get up a report like that, an' then I shouldn't have thought of
half the things you've said."
"I reckon it's up to the Board to find the _West Wind_ now, eh?" and
Captain Eph tried unsuccessfully to hide the expression of pride which
had come to his face with the words of praise from the cook.
"Of course it is, Cap'n Eph, an' I allow Sonny's father ought'er be here
mighty soon. Perhaps it would be a good idee if I did a bit more
cookin', for I'd be ashamed to have him find us without enough for
dinner in case you invited him to stop."
"There's no need of doin' very much cookin' before the letter has been
sent away," Sidney cried with a laugh, for now that the report was
written, it seemed to him much as if all his troubles had vanished.
"I reckon the lad is right, Uncle Zenas," the keeper said gravely,
"though it won't do any harm to have a little somethin' extra on hand,
in case he should get here before we expect him. I'll run out an' see
what Sammy thinks of the report, an' then we'll put our heads together
for the purpose of seein' how we can rig our little shaver up agin it
comes a cold spell, which we've a right to expect as soon as this fog
burns off."
"May I go with you, Captain?" Sidney asked eagerly.
"Of course you can, lad, though I'm allowin' that the best place for you
is in bed. Well I declare! Makin' this 'ere report has kind'er turned me
forgetful, an' I didn't realize that we counted on your sleepin' till
this time to-morrow. When did you come down-stairs?"
"Only a few moments ago. My eyes opened so wide that I couldn't close
them again, and it seemed better to have a look around, rather than stay
in bed like a baby."
"Perhaps you're right, Sonny; but 'cordin' to the way I looked at it,
you was needin' a deal of sleep. Come along, an' take care you don't
slip on the ladder."
Captain Eph led the way out through the door in the side of the tower,
moving slowly, and looking back over his shoulder at every step, until
Sidney cried cheerily:
"Don't get worried about me, Captain, I've been on the _West Wind_ long
enough to get up and down a ladder like this without falling."
When the two arrived at that depression in the rocks on which the
odd-looking boat-house had been built, they found Mr. Peters so deeply
engrossed in his task that not until the keeper spoke was he aware of
their approach, and then he said in a tone of triumph:
"I'll have that 'ere boat in shape before the end of the month! Only two
strakes of the hull have been stove badly, an' we've got jest what's
needed for new ones. The others want bracin', an' then they'll be as
good as ever."
"Never mind about the boat now, Sammy. I want you to hear what I'm goin'
to send to the inspector, so if there's anythin' you think needs
changin', it may be done. Of course we can't mail it until some craft
fetches to off the ledge; but there's no knowin' how soon that may
happen, an' we can't afford to miss the first chance."
"Got the report done as soon as this, Cap'n Eph?" Mr. Peters asked in
surprise.
"Of course I have, Sammy, else why would I be wantin' you to read it?"
"Does the boy know what's in it?"
"He was in the kitchen when I read it to Uncle Zenas."
"Well, go ahead. I reckon there ain't any such terrible great rush on
this 'ere boat, an' besides, as first assistant of the light, it's my
business to know what kind of a tale the keeper is sendin' to the
inspector," and Mr. Peters seated himself on the sharp edge of a rock in
token that he was prepared to listen; but Captain Eph said gravely
before beginning to read:
"We had better have this thing understood at the start, Sammy. When you
allowed that it was your business to hear whatever the keeper sent to
the inspector, it was all wrong, because if I want to make a report
privately, it ain't any concern of my assistants; but in this 'ere case
I have made you an' Uncle Zenas a part of the doc'ment, so to speak, an'
that's why I'm explainin' matters."
"I allow there's a good chance for an argument there, Cap'n Eph; but
seein's how we're kind'er pressed for time, we'll let the matter drop a
spell, an' take it up when there's nothin' else on hand, I mean about
your havin' the right to make a report without my knowin' what's in it.
Go ahead with the readin' an' then I'll explain how I count on fixin' up
Sonny's boat."
Sidney, having already heard the statement of facts, had no desire to
listen to a second reading; but took advantage of the opportunity to
ascertain the extent of the damage done to the boat in which he had
spent so many hours of suffering.
