Chapter Twenty.

Chapter Twenty.The Smugglers are “Treated” to Gin and Astonishment.They found the lieutenant and Captain Ogilvy stretched on the grass, smoking their pipes together. The daylight had almost deepened into night, and a few stars were beginning to twinkle in the sky.“Hey! what have we here—smugglers?” cried the captain, springing up rather quickly, as Ruby came unexpectedly on them.“Just so, uncle,” said Minnie, with a laugh. “We have here some gin, smuggled all the way from Holland, and have come to ask your opinion of it.”“Why, Ruby, how came you by this?” enquired Lindsay in amazement, as he examined the kegs with critical care.“Suppose I should say that I have been taken into confidence by the smugglers and then betrayed them.”“I should reply that the one idea was improbable, and the other impossible,” returned the lieutenant.“Well, I have at all events found out their secrets, and now I reveal them.”In a few words Ruby acquainted his friends with all that has just been narrated.The moment he had finished, the lieutenant ordered his men to launch the boat. The kegs were put into the stern-sheets, the party embarked, and, pushing off, they rowed gently out of the bay, and crept slowly along the shore, under the deep shadow of the cliffs.“How dark it is getting!” said Minnie, after they had rowed for some time in silence.“The moon will soon be up,” said the lieutenant. “Meanwhile I’ll cast a little light on the subject by having a pipe. Will you join me, captain?”This was a temptation which the captain never resisted; indeed, he did not regard it as a temptation at all, and would have smiled at the idea of resistance.“Minnie, lass,” said he, as he complacently filled the blackened bowl, and calmly stuffed down the glowing tobacco with the end of that marvellously callous little fingers, “it’s a wonderful thing that baccy. I don’t know what man would do without it.”“Quite as well as woman does, I should think,” replied Minnie.“I’m not so sure of that, lass. It’s more nat’ral for man to smoke than for woman. Ye see, woman, lovely woman, should be ‘all my fancy painted her, both lovely and divine.’ It would never do to have baccy perfumes hangin’ about her rosy lips.”“But, uncle, why should man have the disagreeable perfumes you speak of hanging abouthislips?”“I don’t know, lass. It’s all a matter o’ feeling. ‘’Twere vain to tell thee all I feel, how much my heart would wish to say;’ but of this I’m certain sure, that I’d never git along without my pipe. It’s like compass, helm, and ballast all in one. Is that the moon, leftenant?”The captain pointed to a faint gleam of light on the horizon, which he knew well enough to be the moon; but he wished to change the subject.“Ay is it, and there comes a boat. Steady, men! lay on your oars a bit.”This was said earnestly. In one instant all were silent, and the boat lay as motionless as the shadows of the cliffs among which it was involved.Presently the sound of oars was heard. Almost at the same moment, the upper edge of the moon rose above the horizon, and covered the sea with rippling silver. Ere long a boat shot into this stream of light, and rowed swiftly in the direction of Arbroath.“There are only two men in it,” whispered the lieutenant.“Ay, these are my good friends Swankie and Spink, who know a deal more about other improper callings besides smuggling, if I did not greatly mistake their words,” cried Ruby.“Give way, lads!” cried the lieutenant.The boat sprang at the word from her position under the cliffs, and was soon out upon the sea in full chase of the smugglers, who bent to their oars more lustily, evidently intending to trust to their speed.“Strange,” said the lieutenant, as the distance between the two began sensibly to decrease, “if these be smugglers, with an empty boat, as you lead me to suppose they are, they would only be too glad to stop and let us see that they had nothing aboard that we could touch. It leads me to think that you are mistaken, Ruby Brand, and that these are not your friends.”“Nay, the same fact convinces me that they are the very men we seek; for they said they meant to have some game with you, and what more amusing than to give you a long, hard chase for nothing?”“True; you are right. Well, we will turn the tables on them. Take the helm for a minute, while I tap one of the kegs.”The tapping was soon accomplished, and a quantity of the spirit was drawn off into the captain’s pocket-flask.“Taste it, captain, and let’s have your opinion.” Captain Ogilvy complied. He put the flask to his lips, and, on removing it, smacked them, and looked at the party with that extremely grave, almost solemn expression, which is usually assumed by a man when strong liquid is being put to the delicate test of his palate.“Oh!” exclaimed the captain, opening his eyes very wide indeed.What “oh” meant, was rather doubtful at first; but when the captain put the flask again to his lips, and took another pull, a good deal longer than the first, much, if not all of the doubt was removed.“Prime! nectar!” he murmured, in a species of subdued ecstasy, at the end of the second draught.“Evidently the right stuff,” said Lindsay, laughing.“Liquid streams—celestial nectar,Darted through the ambient sky,—”Said the captain; “liquid, ay, liquid is the word.”He was about to test the liquid again:—“Stop! stop! fair play, captain; it’s my turn now,” cried the lieutenant, snatching the flask from his friend’s grasp, and applying it to his own lips.Both the lieutenant and Ruby pronounced the gin perfect, and as Minnie positively refused either to taste or to pronounce judgment, the flask was returned to its owner’s pocket.They were now close on the smugglers, whom they hailed, and commanded to lay on their oars.The order was at once obeyed, and the boats were speedily rubbing sides together.“I should like to examine your boat, friends,” said the lieutenant as he stepped across the gunwales.“Oh! sir, I’m thankfu’ to find you’re not smugglers,” said Swankie, with an assumed air of mingled respect and alarm.“If we’d only know’d ye was preventives we’d ha’ backed oars at once. There’s nothin’ here; ye may seek as long’s ye please.”The hypocritical rascal winked slyly to his comrade as he said this. Meanwhile Lindsay and one of the men examined the contents of the boat, and, finding nothing contraband, the former said—“So, you’re honest men, I find. Fishermen, doubtless?”“Ay, some o’ yer crew ken us brawly,” said Davy Spink with a grin.“Well, I won’t detain you,” rejoined the lieutenant; “it’s quite a pleasure to chase honest men on the high seas in these times of war and smuggling. But it’s too bad to have given you such a fright, lads, for nothing. What say you to a glass of gin?”Big Swankie and his comrade glanced at each other in surprise. They evidently thought this an unaccountably polite Government officer, and were puzzled. However, they could do no less than accept such a generous offer.“Thank’ee, sir,” said Big Swankie, spitting out his quid and significantly wiping his mouth. “I hae nae objection. Doubtless it’ll be the best that the like o’ you carries in yer bottle.”“The best, certainly,” said the lieutenant, as he poured out a bumper, and handed it to the smuggler. “It was smuggled, of course, and you see His Majesty is kind enough to give his servants a little of what they rescue from the rascals, to drink his health.”“Weel, I drink to the King,” said Swankie, “an’ confusion to all his enemies, ’specially to smugglers.”He tossed off the gin with infinite gusto, and handed back the cup with a smack of the lips and a look that plainly said, “More, if you please!”But the hint was not taken. Another bumper was filled and handed to Davy Spink, who had been eyeing the crew of the boat with great suspicion. He accepted the cup, nodded curtly, and said—“Here’s t’ye, gentlemen, no forgettin’ the fair leddy in the stern-sheets.”While he was drinking the gin the lieutenant turned to his men—“Get out the keg, lads, from which that came, and refill the flask. Hold it well up in the moonlight, and see that ye don’t spill a single drop, as you value your lives. Hey! my man, what ails you? Does the gin disagree with your stomach, or have you never seen a smuggled keg of spirits before, that you stare at it as if it were a keg of ghosts!”The latter part of this speech was addressed to Swankie, who no sooner beheld the keg than his eyes opened up until they resembled two great oysters. His mouth slowly followed suit. Davy Spink’s attention having been attracted, he became subject to similar alterations of visage.“Hallo!” cried the captain, while the whole crew burst into a laugh, “you must have given them poison. Have you a stomach-pump, doctor?” he said, turning hastily to Ruby.“No, nothing but a penknife and a tobacco-stopper. If they’re of any use to you—”He was interrupted by a loud laugh from Big Swankie, who quickly recovered his presence of mind, and declared that he had never tasted such capital stuff in his life.“Have ye much o’t, sir?”“O yes, a good deal. I havetwokegs of it” (the lieutenant grinned very hard at this point), “and we expect to get a little more to-night.”“Ha!” exclaimed Davy Spink, “there’s no doot plenty o’t in the coves hereaway, for they’re an awfu’ smugglin’ set. Whan did ye find the twa kegs, noo, if I may ask?”“Oh, certainly. I got them not more than an hour ago.”The smugglers glanced at each other and were struck dumb; but they were now too much on their guard to let any further evidence of surprise escape them.“Weel, I wush ye success, sirs,” said Swankie, sitting down to his oar. “It’s likely ye’ll come across mair if ye try Dickmont’s Den. There’s usually somethin’ hidden thereaboots.”“Thank you, friend, for the hint,” said the lieutenant, as he took his place at the tiller-ropes, “but I shall have a look at the Gaylet Cove, I think, this evening.”“What! the Gaylet Cove?” cried Spink. “Ye might as weel look for kegs at the bottom o’ the deep sea.”“Perhaps so; nevertheless, I have taken a fancy to go there. If I find nothing, I will take a look into theForbidden Cave.”“The Forbidden Cave!” almost howled Swankie. “Wha iver heard o’ smugglers hidin’ onything there? The air in’t wad pushen a rotten.”“Perhaps it would, yet I mean to try.”“Weel-a-weel, ye may try, but ye might as weel seek for kegs o’ gin on the Bell Rock.”“Ha! it’s not the first time that strange things have been found on the Bell Rock,” said Ruby suddenly. “I have heard ofjewels, even, being discovered there.”“Give way, men; shove off,” cried the lieutenant. “A pleasant pull to you, lads. Good night.”The two boats parted, and while the lieutenant and his friends made for the shore, the smugglers rowed towards Arbroath in a state of mingled amazement and despair at what they had heard and seen.“It was Ruby Brand that spoke last, Davy.”“Ay; he was i’ the shadow o’ Captain Ogilvy and I couldna see his face, but I thought it like his voice when he first spoke.”“Hoocanhe hae come to ken aboot the jewels?”“That’s mair than I can tell.”“I’ll bury them,” said Swankie, “an’ then it’ll puzzle onybody to tell whaur they are.”“Ye’ll please yoursell,” said Spink.Swankie was too angry to make any reply, or to enter into further conversation with his comrade about the kegs of gin, so they continued their way in silence.Meanwhile, as Lieutenant Lindsay and his men had a night of work before them, the captain suggested that Minnie, Ruby, and himself should be landed within a mile of the town, and left to find their way thither on foot. This was agreed to; and while the one party walked home by the romantic pathway at the top of the cliffs, the other rowed away to explore the dark recesses of the Forbidden Cave.

