THE RESCUE.
Uncle Zenas grumbled because Captain Eph insisted on holding Sidney in
his arms, instead of lying down to rest as it seemed he ought to have
done; but to all his protests, uttered in whispers lest the rescued men
who were sleeping on the floor be disturbed, the old keeper replied:
"I don't need any coddlin', Uncle Zenas, for what I've done this day
hasn't tuckered me out a little bit. Besides, I'm restin' with Sonny in
my arms, a good deal more'n I would alone in bed."
Sidney had a vague idea that he was much too large a boy to be thus held
as if he were a baby; but he made no protest against being thus petted,
because it could be plainly seen that it gave the old keeper real
pleasure.
After a short time Uncle Zenas proposed that the strangers be left
alone, lest their rest be disturbed by the conversation, and the crew of
Carys' Ledge light went into the watch-room, where Mr. Peters had
already built a fire in the small stove.
The storm raged as severely as at any other time during the day; but to
Sidney there was no longer any menace in the howling of the wind, while
the beating of the snow against the windows only served to remind him
how cosy and comfortable it was inside the tower, for with the return of
the two keepers from their perilous voyage he had forgotten his fears.
"It doesn't seem possible that you could have kept the boat right side
up in those terrible waves," the lad said at length, and Mr. Peters
replied:
"There's a good deal of difference between a dory and a boat with a
keel, Sonny. In almost any other kind of a craft I'll allow that it
mightn't have been possible; but it was a mighty tough pull at the
best."
"All it needed was a clear head an' plenty of grit, Sonny," Captain Eph
added. "We were stripped down to it till we had to work or freeze, an'
so we kept her goin', but more'n once I made up my mind that we'd have
to turn back in spite of the hankerin' to give them poor fellows a lift.
Sammy ain't overly fond of laborin', as a general thing; but I must say
he pulled away this forenoon as if he was a glutton at it, an' time an'
time again it seemed as if he reg'larly lifted the dory out'er the water
with his oars."
"That's when I was tryin' to keep myself warm," Mr. Peters said with a
laugh. "The hardest part of it for me was keepin' the snow out'er my
eyes; twice they got froze up, what with the sleet an' spray, an' I had
all I could do to pry 'em open without losin' stroke."
"Was the vessel where you believed, sir?" Sidney asked.
"Ah, Sonny. She'd struck the shoal jest as I allowed, an' had driven up
on the rocks till the fo'c'sle deck was well out'er water, else never
one of the crew would have lived to talk about it. She was a big
barkentine--nigh to a thousand tons, I should say--breakin' up mighty
fast when we got there, with only four men left on deck, an' they so
covered with ice an' snow that you wouldn't have taken 'em for human
beings. They had a small gun, sich as is used for signalin', lashed to
the capstan; but were past firin' it when we hove in sight."
"How was it possible to get on board?" Sidney asked.
"That was what we couldn't do, Sonny. The cap'n of the vessel was the
only one able to give us any help, an' all we could do was to run down
under the lee of the wreck, trustin' to their jumpin' aboard as we
passed, for it stands to reason we couldn't hold the dory in any one
place many seconds, except at the cost of havin' her stove."
"Now don't you think, Sonny, that it didn't need some mighty fine work
to do what Cap'n Eph's tellin' about so quiet-like," Mr. Peters
interrupted. "There ain't another man on this whole coast who could have
done the trick, an' I'm willin' to confess that my heart was in my mouth
pretty much all the time."
"Sammy did his full share of the work, Sonny, an' did it like a little
man," the old keeper said, continuing his story as if there had not been
any interruption. "The first time we ran down, the captain of the
wrecked vessel tossed one of the men aboard us, for the poor fellow was
so far gone he couldn't help himself. The second trip we got another
passenger in the same way, an' the third venture, which was nigh bein'
the last of our work, owin' to an ugly sea catchin' us when we were
within four or five feet of the wreck, the other two men jumped aboard."
"An' by that time we had a full cargo, I can tell you," Mr. Peters said,
determined to relate his share of the story. "We had shipped a barrel of
water while gettin' down there, an' when both the men jumped into the
dory at the same minute, she had all any craft could swim under."