The motor was covered by the canvas which the keeper had thrown over it,
and after this was removed, the mechanism appeared to be in as good
condition as on that day when he and Mr. Sawyer set out from the _West
Wind_ to have a look at the wreckage.
Opening one of the lockers, he took therefrom a handful of cotton waste,
and while Captain Eph alternately read and explained to his first
assistant what he had written, Sidney cleaned the motor as the engineer
of the schooner had taught him.
He was still busily engaged in this task when, the report having been
read, Mr. Peters exclaimed in a tone of approval:
"Now I call that way up fine! If it don't stir the inspector a bit, he
ain't the man I've always took him to be. When do you allow the lad's
father ought to get here?"
"Wa'al, I can't say as to that, Sammy, seein's how we haven't had a
chance to send the letter ashore yet, and even if that was done, I
couldn't figure to any certainty on how long it would take to carry it
to Porto Rico. Of course I ought to know all about that, seein's I've
fished on the Banks, man and boy, for pretty nigh half my life; but yet
I don't. Somehow I'm afraid I ain't up in geography as I ought'er be.
Any way, the first part of the work is done, meanin' the makin' of the
report, and now it stands us in hand to keep a bright lookout for a
craft that can be hailed."
"When this 'ere fog lifts, I reckon we shall see fishermen enough," Mr.
Peters replied as if sending a message to the mainland was something
which could be readily done, and, apparently dismissing from his mind
the report and the possible consequences of making it, he called the
keeper's attention once more to the boat in which Sidney had come
ashore.
Then it was that he became for the first time aware of what the lad was
doing, and with that odd chuckle in which he sometimes indulged when it
seemed as if he was choking, Mr. Peters whispered hoarsely in the ear of
his superior officer:
"Will you look at that little shaver! I declare if he ain't takin' right
hold of that motor as if he had been born in her! He's no common lad,
Cap'n Eph, you mark my words!"
"You're right, Sammy, you're right, an' we'd good proof of that when he
come in, for it ain't many grown men who could have held the course in
the fog as he did. When it shut down so thick, I said to myself, says I,
'This is the last we shall see of the boat,' when lo and behold, in he
sails as if it was clear weather. Stavin' the timbers was what you might
call an accident, an' didn't come about through carelessness, so I allow
that he put her in here as neatly as any sailorman could. But what about
fixin' her up?"
Mr. Peters explained in detail how he believed the work might be
performed with the limited material at hand, and Sidney listened to the
conversation intently, for there was in his mind the belief that once
the boat had been repaired, he might set out to find his father without
awaiting the tardy movements of the letter.
Mr. Peters was no amateur at mending a boat, as both his mates were
ready to testify, and when he had come to the end of his plans, Captain
Eph said approvingly:
"You're right, Sammy, you're right, an' I don't see anything to hinder
you goin' ahead jest as you've begun. It ain't very likely we could turn
her to much account, even if she was in good condition; but we must have
her ship-shape before the lad's father arrives, so begin work on her as
soon as you please, and I'll lend a hand whenever it's needed."
Having thus received the sanction of his superior officer, Mr. Peters
lost no time in beginning the task, and Sidney was forced to cover the
motor with the canvas, because it would be impossible for both of them
to work on the craft at the same time.
"I reckon you'll be wantin' to take a look at Carys' Ledge before you
leave us?" Captain Eph said when the lad was at liberty. "An' seein's how
its nigh to low water, you may not have a better chance, although I'm
free to admit we haven't got much to show you. If you feel like crawlin'
'round over the rocks, come with me."
Sidney was not particularly eager to make a tour of the ledge, perhaps
because it was not very interesting from whatever point you might view
it; but it seemed as if he was in duty bound to accept the invitation,
and the two set off across the brown, jagged boulders, on which, before
the tower was built, so many good vessels had foundered.
When Captain Eph and the boy were at the extreme southern point of the
ledge, looking back at the tower, Sidney asked in a tone of wonderment:
"How did they build the light-house on these rocks?"
"Well, I'll allow it was a pretty tough job; but nothing to be compared
with what the Board has done in other places. Now I was reading, not a
great while ago, in one of the books the inspector sends us, about their
building a tower on a rock off the coast of Oregon called Tillamook.