They found the lieutenant and Captain Ogilvy stretched on the grass, smoking their pipes together. The daylight had almost deepened into night, and a few stars were beginning to twinkle in the sky.

“Hey! what have we here—smugglers?” cried the captain, springing up rather quickly, as Ruby came unexpectedly on them.

“Just so, uncle,” said Minnie, with a laugh. “We have here some gin, smuggled all the way from Holland, and have come to ask your opinion of it.”

“Why, Ruby, how came you by this?” enquired Lindsay in amazement, as he examined the kegs with critical care.

“Suppose I should say that I have been taken into confidence by the smugglers and then betrayed them.”

“I should reply that the one idea was improbable, and the other impossible,” returned the lieutenant.

“Well, I have at all events found out their secrets, and now I reveal them.”

In a few words Ruby acquainted his friends with all that has just been narrated.

The moment he had finished, the lieutenant ordered his men to launch the boat. The kegs were put into the stern-sheets, the party embarked, and, pushing off, they rowed gently out of the bay, and crept slowly along the shore, under the deep shadow of the cliffs.

“How dark it is getting!” said Minnie, after they had rowed for some time in silence.

“The moon will soon be up,” said the lieutenant. “Meanwhile I’ll cast a little light on the subject by having a pipe. Will you join me, captain?”

This was a temptation which the captain never resisted; indeed, he did not regard it as a temptation at all, and would have smiled at the idea of resistance.

“Minnie, lass,” said he, as he complacently filled the blackened bowl, and calmly stuffed down the glowing tobacco with the end of that marvellously callous little fingers, “it’s a wonderful thing that baccy. I don’t know what man would do without it.”

“Quite as well as woman does, I should think,” replied Minnie.

“I’m not so sure of that, lass. It’s more nat’ral for man to smoke than for woman. Ye see, woman, lovely woman, should be ‘all my fancy painted her, both lovely and divine.’ It would never do to have baccy perfumes hangin’ about her rosy lips.”

“But, uncle, why should man have the disagreeable perfumes you speak of hanging abouthislips?”

“I don’t know, lass. It’s all a matter o’ feeling. ‘’Twere vain to tell thee all I feel, how much my heart would wish to say;’ but of this I’m certain sure, that I’d never git along without my pipe. It’s like compass, helm, and ballast all in one. Is that the moon, leftenant?”

The captain pointed to a faint gleam of light on the horizon, which he knew well enough to be the moon; but he wished to change the subject.

“Ay is it, and there comes a boat. Steady, men! lay on your oars a bit.”

This was said earnestly. In one instant all were silent, and the boat lay as motionless as the shadows of the cliffs among which it was involved.

Presently the sound of oars was heard. Almost at the same moment, the upper edge of the moon rose above the horizon, and covered the sea with rippling silver. Ere long a boat shot into this stream of light, and rowed swiftly in the direction of Arbroath.

“There are only two men in it,” whispered the lieutenant.

“Ay, these are my good friends Swankie and Spink, who know a deal more about other improper callings besides smuggling, if I did not greatly mistake their words,” cried Ruby.

“Give way, lads!” cried the lieutenant.

The boat sprang at the word from her position under the cliffs, and was soon out upon the sea in full chase of the smugglers, who bent to their oars more lustily, evidently intending to trust to their speed.

“Strange,” said the lieutenant, as the distance between the two began sensibly to decrease, “if these be smugglers, with an empty boat, as you lead me to suppose they are, they would only be too glad to stop and let us see that they had nothing aboard that we could touch. It leads me to think that you are mistaken, Ruby Brand, and that these are not your friends.”

“Nay, the same fact convinces me that they are the very men we seek; for they said they meant to have some game with you, and what more amusing than to give you a long, hard chase for nothing?”

“True; you are right. Well, we will turn the tables on them. Take the helm for a minute, while I tap one of the kegs.”

The tapping was soon accomplished, and a quantity of the spirit was drawn off into the captain’s pocket-flask.

“Taste it, captain, and let’s have your opinion.” Captain Ogilvy complied. He put the flask to his lips, and, on removing it, smacked them, and looked at the party with that extremely grave, almost solemn expression, which is usually assumed by a man when strong liquid is being put to the delicate test of his palate.

“Oh!” exclaimed the captain, opening his eyes very wide indeed.

What “oh” meant, was rather doubtful at first; but when the captain put the flask again to his lips, and took another pull, a good deal longer than the first, much, if not all of the doubt was removed.

“Prime! nectar!” he murmured, in a species of subdued ecstasy, at the end of the second draught.

“Evidently the right stuff,” said Lindsay, laughing.

“Liquid streams—celestial nectar,Darted through the ambient sky,—”

“Liquid streams—celestial nectar,Darted through the ambient sky,—”

Said the captain; “liquid, ay, liquid is the word.”

He was about to test the liquid again:—

“Stop! stop! fair play, captain; it’s my turn now,” cried the lieutenant, snatching the flask from his friend’s grasp, and applying it to his own lips.

Both the lieutenant and Ruby pronounced the gin perfect, and as Minnie positively refused either to taste or to pronounce judgment, the flask was returned to its owner’s pocket.

They were now close on the smugglers, whom they hailed, and commanded to lay on their oars.

The order was at once obeyed, and the boats were speedily rubbing sides together.

“I should like to examine your boat, friends,” said the lieutenant as he stepped across the gunwales.

“Oh! sir, I’m thankfu’ to find you’re not smugglers,” said Swankie, with an assumed air of mingled respect and alarm.

“If we’d only know’d ye was preventives we’d ha’ backed oars at once. There’s nothin’ here; ye may seek as long’s ye please.”

The hypocritical rascal winked slyly to his comrade as he said this. Meanwhile Lindsay and one of the men examined the contents of the boat, and, finding nothing contraband, the former said—

“So, you’re honest men, I find. Fishermen, doubtless?”

“Ay, some o’ yer crew ken us brawly,” said Davy Spink with a grin.

“Well, I won’t detain you,” rejoined the lieutenant; “it’s quite a pleasure to chase honest men on the high seas in these times of war and smuggling. But it’s too bad to have given you such a fright, lads, for nothing. What say you to a glass of gin?”

Big Swankie and his comrade glanced at each other in surprise. They evidently thought this an unaccountably polite Government officer, and were puzzled. However, they could do no less than accept such a generous offer.

“Thank’ee, sir,” said Big Swankie, spitting out his quid and significantly wiping his mouth. “I hae nae objection. Doubtless it’ll be the best that the like o’ you carries in yer bottle.”

“The best, certainly,” said the lieutenant, as he poured out a bumper, and handed it to the smuggler. “It was smuggled, of course, and you see His Majesty is kind enough to give his servants a little of what they rescue from the rascals, to drink his health.”

“Weel, I drink to the King,” said Swankie, “an’ confusion to all his enemies, ’specially to smugglers.”

He tossed off the gin with infinite gusto, and handed back the cup with a smack of the lips and a look that plainly said, “More, if you please!”

But the hint was not taken. Another bumper was filled and handed to Davy Spink, who had been eyeing the crew of the boat with great suspicion. He accepted the cup, nodded curtly, and said—

“Here’s t’ye, gentlemen, no forgettin’ the fair leddy in the stern-sheets.”

While he was drinking the gin the lieutenant turned to his men—

“Get out the keg, lads, from which that came, and refill the flask. Hold it well up in the moonlight, and see that ye don’t spill a single drop, as you value your lives. Hey! my man, what ails you? Does the gin disagree with your stomach, or have you never seen a smuggled keg of spirits before, that you stare at it as if it were a keg of ghosts!”

The latter part of this speech was addressed to Swankie, who no sooner beheld the keg than his eyes opened up until they resembled two great oysters. His mouth slowly followed suit. Davy Spink’s attention having been attracted, he became subject to similar alterations of visage.

“Hallo!” cried the captain, while the whole crew burst into a laugh, “you must have given them poison. Have you a stomach-pump, doctor?” he said, turning hastily to Ruby.

“No, nothing but a penknife and a tobacco-stopper. If they’re of any use to you—”

He was interrupted by a loud laugh from Big Swankie, who quickly recovered his presence of mind, and declared that he had never tasted such capital stuff in his life.

“Have ye much o’t, sir?”

