PYNE'S PROGRESS
A primrose light in the east heralded a chilly dawn. The little world of
the Gulf Rock bestirred itself in its damp misery at the news. The fresh
watch, delighted by the prospect of activity, clattered up and down the
iron stairs, opened all available windows, unclamped the door when Brand
gave the order, and busied itself exceedingly with the desultory jobs
which offered to so many willing hands.
It was now, by the nautical almanac, dead low water on the reef, but the
strong southwesterly wind, hurling a heavy sea completely over the
rocks, showed that the standards of war and peace differ as greatly in
the matter of tides as in most other respects.
As the light increased it lost its first warm tinge. Steel gray were sky
and water, sombre the iron-bound land, whilst the whereabouts of the sun
became a scientific abstraction. Therefore, the heliograph was useless,
and Brand, helped by some of the sailors, commenced to flaunt his
flag-signals to the watching telescopes on the far-off promontory of the
Land's End. The _Falcon_, strong-hearted trawler, was plunging towards
the rock when the first line of gay bunting swung clear into the breeze.
And what a message it was--in its jerky phrases--its profound
uncertainties--for communication by flag code is slow work, and Brand
left much to an easier system of talk with the approaching steamer.
"_Chinook_--New York to Southampton--struck reef during
hurricane--propeller shaft broken--78 survivors in
lighthouse--captain, 201 passengers, officers and crew--lost with
ship."
The awful significance of the words sank into the hearts of the
signallers. For the first time, the disaster from which, by God's
Providence, they had emerged safely became crystallized into set speech.
Seventy-eight living out of two hundred and eighty who might have lived!
This was the curt intelligence which leaped the waves to fly over the
length and breadth of the land, which sped back to the States to replace
the expected news of a safe voyage, which thrilled the civilized world
as it had not been thrilled for many a day.
Not a soul in the lighthouse gave thought to this side of the affair.
All were anxious to reassure their loved ones, but, in their present
moribund condition, they could not realize the electric effect of the
incident on the wider world which read and had hearts to feel.
Even whilst Stephen Brand was signalling to the _Falcon_, with little
white flags quickly extemporized as soon as she neared the Trinity buoy,
newspaper correspondents ashore were busy at the telegraph-office, and
their associates on the trawler were eagerly transcribing the
lighthouse-keeper's words wherewith to feed to fever heat the sensation
which the night had provided for the day.
Brand, foreseeing the importance of clearness and brevity, had already
written out a full draft of his detailed message.
Faithful to his promise, Stapleton was acting as signaller-in-chief on
board the _Falcon_, so Brand might manipulate his flags as quickly as
lay in his power, with chief officer Emmett reading the words at his
elbow: there was no fear that any mistake would be made by the receiver.
The story, if condensed, was complete. Beginning with an explanation of
the liner's disablement, it dealt with her desperate but unavailing
struggle to weather the reef, described Pyne's gallant and successful
effort to get in touch with the lighthouse, the rescue of a fourth of
those on board, the names of the survivors, and, finally, their
predicament in the matter of food and water.
All this took long to tell.
Within the lantern, Mr. Charles A. Pyne, appointed supernumerary
assistant-keeper, was burnishing brasswork as per instructions received.
He little knew the use which was being made of his name by the tiny bits
of linen tossing about on the exterior gallery. In such wise, helped by
a compositor and dignified by headlines, does a man become a hero in
these days of knighthood conferred by the Press.
Constance was scrutinizing the _Falcon_ from the trimming-stage. Hearing
Enid's cheery "Good-morning" to Pyne when that young lady raced upwards
from the kitchen to catch a glimpse of the reported vessel, she dropped
her glasses for a moment.
"Jack is on board," she announced. "Of course he would be there. And
there is such a lot of other men--half Penzance, I think."
Enid joined her; Pyne, too, thought he could polish a burner up there as
well as on the floor of the service-room.
Stanhope's stalwart figure, clad in oilskins, was clearly defined as he
stood alone on the port side of the _Falcon_'s small bridge, reading off
the signals and sending back spasmodic twitterings of the flags which
he, also, had procured, to indicate that each word was understood.
"Who is the skipper of the tug?" inquired Pyne quietly.
Both girls laughed.
"You mean Jack," cried Enid. "He is not the captain. He is an officer of
the Royal Navy, our greatest friend."
"Jack is his front name, I suppose," went on Pyne, breathing on the
copper disc in his hands to test its clearness.
"We will introduce you, even at this distance," said Constance airily.
"Mr. Pyne--this is Lieutenant John Percival Stanhope, only son of the
late Sir Charles and Lady Margaret Stanhope, of Tregarthen Lodge,
Penzance, one of the best and dearest fellows who ever lived."
