A LESSON ON BUOYS.
Before Mr. Peters could make any reply to the rather equivocal remark of
the keeper, Sidney, glancing over his shoulder carelessly, was startled
into a cry of surprise, for they were close aboard the ledge, and, as if
waiting for them, Uncle Zenas stood at the head of the little cove.
"What's the matter, Sonny?" Captain Eph asked solicitously.
"Nothing serious, sir. I was surprised at seeing that we were so near
the light. The boat has made better time than when we went over, and yet
I didn't know I was running the motor any faster."
"Very likely you kept the same pace with the machine; but this 'ere wind
has been pushin' us along a good two miles an hour," the keeper replied
as he waved his hand in greeting to Uncle Zenas.
"Ahoy on the boat!" the cook shouted as if he was hailing a ship half a
mile distant, and Mr. Peters took it upon himself to reply:
"Hello! What seems to be creepin' over you?"
"Did I put bakin' powder on that 'ere list?"
"That you did, an' the cap'n has brought what'll last six months, even
if you sit up nights tryin' to work it inter somethin' that we're bound
to eat 'cause we can't get anything else."
"Way enough, Sonny!" Captain Eph cried at this moment, and Sidney shut
off the supply of gas, thus bringing the screw gradually to a
standstill.
A moment later Uncle Zenas seized the bow of the little craft, dragging
it up on the ways, and the voyage had come to an end within six hours of
its beginning.
"Hold on there!" Mr. Peters cried excitedly when Uncle Zenas would have
taken from the boat the packages which had been stowed with such care.
"Don't touch anythin' here; your stuff is midships."
"But what are these?" and again Uncle Zenas made a movement as if he
would have taken up one of the packages; but the first assistant was so
frantic in his efforts to prevent him, that Sidney could not restrain
his mirth, for the battle-scarred veteran looked much like an old hen
defending her chickens.
"What in the name of goodness, Sammy, have you got there?" Uncle Zenas
asked in surprise, and he looked inquiringly at Captain Eph.
"I don't know anything about it," the keeper said in reply to the mute
question. "He's acted jest that way ever since we took the stuff
aboard--wouldn't let Sonny or me so much as put our fingers on it."
"But you must have seen what he bought," the second assistant cried as
he eyed the packages suspiciously.
"He was too sharp for us, an' when I saw that he was at some kind of
underhanded work, I let him have full swing, by goin' out of the shop.
Lend a hand with this 'ere stuff which we ain't ashamed to show, an'
then we'll have a chance to stretch our legs a bit. I'm pretty well
cramped up with sittin' still so long."
While Uncle Zenas obeyed this command, Mr. Peters carried his goods into
the tower, giving no heed to his comrades, and by the time the motor
boat had been run up on the ways to the door of the boat-house, he came
out looking exceedingly well pleased with himself.
Uncle Zenas had prepared an unusually appetizing dinner for the
voyagers, and while they were giving evidence of their appreciation of
his efforts by eating heartily, Captain Eph said with a long-drawn sigh
of content:
"I declare it does seem good to get home! It'll be many a long day
before I can be coaxed ashore agin, unless it so be that Sonny has to
go on business of his own."
This remark reminded Uncle Zenas of the main object for which the voyage
had been undertaken, and in answer to his questions the keeper explained
what had been done.
"Then I s'pose we can look for his father almost any day?" the cook said
inquiringly, and Captain Eph explained why, as Mr. Peters had presented
the matter, some considerable time must necessarily elapse before any
information could be received concerning Captain Harlow's movements.
"I'm allowin', since Sammy put me right on the matter, that the first
word we get will come from the inspector," the keeper said as if to
dismiss the subject, "an' we can count on keepin' about as we're goin'
for some time yet."
By this time the meal had come to an end, and when Uncle Zenas refused
all offers of assistance in stowing away the goods which had been
brought from the mainland, Captain Eph went into the watch-room,
followed by Sidney, for Mr. Peters had slipped out of the tower as if
afraid some one might take note of his movements.
"Well, Sonny," the keeper said when he was alone with the lad, "what do
you reckon you an' I had better do jest now?"