"The two men who had life enough left in 'em to bear a hand, bailed the
water out while Sammy an' I pulled at the oars the best we knew how,"
Captain Eph continued, "an' when she was lightened a bit, they got out
the second pair of oars. Of course the wind helped us mightily, when we
was homeward bound; but at the same time considerable work was needed to
fetch her in safe. That's all there was to the rescue, Sonny, an' I
reckon Sammy an' I are feelin' a good deal better than if we'd hung
'round here listenin' to the gun without liftin' a hand."
"You're brave men, the bravest that ever lived, as Uncle Zenas said this
forenoon," Sidney whispered, and Captain Eph looked up quickly at his
second assistant as he asked sharply:
"What right have you got to fill Sonny's head with sich stuff as that,
Zenas Stubbs? I've seen you do plenty of bigger things in front of
Petersburg, an' never yet felt called upon to say you was so terribly
brave!"
"It's nobody's business what I said to Sonny when you two idjuts was
away," Uncle Zenas said snappishly. "I didn't tell him then what I will
now--that you're both the most pig-headed, opinionated old shell-backs
that ever wheedled the Government into appointin' 'em to the charge of a
light-house!"
Having thus expressed himself so forcibly, the cook went down-stairs as
if suddenly attacked by a fit of the sulks, and Captain Eph whispered
in Sidney's ear:
"Now wouldn't you think he was a cross-grained old curmudgeon? Wa'al, he
ain't, an' his heart is jest as big as his body. It's what you might
call second nature for him to tear 'round when we don't get into the
kitchen the very minute he has the food on the table; but, bless you,
neither Sammy nor I pay any attention to what he says."
"It's gettin' well on to sunset," Mr. Peters suggested, "an' I was so
mixed up this mornin' that I ain't willin' to swear the work in the
lantern was done 'cordin' to the rules an' regerlations. It won't do any
harm to have a look at the lamp."
"Go ahead, Sammy, though I'm allowin' that we did our duty as keepers
before we started out to help them poor creeters," and Captain Eph
followed his first assistant, while Sidney kept close at the latter's
heels.
So far as the lad could judge, there was no decrease in the strength of
the wind, nor could he see anything to betoken the end of the gale, yet
Captain Eph confidently announced that the "backbone of the blow was
broken," and the weather would be fair next morning.
"I hope you're right, Cap'n," Mr. Peters said, as he examined critically
the apparatus, "for it ain't dead sure that we mightn't fetch away from
the wreck quite a lot of stuff that would come in handy to us now an'
then."
"That may be, Sammy; but the question is whether we'd get enough to pay
us for pullin' the dory out there an' back while the sea is runnin'
high."
Now, for the first time since the keepers returned from their dangerous
errand of mercy, did Sidney think of the motor boat, and he asked
concerning her.
"She's stove for good this time, Sonny," Mr. Peters replied, "an' if we
hadn't gone ashore in her jest when we did, all my work would have been
thrown away. I'm allowin' that you'd have hard work to find two of her
timbers; but the motor lays there on the rocks in what I'd call pretty
fair shape, considerin' how it was ripped out of her."
"I wouldn't waste many tears on her, Sonny, for, take it all in all,
we've come out of this 'ere gale a good deal better than we had any
right to expect," Captain Eph said, as if believing the lad would feel
badly because his boat had been destroyed.
"Don't think I'd be so foolish as that, sir," Sidney said with a laugh.
"Of course I'd rather we had her whole and sound; but she didn't begin
to be of as much value in a place like this, as the dory, and if we had
put her into the house, taking your boat out, those poor fellows
down-stairs would not now be alive."
"That's the way to look at it, Sonny," Captain Eph cried cheerily. "Now
we'll start the light, an' then be ready for Uncle Zenas' call. I reckon
he'd expect us to come down when supper was ready, even if the kitchen
was stacked full of half-drowned sailors."
As if in answer to the keeper's remark, Uncle Zenas' head appeared just
above the floor at the head of the stairs, and he said in a hoarse
whisper:
"Two of your shipwreckers are hoppin' 'round down there lively as
chickens; but the others are still asleep. What 'ere we doin' to do
'bout supper?"
"I reckon we'd better have it the same as usual, Uncle Zenas," the
keeper replied. "It won't do any harm if them as are still in bed get
wakened, for they're likely needin' food as much as sleep."
"Then the sooner you get into the kitchen an' go to eatin' the better
it'll be for me. I've got work enough on hand, what with sewin' an'
cookin', without havin' the table in the middle of the floor all night."