"It must be nice to be a friend of yours, Miss Brand, if you always talk
about the favored person in that way," said Pyne, rubbing industriously.
Enid, to whom the mere sight of the steamer had restored all her
vitality, giggled joyously.
"You know, Mr. Pyne, we all love Jack, as the song says. It was a mere
accident that he did not accompany us to the rock yesterday. Connie
would not let him come."
"Ah," said Pyne.
"I forbade him," explained Constance, "because he has only three days'
leave from his ship, and I thought he should give the first afternoon to
his mother instead of playing poodle for Enid."
"How dare you call Jack a poodle?" was the indignant exclamation.
"Allow me," drawled Pyne. "I'm very glad your sister classified him."
Constance suddenly felt her neck and face aflame. Pyne was standing on
her left, Enid on her right. The quiet jubilation of Pyne's voice was so
unmistakable that Enid, for one instant, withdrew her eyes from the
distant ship. A retort was quick on her lips, until she bethought her
that the American's statement might have two meanings.
Being tactful withal, she chose her words whilst she bubbled forth:
"He promised to take us for a drive today. That is the dot and dash
alphabet father and he are using. If dad requires all the dots I'm sure
Jack is monopolizing the dashes. He must be furious about this gale."
Constance, who wanted to pinch Enid severely, had reverted to her normal
healthy hue by this time. She dropped her glasses.
"We are shamefully wasting precious minutes here," she said. "Enid, you
and I ought to be in the kitchen."
Then she glanced with cold self-possession at Pyne, who was whistling
softly between his teeth as he plied the duster.
"As for you," she said, "I never saw anyone work so hard with less
need."
He critically examined the shining burner.
"We Americans are taught to be strenuous," he said smilingly. "That is
the only way you can cut in ahead of the other fellow nowadays, Miss
Brand."
She almost resigned the contest. That unhappy explanation had delivered
her bound into his hands. Yet she strove desperately to keep up the
pretence that their spoken words had no ulterior significance.
"Such energy must be very wearing," she said.
"It is--for the other man."
"But in your case it is unnecessary. My father believes we will be here
at least forty-eight hours." Then she became conscious that again she
had not said exactly what she meant to say. "So you, at any rate, need
not wear your fingers to the bone," she added hurriedly.
"Guess it must be a national vice," he said with irritating complacency.
"Just now I feel I have a regular hustle on."
"Your example equals your precepts. Enid, tear yourself from the
attractive spectacle. There are eighty-one ravenous people to be fed."
"Sorry you haven't hit upon the real reason of my abounding industry,"
said Pyne, who skipped down the ladder first to give the girls a helping
hand as they descended.
"Please tell us. It may be inspiring," said Constance.
"I'm going to ask the boss if I can't take a turn as scullery-maid when
I'm through here."
"Then I veto the idea now," she answered. "Enid and I have had a most
comfortable nap, and I am certain you have not closed your eyes all
night. I will make it my personal business to see that both my father
and you lie down for a couple of hours immediately after breakfast."
"Or else there will be a mutiny in the kitchen," chimed in Enid.
"Connie," she whispered, when they were safely out of hearing from the
service-room, "I never saw a worse case. Talk about the young men
suddenly smitten you read of in novels--"
Her sister whirled round.
"How can you be so silly?" she blazed forth.
"Why did you libel Jack so readily?" tittered Enid.
The other, utterly routed, went on in dignified silence. She did not
speak again until they surveyed the store apportioned for the coming
feast.
"Eighty-one!" she murmured. "What a monstrous deal of people for a
half-penny worth of bread!"
"What is the use of repining?" sang Enid, with a fortissimo accent on
the penultimate syllable. "For where there's a will there's a way.
Tomorrow the sun will be shining, although it is cloudy today."
But Constance was not to be drawn a second time. Her clear brain was
troubled by a formless shadow. It banished from her mind all thought of
a harmless flirtation with the good-looking youngster who had brought a
blush of momentary embarrassment to her fair face.
How dreadful it would be to meet hunger with refusals--perhaps there
were worse things in the world than the midnight ordeal of an angry sea.
Indeed, when Pyne did join them in accord with his intention, he soon
perceived the extent of the new danger. The stress of the night had only
enhanced the need of an ample supply of food. Everybody--even the
inmates of the hospital--was outrageously hungry, and the common
allotment was half a cup of tea and half a ship's biscuit.
For the midday meal there would be two ounces of meat or bacon, one
potato, and another half biscuit with about a wine-glassful of water.