“O yes, a good deal. I havetwokegs of it” (the lieutenant grinned very hard at this point), “and we expect to get a little more to-night.”

“Ha!” exclaimed Davy Spink, “there’s no doot plenty o’t in the coves hereaway, for they’re an awfu’ smugglin’ set. Whan did ye find the twa kegs, noo, if I may ask?”

“Oh, certainly. I got them not more than an hour ago.”

The smugglers glanced at each other and were struck dumb; but they were now too much on their guard to let any further evidence of surprise escape them.

“Weel, I wush ye success, sirs,” said Swankie, sitting down to his oar. “It’s likely ye’ll come across mair if ye try Dickmont’s Den. There’s usually somethin’ hidden thereaboots.”

“Thank you, friend, for the hint,” said the lieutenant, as he took his place at the tiller-ropes, “but I shall have a look at the Gaylet Cove, I think, this evening.”

“What! the Gaylet Cove?” cried Spink. “Ye might as weel look for kegs at the bottom o’ the deep sea.”

“Perhaps so; nevertheless, I have taken a fancy to go there. If I find nothing, I will take a look into theForbidden Cave.”

“The Forbidden Cave!” almost howled Swankie. “Wha iver heard o’ smugglers hidin’ onything there? The air in’t wad pushen a rotten.”

“Perhaps it would, yet I mean to try.”

“Weel-a-weel, ye may try, but ye might as weel seek for kegs o’ gin on the Bell Rock.”

“Ha! it’s not the first time that strange things have been found on the Bell Rock,” said Ruby suddenly. “I have heard ofjewels, even, being discovered there.”

“Give way, men; shove off,” cried the lieutenant. “A pleasant pull to you, lads. Good night.”

The two boats parted, and while the lieutenant and his friends made for the shore, the smugglers rowed towards Arbroath in a state of mingled amazement and despair at what they had heard and seen.

“It was Ruby Brand that spoke last, Davy.”

“Ay; he was i’ the shadow o’ Captain Ogilvy and I couldna see his face, but I thought it like his voice when he first spoke.”

“Hoocanhe hae come to ken aboot the jewels?”

“That’s mair than I can tell.”

“I’ll bury them,” said Swankie, “an’ then it’ll puzzle onybody to tell whaur they are.”

“Ye’ll please yoursell,” said Spink.

Swankie was too angry to make any reply, or to enter into further conversation with his comrade about the kegs of gin, so they continued their way in silence.

Meanwhile, as Lieutenant Lindsay and his men had a night of work before them, the captain suggested that Minnie, Ruby, and himself should be landed within a mile of the town, and left to find their way thither on foot. This was agreed to; and while the one party walked home by the romantic pathway at the top of the cliffs, the other rowed away to explore the dark recesses of the Forbidden Cave.