"If a fat man who claims to be cook on this 'ere ledge would get off the
stairs so's we could pass, them as have to do all the work while he's
loafin' 'round might get their meals in better season," Mr. Peters
cried as he attempted to crowd past Uncle Zenas, and the latter hurried
down to the kitchen muttering as if he was beside himself with rage.
When Sidney reached the kitchen all the rescued men were awake, and
their captain was introducing them to the crew of the light-house.
"This is Henry Clark, second mate of the barkentine _Nautilus_," he said
as the man who had assisted in rowing the dory ashore stepped forward.
"Carl Bragg and Thomas Cutler were of the crew, and are both able
seamen. I was in command of the ship, and my name is Benjamin Nutter."
Then Captain Eph introduced himself and crew, including Sidney, and
added when that formality was at an end:
"I reckon you're needin' somethin' hot to eat, an' the sooner you tackle
what Uncle Zenas has cooked up, the better he'll be pleased."
The rescued men did not delay in acting upon what was a suggestion
rather than an invitation, and instead of simply asking a blessing upon
the food, Captain Eph offered a fervent prayer of thanksgiving because
the crew of Carys' Ledge light had been permitted to save the lives of
their fellows.
During the conversation which ensued while the meal was in progress,
Captain Nutter explained that his compasses were to blame for the
wreck, since, had they shown true, the _Nautilus_ would have been nearly
an hundred miles to the southward of where she struck. Then, suddenly,
he asked:
"Is that lad one of your crew?"
"Wa'al," Captain Eph replied slowly, "we've begun to think he is, though
I don't reckon we can hold him with us very long. He came ashore in a
fog storm--"
"His father is Captain Harlow of the schooner _West Wind_!" Captain
Nutter cried quickly.
"Ay, that's who he is," the keeper replied in surprise; "but how do you
happen to know it?"
"Because I spoke the _West Wind_ two days ago. She had been cruising
around in search of the missing boat, and was only just put on her
course again when I met her. Captain Harlow asked me to have the fact of
the lad's being adrift in a motor boat inserted in all the leading
newspapers, offering a reward to any one who could give information
concerning the boy. He is bound for San Juan, and thence to Cadiz."
It was only natural that Sidney should be in the highest degree excited
and delighted at thus hearing directly from his father; but an
expression of disappointment came over his face as he heard the keeper's
question and Captain Nutter's reply:
"How long is he likely to be gone on such a voyage as that?"
"Of course very much depends upon the length of time he is forced to
remain in port discharging and loading; but it is safe to reckon on its
being ended inside of a year. In the meantime, as I understood him to
say, his owners will advance whatever money the boy may need."
"A year!" Sidney exclaimed ruefully.
"A year!" Captain Eph cried in delight, and Mr. Peters asked anxiously:
"Think you'd be able to stick it out on Carys' Ledge that long, Sonny,
or will you go ashore the first chance that offers?"
"I'd rather stay here than anywhere else," Sidney replied; "but if the
owners of the _West Wind_ are to pay for my board, perhaps they may
claim the right to say where I shall live."
"That is easily arranged if you want to stop here, lad," Captain Nutter
said. "Write a letter to your father, explaining matters, and there is
no doubt but he will prefer that you stay where it may be the most
agreeable."
"But no one can say when I may be able to send a letter ashore, sir,"
Sidney replied in perplexity.
"Get it ready, lad, and I will see that it is mailed without delay. The
keeper will be so eager to rid himself of four men, that, as soon as
the weather permits, you will see us pulling to the mainland in the
dory."
"He's right, Sonny; we're bound to set him ashore as soon as it may be
done, an' I'll write to your father myself, tellin' him what we old
shell-backs are willin' to do for the sake of keepin' on Carys' Ledge a
little shaver whom we're mighty glad to have with us. Of course you'd
rather go to him; but since he's arranged for you to stay ashore, I hope
you'll want to stop with us."
"Indeed I shall, Captain Eph, and if we can mail our letters very soon,
perhaps I may hear from father before he leaves Porto Rico."
"I allow it can be done without turnin' a hair. I'm predictin' a fair
day for to-morrow; but with a heavy sea runnin'. Four an' twenty hours
later it should be possible for Sammy an' me to make the mainland in the
dory. It'll take the best part of to-morrow for me to write out another
report as to the wreck, an' a letter to your father, so we'll be gettin'
off about as soon as all hands are ready."