Putting one up here wasn't a marker alongside the trouble they had with
that, because there wasn't many days in the summer when a full crew
couldn't work here."
"And was Tillamook Rock worse than this ledge, sir?" Sidney asked.
"Why bless your heart, lad, Carys' Ledge ain't to be compared with it,
'cording to what I've read. It's just one big stone, so to speak,
standin' high out of fifteen fathom of water, an' a full mile from the
mainland. As I remember, it's located twenty miles south of the mouth of
the Columbia River. It seems, 'cordin' to the printed story, that that
'ere rock was split in two, with a wide crack running east an' west, an'
the top of it was about a hundred feet above the level of the sea.
Nothin' larger than fifty foot square could be built on it, an' it was a
mighty ticklish job for even sailormen to get a footin' there, even in
the fairest of fair weather. Why, the foreman of the first crew that
went off was drownded when the natives thereabouts allowed that the sea
was calm. That put a damper, so to speak, on the work; but the Board was
bound to have a light there, an' when they get their minds set on a
thing, it's pretty sure to be brought about.
"If I remember rightly, it was sometime in October of 1879, when the
steam tender landed four men with drills, hammers, and such like, to say
nothing of provisions, fuel, a stove, an' some canvas for them to make a
shanty of. There those poor, wretched creeters hung to the rock like
starfish, not able to do much of anything more than keep themselves from
tumbling off into the water. It was three days before they got five
other men an' a small derrick on to that blessed rock, an' for near to
two weeks they had nothin' to shelter them from the rain and the spray
but that 'ere square of canvas they had carried out."
"I wonder it didn't blow away," Sidney said thoughtfully.
"Ay, so it would, lad, if their first work hadn't been to put ring-bolts
in the rock, an' lash it down to them."
"Didn't they do anything all those two weeks, except cling to the rock,
sir?"
"Oh, yes, they managed to chisel out a kind of a hole at one side where
they could bolt some timbers to the solid foundation, an' cover them
with canvas. That was enough to give 'em a place to crawl into when the
sea ran too high; but look you, lad; I ain't certain that I'm tellin'
this story straight, so supposin' we go back to the watch-room, an' I'll
give it to you set down in print, the same as I read it, then there
won't be any mistake."
It was not pleasant to be scrambling about on the ledge while the fog
was yet so dense as to be very nearly like rain, and Sidney was well
pleased to accede to the proposition.
When they were come to the watch-room Captain Eph gave to the lad the
book in which the remainder of the story of Tillamook Rock light could
be found, and Sidney read the following, as it had been written by Mr.
Johnson, chief clerk of the Light-House Board:
"After setting up the main derrick and cutting a pathway up the face of
the rock, they opened a bench around it by suspending the workmen on
staging supported by bolts let into the rock's crest. The bench once
formed, the reduction was pushed to the center. The outer surface of the
rock was easily removed with moderate charges of black powder, but the
nucleus was hard and firm, and giant powder was necessary to open the
mass, when large charges of black powder acted satisfactorily.
"The working party, in spite of their rude, uncomfortable quarters,
worked diligently through the winter with good results. But the work was
much delayed by spells of weather so bad that little could be done. The
coast was visited by a tornado in January, which caused the waves,
reflected from the rock, to be carried by the wind over its crest, so
that for many days continuously the receding floods poured over the
eastern slope, making work impossible.
"On one such day this cataract carried away the supply-house, and even
endangered the quarters of the working party. For more than two weeks at
this time it was impossible for the steam-tender which supplied their
wants to cross the bar at the mouth of the Columbia River to go to their
assistance; when, after sixteen days, communication was reopened, the
party was found to be safe, but much in want of fresh provisions. These
were supplied by an endless line running between the mast of the
supply-vessel and a ring-bolt driven into the top of the rock, in
water-tight casks suspended from a traveler by slings, which was made to
move along the line.
"In May the top of the rock was leveled and a foundation made about 88
feet above the sea, and, on the 31st, three masons, four derricks, a
small engine, and the appliances for laying the masonry, were landed.