"I was watching the buoys as we went into the harbor, and wondered how
it was you knew so well on which side of them the channel was to be
found."
"I've been expectin' you'd ask that same question jest as soon as you'd
got well inter this 'ere light-house business, an' it strikes me you'll
know more about it by readin' somethin' I've put by here, than if I
spent the whole day tryin' to tell it in my clumsy way," the keeper said
as he gave to Sidney an open book, from which the lad read that which
follows:
"The buoy is to the seaman by day what the light is at night, and what
the fog signal is in thick weather. It tells him by its size, form,
color, and number how to avoid rocks and shoals, and shows the way in
and out of harbor.
"The buoy service has its own code of laws, State and national, a fleet
of small steamers for its maintenance, and a corps of contractors to
attend to the buoyage of coves and inlets impracticable to the steamers.
It has its depots for the storage of iron buoys, where they are painted
and numbered, or repaired, and also where wooden buoys are made ready
for service. It has its own directory printed yearly, in thirteen
volumes, distributed gratuitously for the benefit of commerce, in which
each one is mentioned by name, located by station, and described by
size, color, number, and vicinity.
"Congress prescribed, by act of September 28, 1850, that red buoys, with
even numbers, be placed on the right-hand side, and black buoys, with
odd numbers, on the left-hand side of channels approached from seaward;
that buoys placed on wrecks and other obstructions, having a channel on
each side, be painted with red and black horizontal stripes; that those
buoys placed in mid-channel, and which indicate that they must be passed
close-to to avoid danger, be painted with white and black perpendicular
stripes; and, finally, that perches, with balls, cages, etc., when
placed on buoys, will indicate a turning-point, the color and number of
the buoy showing the side on which they are to be passed.
"Iron buoys are hollow, with air-tight compartments, and are made of
three shapes, called nun, can, and ice-buoys. The nun-buoys are almost
conical in form; the can-buoy is in shape the frustum of a cone, nearly
approaching a cylinder, and the ice-buoy is found much like a spar-buoy,
of great length, slight thickness, and of the largest diameter near its
middle. Each shape is classified by size, and diversified by color and
number. They were once made of wooden staves, like barrels, but their
rapid destruction by submarine worms caused the substitution of
boiler-iron.
"The cost of these buoys varies with the price of iron, and they have
been sold to the Government for $41.81 in the case of third-class
buoys, up to $150 for those of the first-class.
"Buoys are exposed to many dangers, not the least of which is that of
being run down and ripped open by passing steamers. As the iron buoys
are made with compartments, they are rarely sunk, but their line of
floatation is often lowered, and their usefulness accordingly decreased.
"Spar-buoys frequently lose a portion of their length, which is cut off
by strokes of colliding propeller-blades. Despite state and national
statutes forbidding it, vessels will sometimes make fast to buoys, thus
gradually dragging them off their bearings. A buoy has sometimes been
set adrift that a reward might be obtained for its recovery; but this is
not a profitable operation, as the reward paid is varied with the
circumstances of each case.
"The buoy's worst enemy, however, is ice, when moving in mass, and with
a tide or current. A well-made, well-moored buoy at the mouth of a
narrow river can create an ice-gorge; but usually, when the ice moves in
force, the buoys met have their mooring-loops torn out, their
mooring-chains broken, or their mooring-anchors weighed; and in each
case the buoys are carried out to sea, when the buoy tenders give chase,
and, if successful in their capture, return them to position.
[Illustration: CAPE ELIZABETH.]
"The sea-going qualities of the large buoys are shown by their volunteer
voyages. One is now anchored off the coast of Ireland, where it was
picked up, about six weeks after it had been wrenched from its place in
New York harbor, and turned over to the Irish light-house establishment,
by which it was reported to the United States Light-House Board, when it
was presented to the Irish Board, who simply added to its former marks
their own, and moored it near the point where it came ashore, in
commemoration of its peculiar voyage.
"The iron ice-buoy is made of boiler-iron, and is divided into
compartments, so that any one may be pierced without sinking the buoy.
