THE INSPECTOR.
Sidney told the story of his rescue to Mr. Sawyer, while the two were
up-stairs selecting such articles from Captain Eph's wardrobe as the
mate needed, and dwelt at length on the care and affection which the
light-house crew had bestowed upon him.
When they descended to the kitchen again a substantial meal was set
before the rescued sailor, and after it had been eaten, he explained how
he chanced to be adrift in the dory with neither food nor water.
He, with one of the men from the fisherman, had been sent out to set
trawls, and while they were thus engaged a white squall struck them. To
make any effort at battling against it was out of the question, and they
allowed their boat to drift before it, doing no more than to keep her
head on to the seas, believing the fishing schooner would be able to
pick them up.
Their story was not unlike the many which we read of from time to time,
among the disasters to the fishing fleet. During the remainder of that
day, and all the night, they scudded before the wind, and when morning
came, with nothing to be seen on the angry waste of waters, they
exhausted themselves in the effort to row the dory back whence they
came, believing the schooner had been hove to.
When another night approached they were no longer able even to guide the
boat. Both suffered bitterly with thirst and hunger, and as the wind
continued to blow with great fury, it looked as if they were doomed to a
lingering death, with but the faintest hope of a rescue. Mr. Sawyer's
companion gave up the unequal struggle in despair, refusing to raise a
hand in his own behalf.
"From that moment," Mr. Sawyer said as he concluded the sad story, "he
remained aft in the bottom of the boat, and I was unable to arouse him.
How long we drifted after that, I cannot rightly say; but when I saw you
making preparations to aid us, I tried to pull him to his feet, that he
might be in shape to help himself in some slight degree. I believe he
was already dead, and, knowing that I could not get ashore through the
surf burdened with his lifeless body, I gave no further heed to him.
Even as it was, I came near drowning Mr. Peters, for the two of us were
rolled over and over half a dozen times before you pulled us to our
feet, and then I was so dazed that but for his grip on my collar I must
have fallen back into the surf."
"If Sammy once got hold of you it was a case of your comin' out," Uncle
Zenas said with a laugh. "He's so stubborn that nothin' short of bein'
really choked to death would have made him give up."
Then the conversation turned upon the possibilities of Mr. Sawyer's
being able to gain the mainland, and before it had come to an end Mr.
Peters and Sidney were forced to go into the lantern to light the lamp.
Captain Eph was determined to return to his own room, and once more he
was half-dragged, half-carried up-stairs; but this time the task was
accomplished with less pain to him because of the assistance Mr. Sawyer
was able to give.
Next morning the wind showed signs of abating, and the old keeper
predicted that within eight and forty hours it would be possible to make
a landing on the ledge.
"Then we shall see the tender again, if it so be the inspector wants to
get some word to us, an' you can go back in her," Captain Eph said as if
there was no question in his mind as to what would happen; and Mr.
Sawyer asked concerning Sidney's plans for the future.
The lad himself explained that he proposed to remain on the ledge,
unless his father should send instructions to the contrary, and Mr.
Sawyer said in a matter-of-fact tone:
"I'll tell the captain how comfortably you are situated here, and even
if he has made arrangements for you to go else-where, there's little
doubt but that he'll change them."
"Do you expect to see father very soon?" Sidney asked in surprise.
"Ay, lad, if I can get ashore, and am lucky enough to find a vessel
ready to sail for Porto Rico, I'm hopin' to get there before he leaves.
I'd offer to take you with me; but in case my plan shouldn't work
exactly as I've figgered, you would be in a bad fix."
"Sonny had better stay where he is," Captain Eph said emphatically, and
Uncle Zenas added:
"We couldn't let him go while two of us are crippled, for we wouldn't be
able to run the light without him."
Before night came the wind and sea had so far subsided that there was no
longer any question about its being possible for the tender to send a
boat ashore in case she came out to the reef within the next twenty-four
hours, and Mr. Peters and Sidney worked like beavers to put the interior
of the tower in the best possible shape for the reception of visitors.
When another day dawned the weather was all the veriest fresh-water
sailor could have asked for, save that the sea still ran in long, heavy
swells which might have caused any but seasoned sailors considerable
discomfort, and from the time breakfast had been eaten all hands kept
watch for the approach of the steamer.
It was Captain Eph who first saw her in the distance, and he said, after
making known the fact that she was heading for the ledge:
"The inspector must have got it into his head that things have been
goin' wrong in this 'ere tower, else he'd never come so soon again jest
to bring a message from Sidney's father."