For supper the allowance was half a cup of cocoa and two ounces of
bread, which must be baked during the day. Not quite starvation, this
menu, but far from satisfying to strong men and worn-out women.
The _Falcon_, knowing the uselessness of attempting to creep nearer to
the Gulf Rock, had gone off with her budget to startle two continents.
Stanhope's last message was one of assurance. He would do all that lay
in man's power. The lighthouse soon quieted down to a state of passive
reaction. Pyne, refusing to be served earlier, carried his own and
Brand's scanty meal on a tray to the service-room.
The unwearied lighthouse-keeper was on the balcony, answering a kindly
signal from the Land's End, where the coast-guards were not yet in
possession of the news from Penzance.
He placed the tray on the writing-desk and contemplated its contents
ruefully.
"I guess that banquet won't spoil for keeping," he said to himself.
"I'll just lay round and look at it until the boss quits making speeches
by the yard."
A couple of minutes passed. Brand was hoisting the last line of flags,
when the American heard faltering footsteps on the stairs.
"Don't follow so close, Mamie," said a child's voice. "My arm hurts just
'nuff for anything when I move."
A towzled head of golden hair emerged into the light. It was one of the
two little girls, whom Pyne had not seen since they were swung aloft
from the sloping deck of the _Chinook_.
Their astonishment was mutual. The child, aged about eight, recognized
in him a playmate of the fine days on board ship. She turned with
confident cry.
"I told you so, Mamie. It was up. You said down. Here's the big glass
house--and Mr. Pyne."
She quickened her speed, though her left arm was in a sling. Pyne,
dreading lest she should fall, hastened to help her.
"I'se all right, Mr. Pyne," she announced with an air of great dignity.
"I make one step at a time. Then I ketch the rail. See?"
"You've got it down to a fine point, Elsie," he said. "But what in the
world are those women-folk thinking of to let you and Mamie run loose
about the place."
Elsie did not answer until Mamie stood by her side. Judged by
appearances, Mamie was a year younger. Apart from the nasty bruise on
Elsie's left arm and shoulder, the children had escaped from the horrors
of the wreck almost unscathed in body and certainly untroubled in mind.
"Mamie came to my room for breakfast," explained Elsie at last. "We'se
awful hungry, an' when we axed for 'nother bixit Mrs. Taylor she began
to cry. An' when I said we'd go an' find mamma she cried some more."
"Yes. We'se awful hungry," agreed Mamie. "An' please where's mamma?"
Pyne needed no further explanation. The little ones had lost their
mother; her disfigured body, broken out of all recognition, was tossing
about somewhere in the under-currents of the Channel. None of the women
dared to tell the children the truth, and it was a heartrending task to
deny them food.
So, they were permitted to leave their refuge, with the kindly belief
that they would come to no harm and perchance obtain a further supply
from one of those sweet-faced girls who explained so gently that the
rations must run short for the common good.
Pyne glanced up at the lantern. Outside he could see Brand hauling down
the signal. He sprang to the tray and secured his half biscuit and tea
cup.
"Come along, Elsie," he said, crooking his left arm for her. "Follow
close, Mamie. Mind you don't fall."
"Your mamma is asleep," he assured them in a whisper on the next
landing. "She just can't be woke up for quite a long time."
Then he navigated them to the door of the second bedroom, where Mrs.
Taylor was. He broke the hard biscuit in two pieces and gave one to each
child.
"Here, Mamie, you carry the cup, and go shares in the tea."
"I don't like tea," protested Mamie. "If I can't have coffee I want some
milk."
"Well, now, you wait a little bit, and you'll be tickled to death to see
what I'll bring you. But drink the tea. It's good an' hot. Skip inside,
both of you."
He held the door partly open and they vanished. He heard Mrs. Taylor
say:
"Didn't I tell you those two little dears would do their own business
best."
He regained the service-room to find Brand steeping the remains of his
biscuit in an almost empty cup. The lighthouse-keeper greeted his young
friend with a smile.
"I suppose that you, like the rest of us, never had such an appetite in
all your days?" he said.
"Oh, I'm pretty well fixed," said Pyne, with responsive grin.
"Then you are fortunate. There is usually a wretched little fiend
lurking in a man's inner consciousness which prompts him to desire the
unattainable. Now, I am a poor eater as a rule, yet this morning I feel
I could tackle the toughest steak ever cut off a superannuated cow."
"I don't deny," admitted Pyne, "that the idea of a steak sounds good.
That is, you know," he went on languidly, "it might sort of appeal to me
about one o'clock."
"I should have thought you could do with one now, especially after the
hard night we have gone through. Perhaps you are a believer in the
French system, and prefer a light breakfast."