One of the first-class costs $275, is fifty feet long, and stands
twenty-two feet out of water. One of the second-class costs $181, is
forty feet long, and stands seventeen feet out of water. As with wooden
spar-buoys, the ice passes over them without carrying them away; but,
unlike the wooden buoys, they break the propeller blades which strike
them, instead of being broken, and, thus defending themselves, last many
times longer than spar-buoys, and, though costing more at first, are
more economical in the end."
Captain Eph had remained patiently near the window during all the time
Sidney was reading that which has been given here, and a smile
overspread his face as the lad said when he closed the book:
"It seems as if I ought to know all about buoys, after reading so much,
and I'll try not to forget it."
"The longer you stay with us, Sonny, the bigger idee you'll get of the
money it costs to keep the waters of this 'ere country in proper trim
for sailors. I reckon there ain't more'n one landsman in twenty who,
when he sees a light-house, could give any reasonable guess as to the
bigness of the service."
"There's a lot to learn about it," Sidney said with a sigh, and Captain
Eph replied laughingly:
"Indeed there is, Sonny, an' you ain't forced to wade through it all
unless your curiosity leads that way. There's a big fleet of steamers to
be talked about yet, an' they must surely cost a lot of money."
The keeper was interrupted by the voice of Uncle Zenas from the kitchen:
"Ephraim Downs, I want to know if your losin' your senses entirely?"
"Now Uncle Zenas, what seems to be the trouble with you?" the keeper
called down through the door. "Has the cookin' gone wrong, or didn't we
buy all the gim-cracks you wanted?"
"In case you haven't lost your senses, why is Sammy allowed to make a
jumpin' jack of himself all over this 'ere ledge? If anybody should see
him, it would be told everywhere on the mainland that we'd gone crazy,
an' then goodness only knows what might happen!"
"I didn't know Sammy was up to any capers, Uncle Zenas; but I'll look
into the matter, an' if he's doin' anything agin the rules an'
regerlations, I'll straighten him out in short order. Don't worry about
his bein' seen, for there isn't so much as a fisherman's dory in sight."
"He'd be cavortin' 'round jest the same if a whole fleet had hove to off
here," Uncle Zenas cried, and without waiting to make any reply, Captain
Eph hurried to one of the windows, from which Sidney was already gazing
out with a look of wonderment on his face.
"What in the name of goodness has come over Sammy?" the old keeper cried
to no one in particular; but Sidney replied in a tone of perplexity:
"It looks as if he was nailin' up a lot of sticks, sir."
"But he can't nail 'em to the rocks, an' whatever he puts up there will
be carried away by the first wave that breaks over the ledge!"
Mr. Peters certainly was acting in a very peculiar manner. He had in his
arms five or six strips of boards or planks, which had the appearance of
having been washed up from some wreck, and was striding to and fro,
evidently trying to find some place where he could place them in a sort
of frame-work, for, during the short time Captain Eph and Sidney watched
from the window, he made two unsuccessful attempts to secure them in an
upright position.
The old keeper watched his first assistant narrowly for some time,
evidently losing a tiny bit of his temper each moment, and presently it
was impossible for him to remain silent any longer:
"I ain't so certain but that we'll have to set about makin' a
straight-jacket for Sammy, an' we sha'n't have much more'n time to do it
before the lamp must be lighted. Come down with me, an' we'll try to
soothe him a little. I thought he acted queer about that stuff he
bought, an' most likely this spell was jest comin' on."
Sidney was not prepared to believe that the first assistant had become
insane so suddenly; but he followed the keeper down the narrow stairs,
eager to hear what explanation Mr. Peters might give for his peculiar
behavior.
When the lad entered the kitchen he saw Uncle Zenas standing in the open
door leading to the outside ladder, looking out as if in greatest alarm.
"Have you seen Sammy?" he asked in a whisper, and with such a comical
expression of fear on his face that Sidney was forced to laugh outright.
"You don't seem to think there's anything the matter with him," Uncle
Zenas said reproachfully. "That's because you don't know Sammy very
well. In all the years I've lived on this 'ere ledge, I never saw him
cuttin' up any sich capers as he's flingin' now."
"It looks to me as if he was hunting for a chance to build something,
sir. I can't see that he is acting very queerly."