Chapter Twenty One.The Bell Rock Again—A Dreary Night in a Strange Habitation.During that winter Ruby Brand wrought diligently in the workyard at the lighthouse materials, and, by living economically, began to save a small sum of money, which he laid carefully by with a view to his marriage with Minnie Gray.Being an impulsive man, Ruby would have married Minnie, then and there, without looking too earnestly to the future. But his mother had advised him to wait till he should have laid by a little for a “rainy day.” The captain had recommended patience, tobacco, and philosophy, and had enforced his recommendations with sundry apt quotations from dead and living novelists, dramatists, and poets. Minnie herself, poor girl, felt that she ought not to run counter to the wishes of her best and dearest friends, so she too advised delay for a “little time”; and Ruby was fain to content himself with bewailing his hard lot internally, and knocking Jamie Dove’s bellows, anvils, and sledge-hammers about in a way that induced that son of Vulcan to believe his assistant had gone mad!As for big Swankie, he hid his ill-gotten gains under the floor of his tumble-down cottage, and went about his evil courses as usual in company with his comrade Davy Spink, who continued to fight and make it up with him as of yore.It must not be supposed that Ruby forgot the conversation he had overheard in the Gaylet Cove. He and Minnie and his uncle had frequent discussions in regard to it, but to little purpose; for although Swankie and Spink had discovered old Mr Brand’s body on the Bell Rock, it did not follow that any jewels or money they had found there were necessarily his. Still Ruby could not divest his mind of the feeling that there was some connexion between the two, and he was convinced, from what had fallen from Davy Spink about “silver teapots and things”, that Swankie was the man of whose bad deeds he himself had been suspected.As there seemed no possibility of bringing the matter home to him, however, he resolved to dismiss the whole affair from his mind in the meantime.Things were very much in this state when, in the spring, the operations at the Bell Rock were resumed.Jamie Dove, Ruby, Robert Selkirk, and several of the principal workmen, accompanied the engineers on their first visit to the rock, and they sailed towards the scene of their former labours with deep and peculiar interest, such as one might feel on renewing acquaintance with an old friend who had passed through many hard and trying struggles since the last time of meeting.The storms of winter had raged round the Bell Rock as usual—as they had done, in fact, since the world began; but that winter the handiwork of man had also been exposed to the fury of the elements there. It was known that the beacon had survived the storms, for it could be seen by telescope from the shore in clear weather—like a little speck on the seaward horizon. Now they were about to revisit the old haunt, and have a close inspection of the damage that it was supposed must certainly have been done.To the credit of the able engineer who planned and carried out the whole works, the beacon was found to have resisted winds and waves successfully.It was on a bitterly cold morning about the end of March that the first visit of the season was paid to the Bell Rock. Mr Stevenson and his party of engineers and artificers sailed in the lighthouse yacht; and, on coming within a proper distance of the rock, two boats were lowered and pushed off. The sea ran with such force upon the rock that it seemed doubtful whether a landing could be effected. About half-past eight, when the rock was fairly above water, several attempts were made to land, but the breach of the sea was still so great that they were driven back.On the eastern side the sea separated into two distinct waves, which came with a sweep round the western side, where they met, and rose in a burst of spray to a considerable height. Watching, however, for what the sailors termed asmooth, and catching a favourable opportunity, they rowed between the two seas dexterously, and made a successful landing at the western creek.The sturdy beacon was then closely examined. It had been painted white at the end of the previous season, but the lower parts of the posts were found to have become green—the sea having clothed them with a soft garment of weed. The sea-birds had evidently imagined that it was put up expressly for their benefit; for a number of cormorants and large herring-gulls had taken up their quarters on it—finding it, no doubt, conveniently near to their fishing-grounds.A critical inspection of all its parts showed that everything about it was in a most satisfactory state. There was not the slightest indication of working or shifting in the great iron stanchions with which the beams were fixed, nor of any of the joints or places of connexion; and, excepting some of the bracing-chains which had been loosened, everything wars found in the same entire state in which it had been left the previous season.Only those who know what that beacon had been subjected to can form a correct estimate of the importance of this discovery, and the amount of satisfaction it afforded to those most interested in the works at the Bell Rock. To say that the party congratulated themselves would be far short of the reality. They hailed the event with cheers, and their looks seemed to indicate that some piece of immense and unexpected good fortune had befallen each individual.From that moment Mr Stevenson saw the practicability and propriety of fitting up the beacon, not only as a place of refuge in case of accidents to the boats in landing, but as a residence for the men during the working months.From that moment, too, poor Jamie Dove began to see the dawn of happier days; for when the beacon should be fitted up as a residence he would bid farewell to the hated floating light, and take up his abode, as he expressed it, “on land.”“On land!” It is probable that this Jamie Dove was the first man, since the world began, who had entertained the till then absurdly preposterous notion that the fatal Bell Rock was “land,” or that it could be made a place of even temporary residence.A hundred years ago men would have laughed at the bare idea. Fifty years ago that idea was realised; for more than half a century that sunken reef has been, and still is, the safe and comfortable home of man!Forgive, reader, our tendency to anticipate. Let us proceed with our inspection.Having ascertained that the foundations of the beacon were all right, the engineers next ascended to the upper parts, where they found the cross-beams and their fixtures in an equally satisfactory condition.On the top a strong chest had been fixed the preceding season, in which had been placed a quantity of sea-biscuits and several bottles of water, in case of accident to the boats, or in the event of shipwreck occurring on the rock. The biscuit, having been carefully placed in tin canisters, was found in good condition, but several of the water-bottles had burst, in consequence, it was supposed, of frost during the winter. Twelve of the bottles, however, remained entire, so that the Bell Rock may be said to have been transformed, even at that date, from a point of destruction into a place of comparative safety.While the party were thus employed, the landing-master reminded them that the sea was running high, and that it would be necessary to set off while the rock afforded anything like shelter to the boats, which by that time had been made fast to the beacon and rode with much agitation, each requiring two men with boat-hooks to keep them from striking each other, or ranging up against the beacon. But under these circumstances the greatest confidence was felt by everyone, from the security afforded by that temporary erection; for, supposing that the wind had suddenly increased to a gale, and that it had been found inadvisable to go into the boats; or supposing they had drifted or sprung a leak from striking upon the rocks, in any of these possible, and not at all improbable, cases, they had now something to lay hold of, and, though occupying the dreary habitation of the gull and the cormorant, affording only bread and water, yetlifewould be preserved, and, under the circumstances, they would have been supported by the hope of being ultimately relieved.Soon after this the works at the Bell Rock were resumed, with, if possible, greater vigour than before, and ere long the “house” was fixed to the top of the beacon, and the engineer and his men took up their abode there.Think of this, reader. Six great wooden beams were fastened to a rock, over which the waves roared twice every day, and on the top of these a pleasant little marine residence was nailed, as one might nail a dovecot on the top of a pole!This residence was ultimately fitted up in such a way as to become a comparatively comfortable and commodious abode. It contained four storeys. The first was the mortar-gallery, where the mortar for the lighthouse was mixed as required; it also supported the forge. The second was the cook-room. The third the apartment of the engineer and his assistants; and the fourth was the artificers’ barrack-room. This house was of course built of wood, but it was firmly put together, for it had to pass through many a terrific ordeal.In order to give some idea of the interior, we shall describe the cabin of Mr Stevenson. It measured four feet three inches in breadth on the floor, and though, from the oblique direction of the beams of the beacon, it widened towards the top, yet it did not admit of the full extension of the occupant’s arms when he stood on the floor. Its length was little more than sufficient to admit of a cot-bed being suspended during the night. This cot was arranged so as to be triced up to the roof during the day, thus leaving free room for occasional visitors, and for comparatively free motion. A folding table was attached with hinges immediately under the small window of the apartment. The remainder of the space was fitted up with books, barometer, thermometer, portmanteau, and two or three camp-stools.The walls were covered with green cloth, formed into panels with red tape, a substance which, by the way, might have had anaccidentalconnexion with the Bell Rock Lighthouse, but which could not, by any possibility, have influenced it as aprinciple, otherwise that building would probably never have been built, or, if built, would certainly not have stood until the present day! The bed was festooned with yellow cotton stuff, and the diet being plain, the paraphernalia of the table was proportionally simple.It would have been interesting to know the individual books required and used by the celebrated engineer in his singular abode, but his record leaves no detailed account of these. It does, however, contain a sentence in regard to one volume which we deem it just to his character to quote. He writes thus:—“If, in speculating upon the abstract wants of man in such a state of exclusion, one were reduced to a single book, the Sacred Volume, whether considered for the striking diversity of its story, the morality of its doctrine, or the important truths of its gospel, would have proved by far the greatest treasure.”It may be easily imagined that in a place where the accommodation of the principal engineer was so limited, that of the men was not extensive. Accordingly, we find that the barrack-room contained beds for twenty-one men.But the completion of the beacon house, as we have described it, was not accomplished in one season. At first it was only used as a smith’s workshop, and then as a temporary residence in fine weather.One of the first men who remained all night upon it was our friend Bremner. He became so tired of the floating light that he earnestly solicited, and obtained, permission to remain on the beacon.At the time it was only in a partially sheltered state. The joiners had just completed the covering of the roof with a quantity of tarpaulin, which the seamen had laid over with successive coats of hot tar, and the sides of the erection had been painted with three coats of white lead. Between the timber framing of the habitable part, the interstices were stuffed with moss, but the green baize cloth with which it was afterwards lined had not been put on when Bremner took possession.It was a splendid summer evening when the bold man made his request, and obtained permission to remain. None of the others would join him. When the boats pushed off and left him the solitary occupant of the rock, he felt a sensation of uneasiness, but, having formed his resolution, he stuck by it, and bade his comrades good night cheerfully.“Good night, and goodbye,” cried Forsyth, as he took his seat at the oar.“Farewell, dear,” cried O’Connor, wiping his eyes with averyragged pocket handkerchief.“You won’t forget me?” retorted Bremner.“Never,” replied Dumsby, with fervour.“Av the beacon should be carried away, darlin’,” cried O’Connor, “howld tight to the provision-chest, p’raps ye’ll be washed ashore.”“I’ll drink your health in water, Paddy,” replied Bremner.“Faix, I hope it won’t be salt wather,” retorted Ned.They continued to shout good wishes, warnings, and advice to their comrade until out of hearing, and then waved adieu to him until he was lost to view.We have said that Bremner was alone, yet he was not entirely so; he had a comrade with him, in the shape of his little black dog, to which reference has already been made. This creature was of that very thin and tight-skinned description of dog, that trembles at all times as if afflicted with chronic cold, summer and winter. Its thin tail was always between its extremely thin legs, as though it lived in a perpetual condition of wrong-doing, and were in constant dread of deserved punishment. Yet no dog ever belied its looks more than did this one, for it was a good dog, and a warm-hearted dog, and never did a wicked thing, and never was punished, so that its excessive humility and apparent fear and trembling were quite unaccountable. Like all dogs of its class it was passionately affectionate, and intensely grateful for the smallest favour. In fact, it seemed to be rather thankful than otherwise for a kick when it chanced to receive one, and a pat on the head, or a kind word made it all but jump out of its black skin for very joy.Bremner called it “Pup.” It had no other name, and didn’t seem to wish for one. On the present occasion it was evidently much perplexed, and very unhappy, for it looked at the boat, and then wistfully into its master’s face, as if to say, “This is awful; have you resolved that we shall perish together?”“Now, Pup,” said Bremner, when the boat disappeared in the shades of evening, “you and I are left alone on the Bell Rock!”There was a touch of sad uncertainty in the wag of the tail with which Pup received this remark.“But cheer up, Pup,” cried Bremner with a sudden burst of animation that induced the creature to wriggle and dance on its hind legs for at least a minute, “you and I shall have a jolly night together on the beacon; so come along.”Like many a night that begins well, that particular night ended ill. Even while the man spoke, a swell began to rise, and, as the tide had by that time risen a few feet, an occasional billow swept over the rocks and almost washed the feet of Bremner as he made his way over the ledges. In five minutes the sea was rolling all round the foot of the beacon, and Bremner and his friend were safely ensconced on the mortar-gallery.There was no storm that night, nevertheless there was one of those heavy ground swells that are of common occurrence in the German Ocean.It is supposed that this swell is caused by distant westerly gales in the Atlantic, which force an undue quantity of water into the North Sea, and thus produce the apparent paradox of great rolling breakers in calm weather.On this night there was no wind at all, but there was a higher swell than usual, so that each great billow passed over the rock with a roar that was rendered more than usually terrible, in consequence of the utter absence of all other sounds.At first Bremner watched the rising tide, and as he sat up there in the dark he felt himself dreadfully forsaken and desolate, and began to comment on things in general to his dog, by way of inducing a more sociable and cheery state of mind.“Pup, this is a lugubrious state o’ things. Wot d’ye think o’t?”Pup did not say, but he expressed such violent joy at being noticed, that he nearly fell off the platform of the mortar-gallery in one of his extravagant gyrations.“That won’t do, Pup,” said Bremner, shaking his head at the creature, whose countenance expressed deep contrition. “Don’t go on like that, else you’ll fall into the sea and be drownded, and then I shall be left alone. What a dark night it is, to be sure! I doubt if it was wise of me to stop here. Suppose the beacon were to be washed away?”Bremner paused, and Pup wagged his tail interrogatively, as though to say, “What then?”“Ah! it’s of no use supposin’,” continued the man slowly. “The beacon has stood it out all winter, and it ain’t likely it’s goin’ to be washed away to-night. But suppose I was to be took bad?”Again the dog seemed to demand, “What then?”“Well, that’s not very likely either, for I never was took bad in my life since I took the measles, and that’s more than twenty years ago. Come, Pup, don’t let us look at the black side o’ things, let us try to be cheerful, my dog. Hallo!”The exclamation was caused by the appearance of a green billow, which in the uncertain light seemed to advance in a threatening attitude towards the beacon as if to overwhelm it, but it fell at some distance, and only rolled in a churning sea of milky foam among the posts, and sprang up and licked the beams, as a serpent might do before swallowing them.“Come, it was the light deceived me. If I go for to start at every wave like that I’ll have a poor night of it, for the tide has a long way to rise yet. Let’s go and have a bit supper, lad.”Bremner rose from the anvil, on which he had seated himself, and went up the ladder into the cook-house above. Here all was pitch dark, owing to the place being enclosed all round, which the mortar-gallery was not, but a light was soon struck, a lamp trimmed, and the fire in the stove kindled.Bremner now busied himself in silently preparing a cup of tea, which, with a quantity of sea-biscuit, a little cold salt pork, and a hunk of stale bread, constituted his supper. Pup watched his every movement with an expression of earnest solicitude, combined with goodwill, in his sharp intelligent eyes.When supper was ready Pup had his share, then, feeling that the duties of the day were now satisfactorily accomplished, he coiled himself up at his master’s feet, and went to sleep. His master rolled himself up in a rug, and lying down before the fire, also tried to sleep, but without success for a long time.As he lay there counting the number of seconds of awful silence that elapsed between the fall of each successive billow, and listening to the crash and the roar as wave after wave rushed underneath him, and caused his habitation to tremble, he could not avoid feeling alarmed in some degree. Do what he would, the thought of the wrecks that had taken place there, the shrieks that must have often rung above these rocks, and the dead and mangled bodies that must have lain among them,wouldobtrude upon him and banish sleep from his eyes.At last he became somewhat accustomed to the rush of waters and the tremulous motion of the beacon. His frame, too, exhausted by a day of hard toil, refused to support itself, and he sank into slumber. But it was not unbroken. A falling cinder from the sinking fire would awaken him with a start; a larger wave than usual would cause him to spring up and look round in alarm; or a shrieking sea-bird, as it swooped past, would induce a dream, in which the cries of drowning men arose, causing him to awake with a cry that set Pup barking furiously.Frequently during that night, after some such dream, Bremner would get up and descend to the mortar-gallery to see that all was right there. He found the waves always hissing below, but the starry sky was calm and peaceful above, so he returned to his couch comforted a little, and fell again into a troubled sleep, to be again awakened by frightful dreams of dreadful sights, and scenes of death and danger on the sea.Thus the hours wore slowly away. As the tide fell the noise of waves retired a little from the beacon, and the wearied man and dog sank gradually at last into deep, untroubled slumber.So deep was it, that they did not hear the increasing noise of the gulls as they wheeled round the beacon after having breakfasted near it; so deep, that they did not feel the sun as it streamed through an opening in the woodwork and glared on their respective faces; so deep, that they were ignorant of the arrival of the boats with the workmen, and were dead to the shouts of their companions, until one of them, Jamie Dove, put his head up the hatchway and uttered one of his loudest roars, close to their ears.Then indeed Bremner rose up and looked bewildered, and Pup, starting up, barked as furiously as if its own little black body had miraculously become the concentrated essence of all the other noisy dogs in the wide world rolled into one!