There is no need of saying that all hands were considerably excited by
the time the little steamer slowed down on the western side of the ledge
that a boat might be lowered, and Mr. Peters said, as he and Sidney went
to the cove that they might meet whosoever was coming ashore:
"There's no sense of our gettin' into a stew before hand, Sonny. If so
be we've done wrong without knowin' it, we'll hear about it soon enough,
an' if it's a message from your father, there ain't any call to feel
bad. Wa'al, I declare, if that ain't the inspector himself gettin' into
the boat!" the first assistant added as he saw the officer. "This ain't
the time for his reg'lar visit, an' I reckon we're goin' to be
overhauled in great shape, though what it can be about beats me!"
Five minutes later the small boat was entering the cove, and a
kindly-faced gentleman in the stern-sheets cried out:
"Well, Mr. Peters, I hear that the crew of this light have been
distinguishing themselves. So that is the new assistant you have taken
on?" and he nodded toward Sidney. "How are Captain Downs and Mr. Stubbs
getting on?"
"Uncle Zenas is so he can 'tend to the cookin' all right, sir; but he
can't amble 'round very lively. Cap'n Eph is likely to be lame quite a
spell yet."
"Who is the stranger in the doorway?" and the inspector looked curiously
toward the tower.
"He's a sailor we picked up day before yesterday, sir; drifted here in a
dory."
"Been doing more work as life-savers, have you?" the inspector asked in
such a kindly tone that Sidney decided he had not come out to find
fault.
By this time the officer had stepped ashore and was going toward the
tower; but, observing that Mr. Peters remained behind, he called:
"I want to see you and Captain Downs together, Mr. Peters, and we may as
well attend to the Department's business first. Come in, please."
"Now there _is_ trouble brewin'," Mr. Peters whispered to Sidney, "an'
it must be mighty serious, for this is the first time the inspector ever
wanted me around when he was overhaulin' Cap'n Eph's accounts."
[Illustration: MATINICUS.]
"He looks too friendly to be very fierce," Sidney replied, and the first
assistant muttered:
"You can't allers tell by the look of a cat how far she'll jump. I'd
rather have a man come at me hammer an' tongs, than be so terrible
pleasant when he's gettin' ready to read the riot act."
When Mr. Peters and Sidney entered the kitchen the inspector was
questioning Uncle Zenas as to how he had been injured, and the second
assistant soon told the whole story, very briefly.
"I suppose Captain Downs is in his room," the inspector finally said.
"We'll go there, and if it is possible for you to get up-stairs far
enough to hear what is said, Mr. Stubbs, I shall be glad to have you do
so."
"He's goin' to give all hands a wiggin'," Mr. Peters whispered, and
Sidney felt strongly inclined to laugh outright, so comical was the
expression of fear on the first assistant's face.
The crew of Cary's Ledge light was not long kept in suspense as to the
reason for the inspector's visit. After assuring himself, by personal
examination, that the keeper's injured limb had been attended to in a
proper manner, he said abruptly as he took rather a bulky package from
his pocket:
"Captain Nutter of the _Nautilus_ reported to the Department, through
me, that you two men, at great peril to yourselves, saved the lives of
three of his crew and himself, all of whom would have unquestionably
been drowned but for your heroic exertions. The Light-House Board has
instructed me to say that they are proud to have such men in the
service, and I have here a letter of commendation. The Treasury
Department has sent these two gold medals on which are inscribed your
names and the service rendered, in token that the Government holds you
in especial esteem as brave men--such men as are needed in the
light-house service."
As the inspector spoke, the two keepers and Sidney gazed at him in
open-mouthed astonishment, while from the head of the stairs could be
heard the heavy breathing of Uncle Zenas, and when the cases containing
the medals were being opened by the officer, the second assistant could
remain silent no longer.
"You ain't makin' the littlest bit of a mistake, Mr. Inspector, when you
call them two brave men! I know what they did, an' I'll take my affidavy
that you won't find another couple of their age who'd put out in a dory
sich a mornin' as that when the barkentine laid on the shoal!"
"I am willing to say, judging from the statement made by Captain Nutter,
that it was an exceptional show of bravery, Mr. Stubbs, and am
thoroughly well pleased to be able to put the medals in their hands. Why
don't you look at them?" he added as Captain Eph and Mr. Peters held the
leather cases gingerly without offering to touch the heavy golden
tokens.