Way down deep in Sidney's heart was a feeling of disappointment because
so much time must elapse before he could see his father; but the keepers
were so delighted at the prospect of his remaining with them during the
winter at least, that he strove to hide his own feelings lest they
might think he was ungrateful.
Despite the protests of the shipwrecked men, they were sent to sleep in
the room used by the assistants. Uncle Zenas laid down a pile of
blankets in the kitchen for his couch, and the same kind of a bed was
made for Sidney in the watch-room, he begging for the privilege of
remaining there during the night, to the end that Mr. Peters and Captain
Eph might use the keeper's room.
The occupants of the tower retired at a very early hour, and Sidney
slept so soundly that he did not awaken until after Captain Eph had been
on duty a long while.
"Why didn't you waken me when you came up here?" he asked reproachfully,
and the old keeper replied:
"I allowed it would do you more good to sleep, Sonny, for you had what
might be called a hard day, an' needed all the rest that could be
scooped in."
"It was you and Mr. Peters who had the hard day, sir. I did nothing but
idle the time away."
"Stayin' inside was the worst part of the whole job, Sonny. If a man can
work he's all right; but when it comes that there's nothin' to be done,
he reg'larly eats his heart out worryin'. What are you an' me goin' to
do from now till sunrise?"
"Suppose you tell me some more sea stories?"
"All right, Sonny, if that's what you want, an' I only hope I'll always
be able to satisfy you as easy. This'll be a great year for me; but I
reckon I'll be a terrible lonesome old man after you go away."
"There is no good reason for looking ahead so far as that, sir, for no
one knows what may happen before father comes back, so we'll get all the
pleasure we can now," Sidney said as he seated himself on the old man's
knee.
"You're right, Sonny. It's almost wicked for me to be thinkin' of
anything but the fact that we're to have you with us nigh to twelve
months longer than I thought yesterday at this time could possibly be
the case."
Then Captain Eph drew upon his memory for some of the wildest and
weirdest yarns that were ever spun during a northeast gale, and the time
came for extinguishing the light before Sidney realized that he had been
awake more than half an hour.
The morning's work was done, and breakfast made ready, while the
survivors of the wreck were yet asleep, and Captain Eph would not allow
Uncle Zenas to awaken the slumberers, claiming that it was far better
the cook should do a little additional work, than deprive the
unfortunate men of the rest they needed.
As Captain Eph had predicted, the storm subsided during the night, and
before breakfast had been eaten the clouds were being driven eastward by
the wind. The sea yet ran so high that the ledge was covered by the
waves a goodly portion of the time; but all the crew were positive that
within the next four and twenty hours it would be possible to make the
trip to the mainland in the dory, even though she carried the four
shipwrecked ones in addition to two of the keepers.
"Now we'll go into the watch-room, an' do our writin', Sonny," Captain
Eph said as he arose from the table. "It may be a little early to begin;
but we want to put down all the facts an' figgers so that your father
an' the inspector may know what has happened, an' there's nothin' like
havin' plenty of time when you're writin' out a long yarn."
Before he had finished giving his father a detailed account of all that
had happened to him since he left the _West Wind_, Sidney came to
believe that Captain Eph was not far wrong when he proposed that the
task be begun early in the day. The lad had the satisfaction of knowing,
however, that he told a straightforward, connected story, even though
the greater portion of the forenoon had been spent in writing it down.
Captain Eph did not finish his work very much sooner than had Sidney,
and when the two went down into the kitchen, they found the rescued men
discussing with Mr. Peters and Uncle Zenas the incidents of the
disaster.
The details of the disastrous voyage were related by each of the
survivors in turn, and then came the question as to whether it might be
possible to save anything from the wreck.
Captain Nutter was of the opinion that the _Nautilus_ had already gone
to pieces; but the crew of the light felt certain the forward portion of
the vessel was yet held by the rocks, and Mr. Peters said decidedly:
"When we come back from the shore I'm goin' to make a try for it, an' if
I bring away half a dory-load of canvas, I'll count the time well
spent."
"I sincerely hope you may get enough to pay you for your trouble, and
only wish I might be able to reward you for what you have done in our
behalf; but with the _Nautilus_ a wreck, I'm the same as penniless," and
the deep sigh which escaped Captain Nutter's lips told of the sorrow in
his heart.