During that winter Ruby Brand wrought diligently in the workyard at the lighthouse materials, and, by living economically, began to save a small sum of money, which he laid carefully by with a view to his marriage with Minnie Gray.

Being an impulsive man, Ruby would have married Minnie, then and there, without looking too earnestly to the future. But his mother had advised him to wait till he should have laid by a little for a “rainy day.” The captain had recommended patience, tobacco, and philosophy, and had enforced his recommendations with sundry apt quotations from dead and living novelists, dramatists, and poets. Minnie herself, poor girl, felt that she ought not to run counter to the wishes of her best and dearest friends, so she too advised delay for a “little time”; and Ruby was fain to content himself with bewailing his hard lot internally, and knocking Jamie Dove’s bellows, anvils, and sledge-hammers about in a way that induced that son of Vulcan to believe his assistant had gone mad!

As for big Swankie, he hid his ill-gotten gains under the floor of his tumble-down cottage, and went about his evil courses as usual in company with his comrade Davy Spink, who continued to fight and make it up with him as of yore.

It must not be supposed that Ruby forgot the conversation he had overheard in the Gaylet Cove. He and Minnie and his uncle had frequent discussions in regard to it, but to little purpose; for although Swankie and Spink had discovered old Mr Brand’s body on the Bell Rock, it did not follow that any jewels or money they had found there were necessarily his. Still Ruby could not divest his mind of the feeling that there was some connexion between the two, and he was convinced, from what had fallen from Davy Spink about “silver teapots and things”, that Swankie was the man of whose bad deeds he himself had been suspected.

As there seemed no possibility of bringing the matter home to him, however, he resolved to dismiss the whole affair from his mind in the meantime.

Things were very much in this state when, in the spring, the operations at the Bell Rock were resumed.

Jamie Dove, Ruby, Robert Selkirk, and several of the principal workmen, accompanied the engineers on their first visit to the rock, and they sailed towards the scene of their former labours with deep and peculiar interest, such as one might feel on renewing acquaintance with an old friend who had passed through many hard and trying struggles since the last time of meeting.

The storms of winter had raged round the Bell Rock as usual—as they had done, in fact, since the world began; but that winter the handiwork of man had also been exposed to the fury of the elements there. It was known that the beacon had survived the storms, for it could be seen by telescope from the shore in clear weather—like a little speck on the seaward horizon. Now they were about to revisit the old haunt, and have a close inspection of the damage that it was supposed must certainly have been done.

To the credit of the able engineer who planned and carried out the whole works, the beacon was found to have resisted winds and waves successfully.

It was on a bitterly cold morning about the end of March that the first visit of the season was paid to the Bell Rock. Mr Stevenson and his party of engineers and artificers sailed in the lighthouse yacht; and, on coming within a proper distance of the rock, two boats were lowered and pushed off. The sea ran with such force upon the rock that it seemed doubtful whether a landing could be effected. About half-past eight, when the rock was fairly above water, several attempts were made to land, but the breach of the sea was still so great that they were driven back.

On the eastern side the sea separated into two distinct waves, which came with a sweep round the western side, where they met, and rose in a burst of spray to a considerable height. Watching, however, for what the sailors termed asmooth, and catching a favourable opportunity, they rowed between the two seas dexterously, and made a successful landing at the western creek.

The sturdy beacon was then closely examined. It had been painted white at the end of the previous season, but the lower parts of the posts were found to have become green—the sea having clothed them with a soft garment of weed. The sea-birds had evidently imagined that it was put up expressly for their benefit; for a number of cormorants and large herring-gulls had taken up their quarters on it—finding it, no doubt, conveniently near to their fishing-grounds.

A critical inspection of all its parts showed that everything about it was in a most satisfactory state. There was not the slightest indication of working or shifting in the great iron stanchions with which the beams were fixed, nor of any of the joints or places of connexion; and, excepting some of the bracing-chains which had been loosened, everything wars found in the same entire state in which it had been left the previous season.

Only those who know what that beacon had been subjected to can form a correct estimate of the importance of this discovery, and the amount of satisfaction it afforded to those most interested in the works at the Bell Rock. To say that the party congratulated themselves would be far short of the reality. They hailed the event with cheers, and their looks seemed to indicate that some piece of immense and unexpected good fortune had befallen each individual.

From that moment Mr Stevenson saw the practicability and propriety of fitting up the beacon, not only as a place of refuge in case of accidents to the boats in landing, but as a residence for the men during the working months.

From that moment, too, poor Jamie Dove began to see the dawn of happier days; for when the beacon should be fitted up as a residence he would bid farewell to the hated floating light, and take up his abode, as he expressed it, “on land.”

“On land!” It is probable that this Jamie Dove was the first man, since the world began, who had entertained the till then absurdly preposterous notion that the fatal Bell Rock was “land,” or that it could be made a place of even temporary residence.

A hundred years ago men would have laughed at the bare idea. Fifty years ago that idea was realised; for more than half a century that sunken reef has been, and still is, the safe and comfortable home of man!

Forgive, reader, our tendency to anticipate. Let us proceed with our inspection.

Having ascertained that the foundations of the beacon were all right, the engineers next ascended to the upper parts, where they found the cross-beams and their fixtures in an equally satisfactory condition.

On the top a strong chest had been fixed the preceding season, in which had been placed a quantity of sea-biscuits and several bottles of water, in case of accident to the boats, or in the event of shipwreck occurring on the rock. The biscuit, having been carefully placed in tin canisters, was found in good condition, but several of the water-bottles had burst, in consequence, it was supposed, of frost during the winter. Twelve of the bottles, however, remained entire, so that the Bell Rock may be said to have been transformed, even at that date, from a point of destruction into a place of comparative safety.

While the party were thus employed, the landing-master reminded them that the sea was running high, and that it would be necessary to set off while the rock afforded anything like shelter to the boats, which by that time had been made fast to the beacon and rode with much agitation, each requiring two men with boat-hooks to keep them from striking each other, or ranging up against the beacon. But under these circumstances the greatest confidence was felt by everyone, from the security afforded by that temporary erection; for, supposing that the wind had suddenly increased to a gale, and that it had been found inadvisable to go into the boats; or supposing they had drifted or sprung a leak from striking upon the rocks, in any of these possible, and not at all improbable, cases, they had now something to lay hold of, and, though occupying the dreary habitation of the gull and the cormorant, affording only bread and water, yetlifewould be preserved, and, under the circumstances, they would have been supported by the hope of being ultimately relieved.

Soon after this the works at the Bell Rock were resumed, with, if possible, greater vigour than before, and ere long the “house” was fixed to the top of the beacon, and the engineer and his men took up their abode there.

Think of this, reader. Six great wooden beams were fastened to a rock, over which the waves roared twice every day, and on the top of these a pleasant little marine residence was nailed, as one might nail a dovecot on the top of a pole!

This residence was ultimately fitted up in such a way as to become a comparatively comfortable and commodious abode. It contained four storeys. The first was the mortar-gallery, where the mortar for the lighthouse was mixed as required; it also supported the forge. The second was the cook-room. The third the apartment of the engineer and his assistants; and the fourth was the artificers’ barrack-room. This house was of course built of wood, but it was firmly put together, for it had to pass through many a terrific ordeal.

In order to give some idea of the interior, we shall describe the cabin of Mr Stevenson. It measured four feet three inches in breadth on the floor, and though, from the oblique direction of the beams of the beacon, it widened towards the top, yet it did not admit of the full extension of the occupant’s arms when he stood on the floor. Its length was little more than sufficient to admit of a cot-bed being suspended during the night. This cot was arranged so as to be triced up to the roof during the day, thus leaving free room for occasional visitors, and for comparatively free motion. A folding table was attached with hinges immediately under the small window of the apartment. The remainder of the space was fitted up with books, barometer, thermometer, portmanteau, and two or three camp-stools.

The walls were covered with green cloth, formed into panels with red tape, a substance which, by the way, might have had anaccidentalconnexion with the Bell Rock Lighthouse, but which could not, by any possibility, have influenced it as aprinciple, otherwise that building would probably never have been built, or, if built, would certainly not have stood until the present day! The bed was festooned with yellow cotton stuff, and the diet being plain, the paraphernalia of the table was proportionally simple.

It would have been interesting to know the individual books required and used by the celebrated engineer in his singular abode, but his record leaves no detailed account of these. It does, however, contain a sentence in regard to one volume which we deem it just to his character to quote. He writes thus:—

“If, in speculating upon the abstract wants of man in such a state of exclusion, one were reduced to a single book, the Sacred Volume, whether considered for the striking diversity of its story, the morality of its doctrine, or the important truths of its gospel, would have proved by far the greatest treasure.”

It may be easily imagined that in a place where the accommodation of the principal engineer was so limited, that of the men was not extensive. Accordingly, we find that the barrack-room contained beds for twenty-one men.