"To tell the truth, sir, you've knocked the gimp all out of me!" the old
keeper said as he brushed his eyes, and then threw his arms around
Sidney as if on the verge of bursting into tears, while Mr. Peters
choked and coughed, but spoke never a word.
Then the inspector, as if to break the silence which was becoming almost
painful, said as he laid his hand on Sidney's head:
"It was because of you that we tried to land here the other day; your
father had requested that you be taken from the ledge, and a
boarding-place be found for you on the mainland. Since having received
your letter, however, he telegraphed, yesterday, that you be allowed to
remain in the light until his return, and because of the assistance
which I learn you have rendered the keepers, I see no reason why the
Board will not grant his request."
"Then he's to stay, is he?" Captain Eph cried, displaying a keener
interest in the matter than he had in the medals, and the inspector
repeated what he had already said.
"I'd rather have the little shaver with me for a year to come, than all
the gold an' letters the Board can send!" he cried, again holding Sidney
very close to him, and the inspector quietly went down-stairs, leaving
the two men and the boy alone.
Uncle Zenas was not disposed to keep secret Mr. Peters' latest
exhibition of bravery, and, calling upon Mr. Sawyer for confirmation, he
told the story to the inspector in detail, concluding by saying:
"There are times when it's terribly tryin' to have Sammy pokin' 'round
the kitchen; but if any trouble comes up, you can count on him every
minute of the day or night, no matter how many chances he may be takin'
of losin' his own life. He an' Sonny together have run the light, done
the cookin', an' doctored Cap'n Eph and me up in great shape since we
were laid by the heels."
"I will report to the Board that which you have told us," the inspector
said gravely, and then announced that he intended to leave the ledge at
once. "I wanted to give the medals into the hands of the keepers, rather
than intrust the matter to others, and there is nothing now to keep me."
"Don't you want to see Cap'n Eph agin?" Uncle Zenas cried, surprised
that the inspector should even think of going away without informing the
keeper of his purpose.
"It will be well to leave them alone for a time, and whatever business I
may have in regard to the boy can be transacted when I next come out on
a tour of inspection. Now, Mr. Sawyer, if you are ready, we will go
aboard."
Thus it was that when, ten minutes later, Mr. Peters and Sidney came
into the kitchen, there was no one save Uncle Zenas to be seen, and the
light-house tender was hardly more than a faint smudge in the distance.
"The inspector has gone, an' took Sawyer with him!" Mr. Peters cried to
the keeper when he learned of what had occurred.
"Gone?" Captain Eph cried incredulously. "Why, that can't be, for I
haven't had a chance to make a report about the way Uncle Zenas an' I
have neglected our duty."
"He left jest the same as if he knew all about it," the second assistant
cried, and then, turning to Mr. Peters, he demanded, "What have you done
with your medal, Sammy?"
"We've put 'em both away in Cap'n Eph's box. You don't s'pose we'd keep
the like of them knockin' 'round loose, do you?"
"Of course I s'pose it!" Uncle Zenas cried angrily. "I'm allowin' that
you'll wear 'em all the time, so's folks will see what you've done. I'd
like to know what medals are for, if not to wear."
"Wa'al, the ones that are up-stairs will stay jest where they are, 'cept
when you get ready to look at 'em. Do you allow, Uncle Zenas, that I'd
look pretty cleanin' fish, or knockin' 'round over the ledge with a big
lump of gold hangin' to my coat?"
The second assistant was by no means satisfied with this statement. He
declared that if the medals were not to be worn daily, they should at
least be kept where visitors would be certain to see them, and
threatened that, unless some arrangement of that kind were made, he
would resign his position of second assistant without delay, "rather
than stay 'round with a couple of idjuts who didn't know enough to
spread themselves when they had the chance."
Uncle Zenas carried his point finally, otherwise his comrades might have
had difficulty in obtaining food, save by using force, and before he
would consent to take the first step toward cooking dinner, the medals
were hung conspicuously in the watch-room.
Sidney was woefully disappointed because he had not been able to send
some message by Mr. Sawyer to his father; but Captain Eph consoled him
by predicting that the mate would not succeed in getting to Porto Rico
before the _West Wind_ had taken her departure.
"He's got to find a vessel bound for that port, an' then coax the cap'n
into givin' him a passage, all of which takes time. It don't stand to
reason, Sonny, that he'll get there, an' your messages can be sent in a
reg'lar letter, for of course your father wrote you an' me 'bout the
same time he telegraphed to the inspector. It seems to me everything has
come 'round jest as we'd like to have it, an' you're to stay here with
us!"