The stone, a fine grained, compact basalt, quarried near Portland and
cut to dimensions by contract, was delivered at Astoria and shipped to
the rock on the tender. The first cargo was landed on June 17; on the
22nd the corner-stone was laid, and then the rest of the material was
shipped to the rock as the weather permitted.
"The light is forty-eight feet above the base of the tower and 136 feet
above sea-level. It was shown for the first time on February 1, 1881. If
it had been finished a month earlier it would possibly have saved the
English iron bark _Lupata_ of 1,039 tons burden, which was dashed to
pieces on the main shore, not a mile from the light-house, with a loss
of the vessel, its freight, and every one of the twenty persons on
board. The bark came so near the rock that the creaking of the blocks
and the voices of the officers giving orders were distinctly heard, but
the night was so dark that nothing could be seen except her lights. The
superintendent of construction had a bon-fire built on the rock as soon
as possible, but the vessel was probably lost before the signal could be
seen. It was on this night that the working party lost their
supply-house and came so near losing their quarters, if not their
lives."
"Of course I have seen a good many light-houses," Sidney said as he
finished reading that which has been set down; "but I never understood
before how much labor must be done, and how many dangers met before the
lamps can be in position to point out the way to sailors."
"There's a good deal to this business that those ashore don't give heed
to," Captain Eph replied. "After the lamps are ready for lightin' there
must be men hired to take care of 'em, an' if you'll look a bit further
back in that book, you'll see that the Board don't pick up anybody as
keeper who is loafin' around out of a job."
The old man turned the leaves until having found the matter to which he
referred, and then said as if announcing some important discovery:
"Jest read that 'ere, an' then you'll know more about the kind of men
who have charge of lights in this country than you ever did before," and
Sidney read aloud:
"The class of men from whom keepers are selected is so good that the
punishment of dismissal is infrequently inflicted. But it follows
swiftly in two cases. A keeper found intoxicated is not only summarily
dismissed the service, but he is instantly ejected from the station; and
a keeper who allows his light to go out is dismissed without regard to
his excuse or his previous good conduct.
"The Board considers it the duty of every light keeper to stand by his
light as long as the light-house stands, and that for him to desert it
when in danger is as cowardly as for a soldier to leave his guns on the
advance of an enemy.
"His failure to keep his light burning, especially in time of danger,
may cause the wreck of vessels looking for it, and result in the loss of
much property and many lives.
"Keepers are trained to consider the care of the light and the
light-house property their paramount duty, beyond any personal
consideration; and the _esprit de corps_ is such that instances have
happened where the keepers on duty have, as in the case of the first
light on Minot's Ledge, gone down with their light-house and died at
their post; others, where the keeper has saved his lens, letting his
family shift for themselves; and there are repeated instances where the
keeper has saved his light-house property and lost his own.
"An instance of heroism is that of the keepers of Sharp's Island
light-house, in Chesapeake Bay. It was lifted from its foundations,
thrown over on its side, and carried away by ice early in February,
1881. The keeper and his assistant clung to the fallen house, and,
although one of their boats remained uninjured, they were adrift in the
bay sixteen and a half hours without fire or food, always in imminent
danger, as the heavy floating ice often piled up against and threatened
to swamp the house. It grounded, however, on an island shortly after
midnight, at high tide, and was full of water.
"Being satisfied that it would not float off again, the two keepers went
ashore in their boat, and when the tide had fallen they returned, saved
and took to the shore the lens, its pedestal, the oil, and library, much
damaged by water, and even the empty oil-cans, and then reported the
facts through their inspector to the Board.
"Meantime the keepers of another light-house, fearing the ice, had
deserted their post, and gone on shore. The fact that no vessels could
have needed their lights while the ice remained unbroken, and that they
returned to their post when the danger had passed, did not avail them.
So soon as the fact of their desertion was determined they were
dismissed the service, and the two keepers who had spent those terrible
hours afloat in Sharp's Island light-house, and then saved its
apparatus, were highly complimented by a letter direct from the Board
itself, and then were appointed to the deserters' places.