But the completion of the beacon house, as we have described it, was not accomplished in one season. At first it was only used as a smith’s workshop, and then as a temporary residence in fine weather.

One of the first men who remained all night upon it was our friend Bremner. He became so tired of the floating light that he earnestly solicited, and obtained, permission to remain on the beacon.

At the time it was only in a partially sheltered state. The joiners had just completed the covering of the roof with a quantity of tarpaulin, which the seamen had laid over with successive coats of hot tar, and the sides of the erection had been painted with three coats of white lead. Between the timber framing of the habitable part, the interstices were stuffed with moss, but the green baize cloth with which it was afterwards lined had not been put on when Bremner took possession.

It was a splendid summer evening when the bold man made his request, and obtained permission to remain. None of the others would join him. When the boats pushed off and left him the solitary occupant of the rock, he felt a sensation of uneasiness, but, having formed his resolution, he stuck by it, and bade his comrades good night cheerfully.

“Good night, and goodbye,” cried Forsyth, as he took his seat at the oar.

“Farewell, dear,” cried O’Connor, wiping his eyes with averyragged pocket handkerchief.

“You won’t forget me?” retorted Bremner.

“Never,” replied Dumsby, with fervour.

“Av the beacon should be carried away, darlin’,” cried O’Connor, “howld tight to the provision-chest, p’raps ye’ll be washed ashore.”

“I’ll drink your health in water, Paddy,” replied Bremner.

“Faix, I hope it won’t be salt wather,” retorted Ned.

They continued to shout good wishes, warnings, and advice to their comrade until out of hearing, and then waved adieu to him until he was lost to view.

We have said that Bremner was alone, yet he was not entirely so; he had a comrade with him, in the shape of his little black dog, to which reference has already been made. This creature was of that very thin and tight-skinned description of dog, that trembles at all times as if afflicted with chronic cold, summer and winter. Its thin tail was always between its extremely thin legs, as though it lived in a perpetual condition of wrong-doing, and were in constant dread of deserved punishment. Yet no dog ever belied its looks more than did this one, for it was a good dog, and a warm-hearted dog, and never did a wicked thing, and never was punished, so that its excessive humility and apparent fear and trembling were quite unaccountable. Like all dogs of its class it was passionately affectionate, and intensely grateful for the smallest favour. In fact, it seemed to be rather thankful than otherwise for a kick when it chanced to receive one, and a pat on the head, or a kind word made it all but jump out of its black skin for very joy.

Bremner called it “Pup.” It had no other name, and didn’t seem to wish for one. On the present occasion it was evidently much perplexed, and very unhappy, for it looked at the boat, and then wistfully into its master’s face, as if to say, “This is awful; have you resolved that we shall perish together?”

“Now, Pup,” said Bremner, when the boat disappeared in the shades of evening, “you and I are left alone on the Bell Rock!”

There was a touch of sad uncertainty in the wag of the tail with which Pup received this remark.

“But cheer up, Pup,” cried Bremner with a sudden burst of animation that induced the creature to wriggle and dance on its hind legs for at least a minute, “you and I shall have a jolly night together on the beacon; so come along.”

Like many a night that begins well, that particular night ended ill. Even while the man spoke, a swell began to rise, and, as the tide had by that time risen a few feet, an occasional billow swept over the rocks and almost washed the feet of Bremner as he made his way over the ledges. In five minutes the sea was rolling all round the foot of the beacon, and Bremner and his friend were safely ensconced on the mortar-gallery.

There was no storm that night, nevertheless there was one of those heavy ground swells that are of common occurrence in the German Ocean.

It is supposed that this swell is caused by distant westerly gales in the Atlantic, which force an undue quantity of water into the North Sea, and thus produce the apparent paradox of great rolling breakers in calm weather.

On this night there was no wind at all, but there was a higher swell than usual, so that each great billow passed over the rock with a roar that was rendered more than usually terrible, in consequence of the utter absence of all other sounds.

At first Bremner watched the rising tide, and as he sat up there in the dark he felt himself dreadfully forsaken and desolate, and began to comment on things in general to his dog, by way of inducing a more sociable and cheery state of mind.

“Pup, this is a lugubrious state o’ things. Wot d’ye think o’t?”

Pup did not say, but he expressed such violent joy at being noticed, that he nearly fell off the platform of the mortar-gallery in one of his extravagant gyrations.

“That won’t do, Pup,” said Bremner, shaking his head at the creature, whose countenance expressed deep contrition. “Don’t go on like that, else you’ll fall into the sea and be drownded, and then I shall be left alone. What a dark night it is, to be sure! I doubt if it was wise of me to stop here. Suppose the beacon were to be washed away?”

Bremner paused, and Pup wagged his tail interrogatively, as though to say, “What then?”

“Ah! it’s of no use supposin’,” continued the man slowly. “The beacon has stood it out all winter, and it ain’t likely it’s goin’ to be washed away to-night. But suppose I was to be took bad?”

Again the dog seemed to demand, “What then?”

“Well, that’s not very likely either, for I never was took bad in my life since I took the measles, and that’s more than twenty years ago. Come, Pup, don’t let us look at the black side o’ things, let us try to be cheerful, my dog. Hallo!”

The exclamation was caused by the appearance of a green billow, which in the uncertain light seemed to advance in a threatening attitude towards the beacon as if to overwhelm it, but it fell at some distance, and only rolled in a churning sea of milky foam among the posts, and sprang up and licked the beams, as a serpent might do before swallowing them.

“Come, it was the light deceived me. If I go for to start at every wave like that I’ll have a poor night of it, for the tide has a long way to rise yet. Let’s go and have a bit supper, lad.”

Bremner rose from the anvil, on which he had seated himself, and went up the ladder into the cook-house above. Here all was pitch dark, owing to the place being enclosed all round, which the mortar-gallery was not, but a light was soon struck, a lamp trimmed, and the fire in the stove kindled.

Bremner now busied himself in silently preparing a cup of tea, which, with a quantity of sea-biscuit, a little cold salt pork, and a hunk of stale bread, constituted his supper. Pup watched his every movement with an expression of earnest solicitude, combined with goodwill, in his sharp intelligent eyes.

When supper was ready Pup had his share, then, feeling that the duties of the day were now satisfactorily accomplished, he coiled himself up at his master’s feet, and went to sleep. His master rolled himself up in a rug, and lying down before the fire, also tried to sleep, but without success for a long time.

As he lay there counting the number of seconds of awful silence that elapsed between the fall of each successive billow, and listening to the crash and the roar as wave after wave rushed underneath him, and caused his habitation to tremble, he could not avoid feeling alarmed in some degree. Do what he would, the thought of the wrecks that had taken place there, the shrieks that must have often rung above these rocks, and the dead and mangled bodies that must have lain among them,wouldobtrude upon him and banish sleep from his eyes.

At last he became somewhat accustomed to the rush of waters and the tremulous motion of the beacon. His frame, too, exhausted by a day of hard toil, refused to support itself, and he sank into slumber. But it was not unbroken. A falling cinder from the sinking fire would awaken him with a start; a larger wave than usual would cause him to spring up and look round in alarm; or a shrieking sea-bird, as it swooped past, would induce a dream, in which the cries of drowning men arose, causing him to awake with a cry that set Pup barking furiously.

Frequently during that night, after some such dream, Bremner would get up and descend to the mortar-gallery to see that all was right there. He found the waves always hissing below, but the starry sky was calm and peaceful above, so he returned to his couch comforted a little, and fell again into a troubled sleep, to be again awakened by frightful dreams of dreadful sights, and scenes of death and danger on the sea.

Thus the hours wore slowly away. As the tide fell the noise of waves retired a little from the beacon, and the wearied man and dog sank gradually at last into deep, untroubled slumber.

So deep was it, that they did not hear the increasing noise of the gulls as they wheeled round the beacon after having breakfasted near it; so deep, that they did not feel the sun as it streamed through an opening in the woodwork and glared on their respective faces; so deep, that they were ignorant of the arrival of the boats with the workmen, and were dead to the shouts of their companions, until one of them, Jamie Dove, put his head up the hatchway and uttered one of his loudest roars, close to their ears.

Then indeed Bremner rose up and looked bewildered, and Pup, starting up, barked as furiously as if its own little black body had miraculously become the concentrated essence of all the other noisy dogs in the wide world rolled into one!