Brand finished the last morsel of biscuit and drank the cup dry.
"It's a first-rate proposition--when you are accustomed to it," said
Pyne. "But talking about eating when there's little to eat is a poor
business, anyway. Don't you find that?"
"I do indeed."
Brand rose and tapped the barometer, adjusting the sliding scale to read
the tenths.
"Slightly better," he announced. "If only the wind would go down, or
even change to the norrard!"
"What good would a change of wind do?" inquired Pyne, greatly relieved
himself by the change of topic.
"It would beat down the sea to some extent and then they might be able
to drift a buoy, with a rope attached, close enough to the rock at low
tide to enable us to reach it with a cast of a grappling iron."
"Do you mean that we could be ferried to the steamer by that means?"
"That is absolutely out of the question until the weather moderates to a
far greater extent than I dare hope at present. But, once we had the
line, we could rig up a running tackle and obtain some stores."
"Is it as bad as all that?" said the younger man, after a pause.
They looked at each other. The knowledge that all true men have of their
kind leaped from eye to eye.
"Quite that bad," answered Brand.
Pyne moistened his lips. He produced a case containing two cigars. He
held it out.
"Let us go shares in consolation," he said.
Brand accepted the gift, and affected a livelier mood.
"By lucky chance I have an ample supply of tobacco. It will keep the men
quiet," he said. "By the way," and he lifted a quick glance at Pyne, "do
you know anything about chemistry?"
"Well--er--I went through a course at Yale."
"Can colza oil be converted into a food."
"It contains certain fats," admitted Pyne, taking dubious stock of the
question.
"But the process of conversion, the chemical reaction, that is the
difficulty."
"Bi-sulphide of carbon is a solvent, and the fatty acids of most
vegetable oils can be isolated by treatment with steam super-heated to
about 600° Fahrenheit."
Brand threw out his hands with a little gesture of helplessness; just
then Constance appeared.
"Dad," she cried, "did not Mr. Pyne tell you of my threat?"
"No, dear one. I am not living in terror of you, to my knowledge."
"You must please go to sleep, both of you, at least until ten or eleven
o'clock. Mr. Emmett is sending a man to keep watch here. He will not
disturb you. He is bringing some rugs and pillows which you can arrange
on the floor. I have collected them for your special benefit."
"At this hour! Impossible, Connie."
"But it is not impossible, and this is the best hour available. You know
quite well that the _Falcon_ will return at high water. And you must
rest, you know."
She bustled about, with the busy air of a house-wife who understood the
whole art of looking after her family. But something puzzled her.
"Mr. Pyne," she inquired, "where is your cup?"
"I--er--took it down," he explained.
For some reason, Constance felt instantly that she had turned the tables
on him since their last _rencontre_. She did not know why. He looked
confused, for one thing: he was not so glib in speech, for another.
"Down where?" she demanded. "Not to the kitchen. I have been there since
you brought up your breakfast and dad's on the same tray."
"I breakfasted alone," remarked Brand calmly. "Mr. Pyne had feasted
earlier."
"But he had not," persisted Constance. "I wanted him to--"
She stopped. This impudent American had actually dared to wink at her, a
confidential, appealing wink which said plainly: "Please don't trouble
about me."
"You gave your tea and biscuit to somebody," she cried suddenly. "Now,
who was it? Confess!"
"Well," he said weakly, "I did not feel--er--particularly hungry, so,
when I met those two little girls foolin' round for an extra supply,
I--er--thought nobody would mind if--er--"
"Father!" said Constance. "He has not had a mouthful."
"Then take him downstairs and give him one. You must have found my
conversation interesting, Mr. Pyne, whilst I was eating. But, before you
go, let me add a word in season. There must be no further discrimination
between persons. Stand or fall, each must abide by the common rule."
Pyne, with the guilty feeling of a detected villian, explained to
Constance how the cup might be rescued.
"I shall keep a close eye on you in future," she announced as they went
below.
"Do," he said. "That is all I ask for."
"I am a very strict person," she went on. "Dad always encouraged us in
the sailor's idea of implicit obedience."
"Kick me. It will make me feel good," he answered.
Entering the second bed-room, where Elsie and Mamie were seated
contentedly on the floor, she stooped and kissed them. And not a word
did she say to Enid as to the reason why Mr. Pyne should be served with
a second breakfast. She knew that any parade of his unselfishness would
hurt him, and he, on his part, gave her unspoken thanks for her thought.
Conversation without words is an art understood only by master-minds and
lovers, so these two were either exceptionally clever persons or
developing traits of a more common genus--perhaps both.