"It's queer for him to be runnin' 'round so when there's no need of it,"
Captain Eph interrupted. "Sammy don't like work overly well, an' I never
saw him do any more than he could help. I'm goin' to know what's the
matter, though."
Then the keeper, while descending the ladder, called softly, as if
afraid of frightening his first assistant:
"Hello, Sammy, what seems to be the matter with you?"
"With me?" Mr. Peters repeated in astonishment. "What made you think
there was anything wrong?"
"What are you runnin' 'round so after?"
"An' why shouldn't I, if the notion strikes me? Are you afraid I'll do
any harm to the rocks?"
"Now don't get excited, Sammy; but it kind'er bothers Uncle Zenas an' me
to see you runnin' around as if you'd lost your head."
"Don't look, an' then you won't feel so bad," the first assistant said
sharply, as once more he attempted to fasten the strips of board in an
upright position, and Captain Eph asked impatiently:
"What are you tryin' to do, Samuel Peters? As the keeper of this 'ere
light, I call upon you to explain your actions."
Mr. Peters dropped the sticks and stared at Captain Eph in astonishment
while one might have counted ten, and then asked irritably:
"Is there anything in the rules an' regerlations to stop me from nailin'
these boards together, an' standin' 'em up on end, if so be it can be
done?"
"Not a thing, Sammy, not a thing; but it makes Uncle Zenas an' me feel
kind'er bad to see you jumpin' 'round at sich a rate. Does your old
wound trouble you any?"
By this time Mr. Peters began to understand somewhat of the fears in the
minds of his comrades, and it all seemed to him very comical. He laughed
until the tears ran down his cheeks, and his mirth brought on such an
attack of coughing that Sidney was really afraid he would be strangled.
"Thought I'd gone crazy, eh?" he cried as soon as it was possible for
him to speak. "You an' Uncle Zenas have been figgerin' how you could get
me into the hospital, I s'pose? Crazy!" and again the first assistant
laughed until he choked and gasped for breath. "Let me tell you, Cap'n
Eph, that when I do go off the hooks you won't see me loafin' 'round
peaceable as this, for I'll think I'm in front of Petersburg again, an'
cut up in a way that you can't call pleasant."
"But what are you tryin' to do, Sammy?" Captain Eph asked eagerly.
"What's the meanin' of your runnin' 'round with them strips of board
under your arm?"
"I'm tryin' to set up what you might call a frame; but can't find a
place to put it."
"But, Sammy, it wouldn't stand against the first wave that ever washed
over the ledge!"
"I know that, Cap'n Eph, an' I only want it to hold together till 'bout
eight o'clock to-night, an' then it can go drown itself for all I care."
"Now you're talkin' queer, agin, Sammy," the old keeper said in a tone
of real concern, and the first assistant replied as he struggled to
restrain his mirth:
"Look here, Cap'n Eph, jest try to hold in till eight o'clock to-night,
an' then you'll understand all about it. This 'ere is a little surprise
of mine, an' I reckon there ain't anythin' in the rules an' regerlations
to prevent me from springin' it."
Even Uncle Zenas was convinced by this time that Mr. Peters had not lost
any portion of his mind, and Captain Eph returned to the kitchen, where
he said, as if having solved some important problem:
"What Sammy bought when he was ashore has got somethin' to do with the
surprise he's countin' on givin' us, an' I s'pose we may as well let him
have his fling, for he always was a good deal of a boy."
As a matter of fact, so Uncle Zenas afterward told Sidney, Mr. Peters
was two years older than Captain Eph, but one might have thought, from
the way the others treated him, that the first assistant was a mere
child as compared with them.
The cook was brimming over with curiosity as to the nature of the
surprise which Mr. Peters had in store for them, and Captain Eph
confessed that he was "all in the dark"; but, remembering the shape of
some of the packages the first assistant brought with him, and his fear
lest they should get wet, Sidney believed he could make a very good
guess as to what was coming.
"He sha'n't be the only one on this 'ere ledge who can rig up a
surprise," Uncle Zenas finally said. "You two are to get out of this
kitchen, an' stay out until after the light is started; when I call you
to supper, come runnin', or I'll make considerable trouble."