Chapter Twenty Two.Life in the Beacon—Story of the Eddystone Lighthouse.Some time after this a number of the men took up their permanent abode in the beacon house, and the work was carried on by night as well as by day, when the state of the tide and the weather permitted.Immense numbers of fish called poddlies were discovered to be swimming about at high water. So numerous were they, that the rock was sometimes hidden by the shoals of them. Fishing for these thenceforth became a pastime among the men, who not only supplied their own table with fresh fish, but at times sent presents of them to their friends in the vessels.All the men who dwelt on the beacon were volunteers, for Mr Stevenson felt that it would be cruel to compel men to live at such a post of danger. Those who chose, therefore, remained in the lightship or the tender, and those who preferred it went to the beacon. It is scarcely necessary to add, that among the latter were found all the “sea-sick men!”These bold artificers were not long of having their courage tested. Soon after their removal to the beacon they experienced some very rough weather, which shook the posts violently, and caused them to twist in a most unpleasant way.But it was not until some time after that a storm arose, which caused the stoutest-hearted of them all to quail more than once.It began on the night of as fine a day as they had had the whole season.In order that the reader may form a just conception of what we are about to describe, it may not be amiss to note the state of things at the rock, and the employment of the men at the time.A second forge had been put up on the higher platform of the beacon, but the night before that of which we write, the lower platform had been burst up by a wave, and the mortar and forge thereon, with all the implements, were cast down. The damaged forge was therefore set up for the time on its old site, near the foundation-pit of the lighthouse, while the carpenters were busy repairing the mortar-gallery.The smiths were as usual busy sharpening picks and irons, and making bats and stanchions, and other iron work connected with the building operations. The landing-master’s crew were occupied in assisting the millwrights to lay the railways to hand, and joiners were kept almost constantly employed in fitting picks to their handles, which latter were very frequently broken.Nearly all the miscellaneous work was done by seamen. There was no such character on the Bell Rock as the common labourer. The sailors cheerfully undertook the work usually performed by such men, and they did it admirably.In consequence of the men being able to remain on the beacon, the work went on literally “by double tides”; and at night the rock was often ablaze with torches, while the artificers wrought until the waves drove them away.On the night in question there was a low spring-tide, so that a night-tide’s work of five hours was secured. This was one of the longest spells they had had since the beginning of the operations.The stars shone brightly in a very dark sky. Not a breath of air was felt. Even the smoke of the forge fire rose perpendicularly a short way, until an imperceptible zephyr wafted it gently to the west. Yet there was a heavy swell rolling in from the eastward, which caused enormous waves to thunder on Ralph the Rover’s Ledge, as if they would drive down the solid rock.Mingled with this solemn, intermittent roar of the sea was the continuous clink of picks, chisels, and hammers, and the loud clang of the two forges; that on the beacon being distinctly different from the other, owing to the wooden erection on which it stood rendering it deep and thunderous. Torches and forge fires cast a glare over all, rendering the foam pale green and the rocks deep red. Some of the active figures at work stood out black and sharp against the light, while others shone in its blaze like red-hot fiends. Above all sounded an occasional cry from the sea-gulls, as they swooped down into the magic circle of light, and then soared away shrieking into darkness.“Hard work’s not easy,” observed James Dove, pausing in the midst of his labours to wipe his brow.“True for ye; but as we’ve got to arn our brid be the sweat of our brows, we’re in the fair way to fortin,” said Ned O’Connor, blowing away energetically with the big bellows.Ned had been reappointed to this duty since the erection of the second forge, which was in Ruby’s charge. It was our hero’s hammer that created such a din up in the beacon, while Dove wrought down on the rock.“We’ll have a gale to-night,” said the smith; “I know that by the feelin’ of the air.”“Well, I can’t boast o’ much knowledge o’ feelin’,” said O’Connor; “but I believe you’re right, for the fish towld me the news this mornin’.”This remark of Ned had reference to a well-ascertained fact, that, when a storm was coming, the fish invariably left the neighbourhood of the rock; doubtless in order to seek the security of depths which are not affected by winds or waves.While Dove and his comrade commented on this subject, two of the other men had retired to the south-eastern end of the rock to take a look at the weather. These were Peter Logan, the foreman, whose position required him to have a care for the safety of the men as well as for the progress of the work, and our friend Bremner, who had just descended from the cooking-room, where he had been superintending the preparation of supper.“It will be a stiff breeze, I fear, to-night,” said Logan.“D’ye think so I” said Bremner; “it seems to me so calm that I would think a storm a’most impossible. But the fish never tell lies.”“True. You got no fish to-day, I believe?” said Logan.“Not a nibble,” replied the other.As he spoke, he was obliged to rise from a rock on which he had seated himself, because of a large wave, which, breaking on the outer reefs, sent the foam a little closer to his toes than was agreeable.“That was a big one, but yonder is a bigger,” cried Logan.The wave to which he referred was indeed a majestic wall of water. It came on with such an awful appearance of power, that some of the men who perceived it could not repress a cry of astonishment.In another moment it fell, and, bursting over the rocks with a terrific roar, extinguished the forge fire, and compelled the men to take refuge in the beacon.Jamie Dove saved his bellows with difficulty. The other men, catching up their things as they best might, crowded up the ladder in a more or less draggled condition.The beacon house was gained by means of one of the main beams, which had been converted into a stair, by the simple process of nailing small battens thereon, about a foot apart from each other. The men could only go up one at a time, but as they were active and accustomed to the work, were all speedily within their place of refuge. Soon afterwards the sea covered the rock, and the place where they had been at work was a mass of seething foam.Still there was no wind; but dark clouds had begun to rise on the seaward horizon.The sudden change in the appearance of the rock after the last torches were extinguished was very striking. For a few seconds there seemed to be no light at all. The darkness of a coal mine appeared to have settled down on the scene. But this soon passed away, as the men’s eyes became accustomed to the change, and then the dark loom of the advancing billows, the pale light of the flashing foam, and occasional gleams of phosphorescence, and glimpses of black rocks in the midst of all, took the place of the warm, busy scene which the spot had presented a few minutes before.“Supper, boys!” shouted Bremner.Peter Bremner, we may remark in passing, was a particularly useful member of society. Besides being small and corpulent, he was a capital cook. He had acted during his busy life both as a groom and a house-servant; he had been a soldier, a sutler, a writer’s clerk, and an apothecary—in which latter profession he had acquired the art of writing and suggesting recipes, and a taste for making collections in natural history. He was very partial to the use of the lancet, and quite a terrible adept at tooth-drawing. In short, Peter was thefactotumof the beacon house, where, in addition to his other offices, he filled those of barber and steward to the admiration of all.But Bremner came out in quite a new and valuable light after he went to reside in the beacon—namely, as a storyteller. During the long periods of inaction that ensued, when the men were imprisoned there by storms, he lightened many an hour that would have otherwise hung heavily on their hands, and he cheered the more timid among them by speaking lightly of the danger of their position.On the signal for supper being given, there was a general rush down the ladders into the kitchen, where as comfortable a meal as one could wish for was smoking in pot and pan and platter.As there were twenty-three to partake, it was impossible, of course, for all to sit down to table. They were obliged to stow themselves away on such articles of furniture as came most readily to hand, and eat as they best could. Hungry men find no difficulty in doing this. For some time the conversation was restricted to a word or two. Soon, however, as appetite began to be appeased, tongues began to loosen. The silence was first broken by a groan.“Ochone!” exclaimed O’Connor, as well as a mouthful of pork and potatoes would allow him; “was ityouthat groaned like a dyin’ pig?”The question was put to Forsyth, who was holding his head between his hands, and swaying his body to and fro in agony.“Hae ye the colic, freen’?” enquired John Watt, in a tone of sympathy.“No–n–o,” groaned Forsyth, “it’s a—a—too–tooth!”“Och! is that all?”“Have it out, man, at once.”“Ram a red-hot skewer into it.”“No, no; let it alone, and it’ll go away.”Such was the advice tendered, and much more of a similar nature, to the suffering man.“There’s nothink like ’ot water an’ cold,” said Joe Dumsby in the tones of an oracle. “Just fill your mouth with bilin’ ’ot Water, an’ dip your face in a basin o’ cold, and it’s sartain to cure.”“Or kill,” suggested Jamie Dove.“It’s better now,” said Forsyth, with a sigh of relief. “I scrunched a bit o’ bone into it; that was all.”“There’s nothing like the string and the red-hot poker,” suggested Ruby Brand. “Tie the one end o’ the string to a post and t’other end to the tooth, an’ stick a red-hot poker to your nose. Away it comes at once.”“Hoot! nonsense,” said Watt. “Ye might as weel tie a string to his lug an’ dip him into the sea. Tak’ my word for’t, there’s naethin’ like pooin’.”“D’you mean pooh pooin’?” enquired Dumsby.Watt’s reply was interrupted by a loud gust of wind, which burst upon the beacon house at that moment and shook it violently.Everyone started up, and all clustered round the door and windows to observe the appearance of things without. Every object was shrouded in thick darkness, but a flash of lightning revealed the approach of the storm which had been predicted, and which had already commenced to blow.All tendency to jest instantly vanished, and for a time some of the men stood watching the scene outside, while others sat smoking their pipes by the fire in silence.“What think ye of things?” enquired one of the men, as Ruby came up from the mortar-gallery, to which he had descended at the first gust of the storm.“I don’t know what to think,” said he gravely. “It’s clear enough that we shall have a stiffish gale. I think little of that with a tight craft below me and plenty of sea-room; but I don’t know what to think of abeaconin a gale.”As he spoke another furious burst of wind shook the place, and a flash of vivid lightning was speedily followed by a crash of thunder, that caused some hearts there to beat faster and harder than usual.“Pooh!” cried Bremner, as he proceeded coolly to wash up his dishes, “that’s nothing, boys. Has not this old timber house weathered all the gales o’ last winter, and d’ye think it’s goin’ to come down before a summer breeze? Why, there’s a lighthouse in France, called the Tour de Cordouan, which rises light out o’ the sea, an’ I’m told it had some fearful gales to try its metal when it was buildin’. So don’t go an’ git narvous.”“Who’s gittin’ narvous?” exclaimed George Forsyth, at whom Bremner had looked when he made the last remark.“Sure ye misjudge him,” cried O’Connor. “It’s only another twist o’ the toothick. But it’s all very well in you to spake lightly o’ gales in that fashion. Wasn’t the Eddystone Lighthouse cleared away one stormy night, with the engineer and all the men, an’ was niver more heard on?”“That’s true,” said Ruby. “Come, Bremner, I have heard you say that you had read all about that business. Let’s hear the story; it will help to while away the time, for there’s no chance of anyone gettin’ to sleep with such a row outside.”“I wish it may be no worse than a row outside,” said Forsyth in a doleful tone, as he shook his head and looked round on the party anxiously.“Wot! another fit o’ the toothick?” enquired O’Connor ironically.“Don’t try to put us in the dismals,” said Jamie Dove, knocking the ashes out of his pipe, and refilling that solace of his leisure hours. “Let us hear about the Eddystone, Bremner; it’ll cheer up our spirits a bit.”“Will it though?” said Bremner, with a look that John Watt described as “awesome”, “Well, we shall see.”“You must know, boys—”“’Ere, light your pipe, my ’earty,” said Dumsby.“Hold yer tongue, an’ don’t interrupt him,” cried one of the men, flattening Dumsby’s cap over his eyes.“And don’t drop yerhaitches,” observed another, “’cause if ye do they’ll fall into the sea an’ be drownded, an’ then ye’ll have none left to put into their wrong places when ye wants ’em.”“Come, Bremner, go on.”“Well, then, boys,” began Bremner, “you must know that it is more than a hundred years since the Eddystone Lighthouse was begun—in the year 1696, if I remember rightly—that would be just a hundred and thirteen years to this date. Up to that time these rocks were as great a terror to sailors as the Bell Rock is now, or, rather, as it was last year, for now that this here comfortable beacon has been put up, it’s no longer a terror to nobody—”“Except Geordie Forsyth,” interposed O’Connor.“Silence,” cried the men.“Well,” resumed Bremner, “as you all know, the Eddystone Rocks lie in the British Channel, fourteen miles from Plymouth and ten from the Ram Head, an’ open to a most tremendious sea from the Bay o’ Biscay and the Atlantic, as I knows well, for I’ve passed the place in a gale, close enough a’most to throw a biscuit on the rocks.“They are named the Eddystone Rocks because of the whirls and eddies that the tides make among them; but for the matter of that, the Bell Rock might be so named on the same ground. Howsever, it’s six o’ one an’ half a dozen o’ t’other. Only there’s this difference, that the highest point o’ the Eddystone is barely covered at high water, while here the rock is twelve or fifteen feet below water at high tide.“Well, it was settled by the Trinity Board in 1696, that a lighthouse should be put up, and a Mr Winstanley was engaged to do it. He was an uncommon clever an’ ingenious man. He used to exhibit wonderful waterworks in London; and in his house, down in Essex, he used to astonish his friends, and frighten them sometimes, with his queer contrivances. He had invented an easy chair which laid hold of anyone that sat down in it, and held him prisoner until Mr Winstanley set him free. He made a slipper also, and laid it on his bedroom floor, and when anyone put his foot into it he touched a spring that caused a ghost to rise from the hearth. He made a summer house, too, at the foot of his garden, on the edge of a canal, and if anyone entered into it and sat down, he very soon found himself adrift on the canal.“Such a man was thought to be the best for such a difficult work as the building of a lighthouse on the Eddystone, so he was asked to undertake it, and agreed, and began it well. He finished it, too, in four years, his chief difficulty being the distance of the rock from land, and the danger of goin’ backwards and forwards. The light was first shown on the 14th November, 1698. Before this the engineer had resolved to pass a night in the building, which he did with a party of men; but he was compelled to pass more than a night, for it came on to blow furiously, and they were kept prisoners for eleven days, drenched with spray all the time, and hard up for provisions.“It was said the sprays rose a hundred feet above the lantern of this first Eddystone Lighthouse. Well, it stood till the year 1703, when repairs became necessary, and Mr Winstanley went down to Plymouth to superintend. It had been prophesied that this lighthouse would certainly be carried away. But dismal prophecies are always made about unusual things. If men were to mind prophecies there would be precious little done in this world. Howsever, the prophecies unfortunately came true. Winstanley’s friends advised him not to go to stay in it, but he was so confident of the strength of his work that he said he only wished to have the chance o’ bein’ there in the greatest storm that ever blew, that he might see what effect it would have on the buildin’. Poor man! he had his wish. On the night of the 26th November a terrible storm arose, the worst that had been for many years, and swept the lighthouse entirely away. Not a vestige of it or the people on it was ever seen afterwards. Only a few bits of the iron fastenings were left fixed in the rocks.”“That was terrible,” said Forsyth, whose uneasiness was evidently increasing with the rising storm.“Ay, but the worst of it was,” continued Bremner, “that, owing to the absence of the light, a large East Indiaman went on the rocks immediately after, and became a total wreck. This, however, set the Trinity House on putting up another, which was begun in 1706, and the light shown in 1708. This tower was ninety-two feet high, built partly of wood and partly of stone. It was a strong building, and stood for forty-nine years. Mayhap it would have been standin’ to this day but for an accident, which you shall hear of before I have done. While this lighthouse was building, a French privateer carried off all the workmen prisoners to France, but they were set at liberty by the King, because their work was of such great use to all nations.“The lighthouse, when finished, was put in charge of two keepers, with instructions to hoist a flag when anything was wanted from the shore. One of these men became suddenly ill, and died. Of course his comrade hoisted the signal, but the weather was so bad that it was found impossible to send a boat off for four weeks. The poor keeper was so afraid that people might suppose he had murdered his companion that he kept the corpse beside him all that time. What his feelin’s could have been I don’t know, but they must have been awful; for, besides the horror of such a position in such a lonesome place, the body decayed to an extent—”“That’ll do, lad; don’t be too partickler,” said Jamie Dove.The others gave a sigh of relief at the interruption, and Bremner continued—“There were alwaysthreekeepers in the Eddystone after that. Well, it was in the year 1755, on the 2nd December, that one o’ the keepers went to snuff the candles, for they only burned candles in the lighthouses at that time, and before that time great open grates with coal fires were the most common; but there were not many lights either of one kind or another in those days. On gettin’ up to the lantern he found it was on fire. All the efforts they made failed to put it out, and it was soon burned down. Boats put off to them, but they only succeeded in saving the keepers; and of them, one went mad on reaching the shore, and ran off, and never was heard of again; and another, an old man, died from the effects of melted lead which had run down his throat from the roof of the burning lighthouse. They did not believe him when he said he had swallowed lead, but after he died it was found to be a fact.“The tower became red-hot, and burned for five days before it was utterly destroyed. This was the end o’ the second Eddystone. Its builder was a Mr John Rudyerd, a silk mercer of London.“The third Eddystone, which has now stood for half a century as firm as the rock itself, and which bids fair to stand till the end of time, was begun in 1756 and completed in 1759. It was lighted by means of twenty-four candles. Of Mr Smeaton, the engineer who built it, those who knew him best said that ‘he had never undertaken anything without completing it to the satisfaction of his employers.’“D’ye know, lads,” continued Bremner in a half-musing tone, “I’ve sometimes been led to couple this character of Smeaton with the text that he put round the top of the first room of the lighthouse—‘Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it;’ and also the words, ‘Praise God,’ which he cut in Latin on the last stone, the lintel of the lantern door. I think these words had somethin’ to do with the success of the last Eddystone Lighthouse.”“I agree with you,” said Robert Selkirk, with a nod of hearty approval; “and, moreover, I think the Bell Rock Lighthouse stands a good chance of equal success, for whether he means to carve texts on the stones or not I don’t know, but I feel assured thatourengineer is animated by the same spirit.”When Bremner’s account of the Eddystone came to a close, most of the men had finished their third or fourth pipes, yet no one proposed going to rest.The storm without raged so furiously that they felt a strong disinclination to separate. At last, however, Peter Logan rose, and said he would turn in for a little. Two or three of the others also rose, and were about to ascend to their barrack, when a heavy sea struck the building, causing it to quiver to its foundation.