"But how am I to get the letter, if father wrote one?" the lad asked
anxiously, and Uncle Zenas replied:
"Don't you fear but that it'll be sent out here to you. The inspector is
bound to come again before long, for he jest the same as said so, an'
all we've got to do is enjoy ourselves--that is, when Cap'n Eph can
toddle 'round once more, an' I'm able to move about without most killin'
myself."
This conversation had been carried on with Uncle Zenas sitting on the
stairs where he could look into the keeper's room, for he had refused to
go back to the kitchen, or allow any one else to do so, until the medals
had been hung in the watch-room according to his instructions.
Now, however, he made ready to set about the work of getting dinner, and
astonished his comrades by declaring that when he had cooked the best
meal possible from the stores on hand, it should be served in the
keeper's room, regardless of the additional labor such an arrangement
would entail.
"You'll have to lug everythin', even to the dishes, up here, an' carry
'em back again!" Captain Eph exclaimed, and Uncle Zenas replied:
"I wouldn't care if the whole outfit was to be taken inter the lantern,
it should be done. I'd like to know, Ephraim Downs, if we're ever likely
to have so much reason for a thanksgivin' dinner as we've got this day?"
"You're right, Uncle Zenas, you're right, an' seein's how the only way
we can celebrate is by eatin', get to work, an' if dinner ain't ready
till midnight, we'll turn to all the heartier for havin' waited so
long."
"You'll have to bring up the table an' the dishes, Sammy," the second
assistant said in a tone of authority, and Mr. Peters replied with a
grin:
"I reckon that won't be any very hard job; but if you're countin' on my
luggin' you too, the plan won't work, for nothin' short of a derrick
would answer on sich a job as that."
"If I can't get 'round this 'ere tower without callin' on you for help,
I'll stay in the kitchen, same's I've been doin'," Uncle Zenas replied
sharply, and then he made his way down the stairs, a furious clattering
of pots and pans telling a few moments later that he had commenced work
on the "thanksgiving" dinner.
* * * * *
And here it is, while preparations for the celebration are in progress,
that we must leave the crew of Carys' Ledge and their guest, for the
very good reason that it would not be practicable to follow them day by
day to the present time. The year which Sidney was to remain there does
not come to an end until next October, and, therefore, it is impossible
to say whether he will leave the crew when his father returns, or live
so near them that daily visits may be possible.
More than once since that day when he delivered the medals has the
inspector hinted that as a reward for their faithful services it was
probable they would be transferred to a light-house on the mainland, and
during his last visit he told Sidney as a very great secret that he
believed the change would be made during this present summer.
When this has been done, the three light keepers will be stationed near
Sidney's old home, and he believes that he will be allowed to live near,
if not really with them, while attending school.
The motor boat was built as Mr. Peters had planned, and early in the
spring after the wreck of the _Nautilus_, she was taken to Cary's
Ledge. During this summer she has been used for pleasure excursions,
trips to the mainland, or for fishing on nearly every pleasant day, and
that she is a seaworthy craft may be inferred from the fact that Uncle
Zenas has been out in her a dozen times or more.
It would indeed be a labor of love to set down more concerning the lives
of these three light keepers and the lad whom they call "Sonny"; and at
some future day, if the young people so desire, the full particulars of
Sidney's stay on Carys' Ledge, after the visit of the inspector with the
medals, shall be written.
APPENDIX.
EXTRACTS FROM OFFICIAL REPORTS.
To the end that the modern light-house service may be the better
understood and appreciated by whosoever reads this story of the Maine
coast, the following extracts are taken from the last annual report of
the Light-House Board, and from the work on the Light-House Service,
prepared by Mr. Johnson, chief clerk of the Light-House Board, and
published by the Government:
The famous Pharos of Alexandria, built about 285 B.C. is the first
light of undoubted record. The light-house at Corunna, Spain, is
believed to be the oldest existing light-tower. This was built in
the reign of Trajan, and in 1634 it was reconstructed. The erection
of the Eddystone Light-house, off Plymouth, England, formed an era
in the construction of light-houses. The masonry was 76 feet 6
inches, and the top of the lantern 93 feet, above the foundation.