"The appointment of light-house keepers is restricted to persons between
the ages of eighteen and fifty, who can read, write, and keep accounts,
are able to do the requisite manual labor, to pull and sail a boat, and
have enough mechanical ability to make the necessary minor repairs about
the premises, and keep them painted, whitewashed, and in order. After
three months of service, the appointee is examined by an inspector, who,
if he finds that he has the qualities needed at that especial station,
certifies that fact to the Light-House Board, when, upon its approval,
the full appointment is issued by the Treasury Department.
"Although but one grade of keeper is recognized by law, usage has
divided keepers into a number of grades, with different pay as well as
different duties, and with promotion running through the various grades.
At one light-house there may be but one keeper; at another, a principal
keeper and an assistant; and there is a station where there is a
principal keeper with four assistants, the fourth having the lowest
grade and the lowest pay, and the others having been appointed at that
grade, and promoted as merit was shown and vacancies occurred; or they
may have been transferred and promoted from another station.
"Although persons are appointed to the service and assigned to a given
station, they are frequently transferred from one station to another, as
the interest of the service may demand, and while it is usual to consult
a keeper's wishes in his assignments, there is nothing in the
regulations to prevent the transfer of a man appointed in Maine to a
station in Georgia; and occasionally keepers are, with their own
consent, transferred from one district to another at a great distance.
Young men who have seen some sea service are preferred as assistants at
the larger stations; and at stations requiring but one keeper, retired
sea captains or mates who have families are frequently selected.
"Keepers are forbidden to engage in any business which can interfere
with their presence at their stations, or with the proper and timely
performance of their light-house duties; but it is no unusual thing to
find a keeper working at his station as a shoemaker, tailor, or in some
similar capacity, and there are light keepers who fill a neighboring
pulpit, who hold commissions as justice of the peace, and there are
still others who do duty as school teachers without neglecting their
light-houses.
"The Board has done much to make keepers comfortable. They are furnished
with quarters for themselves, and in certain cases for their families,
and when so far distant from market as to make its carriage equal or
exceed its cost, with fuel and rations. Suitable boats are furnished
stations inaccessible by land; and at those stations on shore, distant
from markets, barns are built for their cattle and horses. Something
also has been done for the intellectual needs of the keepers and their
families by supplying them with libraries. These are arranged in cases
so constructed that they make rather a neat appearance when set upright
on a table, and they need only to be closed and locked to be ready for
transportation. They contain on an average about fifty volumes each. One
of these libraries is left at a station for some three months, when it
is exchanged and passed on to another station. This is usually done when
the inspector makes his quarterly inspection; so each of the stations to
which libraries are furnished sees some two hundred different books each
year."
"Now you can see that we keepers must have some backbone to us, else we
couldn't get the appointment, or, getting one, wouldn't hold it very
long," Captain Eph said in a tone of satisfaction when Sidney ceased
reading, and the lad, at a loss for reply to such a remark, asked:
"Are you all sailormen here?"
"Ay, lad, an' have all been soldiers--there's no need of tellin' you
that much in Sammy's case. I've been cap'n of a fisherman nigh to ten
years, an' my last cruise Uncle Zenas sailed with me as cook, while
Sammy gave an imitation of bein' mate. We went inter the army together,
an' have grown up amongst each other, so to speak, till we're jest like
three Siamese twins. You won't ever hear any yippin' or scoldin' from
us, for----"
"Ahoy there!" came in angry tones from the kitchen. "Are you goin' to
let a good dinner go to waste jest because you're too lazy to come down
an' eat it? I don't count on keepin' the table set a great while longer,
for I want things kind'er ship-shape in case Sonny's father should tumble
in on us unexpected-like!"
"That's Uncle Zenas," Captain Eph said in a whisper. "You might think,
to hear him howl, that he'd lost his temper; but bless you, lad, he's as
mild as a suckin' dove."
"I suppose we ought to go down as soon as we can," Sidney suggested
timidly, "for even if he is mild, it sounds as if he was growing angry
every minute."
Uncle Zenas was shouting to Mr. Peters, speaking more sharply than he
had to the keeper, and Captain Eph said with a feeble attempt at a
smile:
"I reckon we'll mosey along, lad, jest to keep him from worryin'," and
the cook's superior officer made all haste to gain the kitchen, Sidney
following close at his heels.