"This way, Sonny," Captain Eph said with a laugh. "I reckon our place is
up-stairs whether they want us to go or not, for there's gettin' to be
altogether too much mystery about this 'ere ledge to suit me."
Sidney followed the keeper, and when the two were climbing the stairs,
the lad said:
"This must be one of the highest towers the Government ever built,
Captain."
"Indeed it isn't, Sonny, not by a long chalk. From the ledge to the
light is only one hundred an' twenty feet; but I've got up-stairs an
account of the highest tower the Board ever built, an' you shall read
it. I ain't tryin' to fill you chock-a-block with facts about
light-houses, but when you spring these 'ere questions on me I can't
help flashin' up what I know about 'em, which ain't a great deal when
you come to simmer it right down."
When the two were once more in the watch-room, the keeper handed Sidney
a slip of paper on which was printed the following:
"The tallest skeleton iron tower erected by the United States
Light-House Services was at Hell Gate, Astoria, N. Y., in 1883-84. Its
height was two hundred fifty-five feet and five-eighths of an inch. It
was built in the form of a frustum of a pyramid, and was fifty-four feet
square at the bottom and six feet square at the top. It cost $11,000,
and showed nine electric lights, each of which was of six thousand
candle power. It was designed to illuminate the narrow, intricate, and
dangerous channel as by artificial daylight. At night the effect was
grand. The tower itself could not be seen, and the lights appeared as if
hung from the heavens. It accomplished all that was intended, and more,
for the light was so brilliant that it dazzled the eyes of the pilots,
and prevented them from seeing objects beyond the circle illumined. The
shadows thrown were so heavy that they took the form of obstacles. So
the light was discontinued in 1886, at the instance of those who had
obtained its establishment. The tower was sold as it stood, for old
iron; but it was so strongly built that dynamite had to be used to
accomplish its overthrow."
"Captain Eph," Sidney asked as he ceased reading, "what shape is the
'frustum of a pyramid'?"
"Wa'al, Sonny, that 'ere bothered me so much when I first came here,
that I studied the thing up in a dictionary the inspector lent me, till
I knew all about it. You know what a 'pyramid' is in shape? Wa'al, jest
cut off the top, and what's left will be the frustum. It's like a good
many other words that puzzle a fellow, mighty simple when you study into
'em."
At this point conversation was interrupted by the sound of angry voices
below, and, going to the stairway, Captain Eph shouted:
"What's happenin' down there?"
"It's that 'ere Sammy," Uncle Zenas replied. "He's kickin' up a terrible
row out here, an' I wish you'd poke your head through the window so's to
make him mind his eye!"
"What's he doin'?"
"Tryin' to get in, an' I've got the door locked."
"Why don't you open it?"
"'Cause he can't come in till supper's ready. He went amblin' 'round the
ledge gettin' up his surprise, an' now he'll stay where he is for a
spell."
"I declare it does seem as if all hands of this crew had gone crazy
since daybreak!" Captain Eph exclaimed as he went to the window.
Opening it he looked out for an instant, and then, his weather-beaten
face convulsed with mirth, he said to Sidney:
"Come here, Sonny, an' have a squint at Sammy. I declare he looks jest
like a big grasshopper tryin' to crawl up a blade of grass."
After some difficulty, Sidney succeeded in getting a glimpse of Mr.
Peters as he stood on the iron ladder in front of the kitchen door,
pounding on it vigorously with his fist.
"Ahoy there!" Captain Eph cried as soon as he could control his mirth.
"What'er you doin', Sammy Peters?"
"I'm tryin' to get in, that's what I'm doin'!" the first assistant cried
angrily. "That pig of a Zenas Stubbs has locked the door in my face!"
"Go down an' 'tend to your surprise, Sammy," the keeper commanded.
"Uncle Zenas allows that he's got jest as much right to rig up fool
things as you have, an' it looks to me as if the only way was to hold on
till he's ready to spring on us whatever he's got."
"How long will that be?" Mr. Peters demanded angrily.
"Till after the light is started for the night, so he told me."
"An' where am I to stay all that time?"
"Crawl inter the boat-house, if you can't do any better, for I allow
Zenas Stubbs is standin' on his rights as the second assistant keeper of
this 'ere light."