It was completed in 1759. The various courses were so dovetailed
into each other, and the whole fifty so secured together, that the
tower was almost as solid as if cut out of the solid block. Immense
difficulties had to be overcome from the first landing on the rock
on April 5, 1756, to the laying of the first stone, June 12, 1757,
and the last, on August 24, 1759. But strong as it was, it became
necessary to take it down and rebuild it on a neighboring rock, as
that on which it was founded was weakened from the constant
assaults on the sea. This was safely done within our own time.
The Wolf Rock Light-house, off Land's End, Cornwall, England, is
the last great British work, and both in its structure and its
illumination it combines all the refined improvements. A survey was
made in 1861, and the foundation commenced in March, 1862. In the
first season only eighty-three hours of work could be done, and
between that and its completion, on July 19, 1869; there were in
the eight working seasons two hundred and ninety-six landings on
the rock, and the time occupied was equal to about one hundred and
one working days of ten hours each. The cost was £62,726.
The great distinction between the later towers and their
predecessors is that the stones of each course are dovetailed
together laterally and vertically, so that the use of metal or
wooden pins is needless. This method was first used at the Hanois
Rock, Guernsey. On the upper face and at one end of each block is a
dovetailed projection; and on the under face and at the other end
is a dovetailed indentation. The upper and under dovetails are made
just to fall into each other, and when the hydraulic cement is
placed on the surface it so locks the dovetailing that the stones
cannot be separated without breaking. Thus, when the cement is set
and hardened, the whole of the base is literally one solid mass of
granite. The lower courses for the first 39 feet of the Wolf Rock
Light-house have fillets on their outer edges, into which the
upper course is stepped, and this prevents the action of the waves
from penetrating the joint.
There is little doubt but that the early colonists recognized the
necessity for beacons with which to guide their home-returning
shallops to a safe anchorage, and that they took effective means to
show the English and Dutch ships which should make their land-fall
at night the safe way to the harbor. But the first authentic
evidence of this being done at the public charge, is the record of
the proceedings of the general court of the Province of
Massachusetts Bay, from which it appears that on March 9, 1673, a
petition came from the citizens of Nantasket, Massachusetts (now
Hull), for the lessening of their taxes, because of the material
and labor they had expended over and above their proportion in
building the beacon on Point Allerton, the most prominent headland
near the entrance to Boston harbor. At that session also it appears
that bills were paid from Nantasket for making and furnishing
"fier-bales of pitch and ocum for the beacon at Allerton Point,"
which "fier-bales" were burned in an iron grate or basket on the
top of a beacon, for the building of which Nantasket had furnished
400 boat-loads of stone.
The first light-house on this continent was built at the entrance
to Boston harbor, on Little Brewster Island, in 1715-16, at a cost
of £2,285 17s 8-1/2d. It was erected by the order and at the
expense of the general court of the Province of Massachusetts Bay,
and it was supported by light-dues of 1d per ton on all incoming
and outgoing vessels, except coasters, levied by the collector of
imports at Boston.
The maritime colonies followed the example of Massachusetts, and
when the United States by the act of August 7, 1789, accepted the
title to, and joint jurisdiction over, the light-houses on the
coast, and agreed to maintain them thereafter, they were eight in
number, and comprised the following lights, all of which are still
in existence, though so greatly improved that they are the same
only in purpose and in site:
Portsmouth Harbor Light, New Hampshire; Boston Light, on Little
Brewster Island; the Gurnet Light, near Plymouth, Massachusetts;
Brant Point Light, on Nantucket, Massachusetts; Beaver Tail Light,
on Conanicut Island, Rhode Island, in Narragansett Bay; Sandy Hook
Light, New Jersey, entrance to New York harbor; Cape Henlopen,
Delaware, at the entrance to Delaware Bay; Charleston Main Light on
Morris Island, entrance to the harbor of Charleston, South
Carolina.
The theory of coast lighting is that each coast shall be so set
with towers that the rays from their lights shall meet and pass
each other, so that a vessel on the coast shall never be out of
sight of a light, and that there shall be no dark places between
lights. This is the theory upon which the United States is
proceeding, and it plants lights where they are most needed upon
those lines. Hence from year to year the length of the dark spaces
on its coasts is lessened or expunged entirely, and the day will
come when all its coasts will be defined from end to end by a band
of lights by night, and by well-marked beacons by day.
In the first century of its existence the light-house establishment
of the United States cost about ninety-three and a quarter millions
of dollars.