"We wouldn't take the value of a cent if you had all the money in the
land," Captain Eph cried emphatically. "This 'ere crew tries to do its
duty by the Government, an' when that's been done, if we can work in a
little overtime, like takin' you off the wreck, we feel as if we could
look ourselves in the face knowin' we'd lent a hand when it was needed."
The serious tone which the conversation had taken did not please Uncle
Zenas, and in order to change the subject he held up the coat on which
he had been working, saying as he did so:
"Come here, Sonny, an' let me see how it fits. I don't claim to be any
great shakes of a tailor; but I hope there's gimp enough in me yet to do
a job like this in a decent manner. Of course Cap'n Eph will buy you
what's needed, when he goes ashore to-morrow, but even then this won't
go amiss to knock around on the ledge in."
Uncle Zenas had no reason to be ashamed of his work; he had made a
sailorly looking garment out of Captain Eph's second-best uniform coat,
and it fitted Sidney quite as well, if not better, than any which could
have been purchased ready made.
"I allers said you was a master hand with a needle, Uncle Zenas," Mr.
Peters cried as he surveyed Sidney in his new coat, with the eye of a
critic, "an' here's the proof that I knew what I was talkin' about.
Captain Eph may buy clothes for Sonny till the day of his death, an' he
won't get anything that'll match this one for all-around goodness."
"I'll do better than that before Sonny has finished his year on Carys'
Ledge," the cook said, vainly striving to hide the pardonable pride he
felt because of his work. "Jest now, though, it's my business to get
dinner, an' if you people will go up into the watch-room so's a man can
have a chance to turn 'round, we'll have some prime salt fish boiled,
with plenty of pork scraps."
"So long's you've got your coat on, you may as well come with me an' see
what's left of the motor boat," Mr. Peters said to Sidney, and since
Captain Eph did not make any objection to the proposition, the two went
down to the ledge.
The machinery was all that could be seen of the little craft in which
the lad had spent so many wretched hours, and that was so badly rent and
rusted that Sidney felt confident it could never be put in working order
again.
"I'm not so certain of that," Mr. Peters said as he examined the motor
carefully. "Of course neither you nor me could set it up, because we
don't know how; but if it holds good weather I'm goin' to take it
ashore, an' put it in the hands of some man who understands his
business. If it's possible to get it in shape, I'll buy a hull, an' next
spring we can knock around out here like a couple of swells, with our
own yacht."
Sidney was not particularly elated by the promise, since he believed the
motor was injured beyond repair; but Mr. Peters was so confident that
he talked of little else during the remainder of the day, and before
sunset even Uncle Zenas had begun to speculate upon the possibility of
owning a power boat, which might be housed on the mainland during the
winter season, when she could not be kept on the ledge.
"You're to stay with Uncle Zenas to-morrow, Sonny," Captain Eph said
while he and Sidney were in the lantern waiting for the moment when the
lamp should be lighted. "I allow it'll be a bit more lonesome than
usual; but it's better than knockin' about in a boat that's overloaded
with six grown men."
"I shall get along all right, sir," Sidney replied in a cheery tone,
although the prospect was not pleasing. "I've been wanting to know more
about light-houses, and I'll spend the time reading some of your books."
"That's right, Sonny," and the keeper stroked the lad's hair
affectionately. "I like to see a boy try to make the best of everything,
as you've done since comin' ashore here. It ain't likely I'll be
gallivantin' all over creation this winter same's I've been doin' these
three days past, an' we'll have some prime good times after we're shut
in by the weather. Now what are you allowin' that I shall buy for you at
the store?"
"I really don't want anything, except something more to wear, and of
course you know that father will give back all the money you may spend
for me."
"He won't if I can prevent it," Captain Eph cried sharply. "It'll do me
solid good to rig you out in proper shape; but I do wish you was
hankerin' after gim-cracks."
"But I'm not, Captain Eph, and I'll be perfectly contented here till
father comes, for I'm a mighty lucky boy to have fallen into such good
hands after floating around so long in an open boat."
"Sunset, an' time to start the lamp!" the keeper cried, looking at the
watch he had been holding in his hands, and once more the light on
Carys' Ledge streamed out across the waters, warning sailormen of the
treacherous rocks near at hand.