In 1791 the amount expended by the Government in support of its
light-house establishment was $22,591.94. In 1890 the expenditures
amounted to $3,503,994.12.
The average yearly sum paid for maintaining an average
light-station of each class is:
For a first-order light-station $3,842.00
For a second-order light-station 2,711.12
For a third-order light-station 1,568.77
For a fourth-order light-station 1,107.83
For a fifth-order light-station 635.05
For a sixth-order light-station 552.17
For an outside light-ship of recent build 7,078.28
For an inside light-ship of old build 3,546.32
For an average fog-signal, operated by steam or hot air 2,260.59
For a steam tender of recent build 15,126.83
There are under the control of the light-house establishment the
following named aids to navigation:
Light-houses and beacon lights 1,423
Light-vessels in position 46
Light-vessels for relief 8
Gas-lighted buoys in position 130
Fog-signals operated by steam, caloric, or oil engines, about 197
Fog-signals operated by machinery, about 233
Post-lights, about 1,868
Day or unlighted beacons, about 668
Whistling buoys in position, about 88
Bell-buoys in position, about 139
Other buoys in position, including pile buoys and stakes in
fifth district and buoys in Alaskan waters 5,088
In the construction, care, and maintenance of these aids to navigation
there are employed:
Steam tenders 40
Steam launches 7
Sailing tenders 1
Light keepers, about 1,525
Officers and crews of light-vessels and tenders, about 1,279
Laborers in charge of post-lights, about 1,600
LIST OF MEMBERS OF LIGHT-HOUSE BOARD, JULY 1st, 1904.
HON. VICTOR H. METCALF, Secretary of Commerce and Labor, ex-officio
president.
REAR ADMIRAL ROBLEY D. EVANS, U. S. Navy, chairman.
COL. WALTER S. FRANKLIN.
MAJ. HARRY F. HODGES, Corps of Engineers, U. S. Army.
DR. HENRY S. PRITCHETT, Institute of Technology.
COL. AMOS STICKNEY, Corps of Engineers, U. S. Army.
CAPT. GEORGE C. REITER, U. S. Navy.
CAPT. CHARLES T. HUTCHINS, U. S. Navy, naval secretary.
LIEUT. COL. DANIEL W. LOCKWOOD, Corps of Engineers, U. S. Army,
engineers' secretary.
EXECUTIVE MEMBERS OF THE BOARD.
REAR ADMIRAL ROBLEY D. EVANS, U. S. Navy.
CAPT. CHARLES T. HUTCHINS, U. S. Navy.
LIEUT. COL. DANIEL W. LOCKWOOD, U. S. Army.
Partial list of appropriations made at the second session of the
Fifty-Eighth Congress for the Light-House Establishment:
Supplies of light-houses $475,000
Repairs of light-houses 740,000
Salaries of light keepers 815,000
Expenses of light-vessels 525,000
Expenses of buoyage 550,000
Expenses of fog-signals 205,000
Lighting of rivers 300,000
Survey of light-house sites 1,000
Oil houses for light-stations 10,000
Porto Rican light-house service 75,000
Maintenance of lights on channels of Great Lakes 4,000
Pointe au Pelee light-vessel, Lake Erie 4,000
* * * * *
Transcriber's Note:
Punctuation has been standardised.
Variations in spelling, including dialect, have been retained as in
the original publication.
The following changes have been made:
Page 35: "own true an' lawful afther" was changed to
"own true an' lawful father"
Page 132: "and I' ll try not to forget it" was changed to
"and I'll try not to forget it"
Page 163: "Why my report hasn't yet reached the inspector,
consequently there ain't a single soul, outside
of us four, who knows anything wreck was the
_West Wind_, having come out here after about it."
was changed to
"Why my report hasn't yet reached the inspector,
consequently there ain't a single soul, outside
of us four, who knows anything about the wreck
of the _West Wind_, because he hasn't come out
here about it."
Page 164: "entirely dlsmised the matter" was changed to
"entirely dismissed the matter"
Page 185: "of use, Sonny. Ephriam Downs is" was changed to
"of use, Sonny. Ephraim Downs is"
Page 261: "himself in comamnd. "I'll" was changed to
"himself in command. "I'll"
Page 273: "a hospital, why would'nt it be" was changed to
"a hospital, why wouldn't it be"
Page 296: "they wanted to speak us" was changed to
"they wanted to speak to us"
Page 315: "the man with the magaphone shouted" was changed to
"the man with the megaphone shouted"