Some time after this a number of the men took up their permanent abode in the beacon house, and the work was carried on by night as well as by day, when the state of the tide and the weather permitted.

Immense numbers of fish called poddlies were discovered to be swimming about at high water. So numerous were they, that the rock was sometimes hidden by the shoals of them. Fishing for these thenceforth became a pastime among the men, who not only supplied their own table with fresh fish, but at times sent presents of them to their friends in the vessels.

All the men who dwelt on the beacon were volunteers, for Mr Stevenson felt that it would be cruel to compel men to live at such a post of danger. Those who chose, therefore, remained in the lightship or the tender, and those who preferred it went to the beacon. It is scarcely necessary to add, that among the latter were found all the “sea-sick men!”

These bold artificers were not long of having their courage tested. Soon after their removal to the beacon they experienced some very rough weather, which shook the posts violently, and caused them to twist in a most unpleasant way.

But it was not until some time after that a storm arose, which caused the stoutest-hearted of them all to quail more than once.

It began on the night of as fine a day as they had had the whole season.

In order that the reader may form a just conception of what we are about to describe, it may not be amiss to note the state of things at the rock, and the employment of the men at the time.

A second forge had been put up on the higher platform of the beacon, but the night before that of which we write, the lower platform had been burst up by a wave, and the mortar and forge thereon, with all the implements, were cast down. The damaged forge was therefore set up for the time on its old site, near the foundation-pit of the lighthouse, while the carpenters were busy repairing the mortar-gallery.

The smiths were as usual busy sharpening picks and irons, and making bats and stanchions, and other iron work connected with the building operations. The landing-master’s crew were occupied in assisting the millwrights to lay the railways to hand, and joiners were kept almost constantly employed in fitting picks to their handles, which latter were very frequently broken.

Nearly all the miscellaneous work was done by seamen. There was no such character on the Bell Rock as the common labourer. The sailors cheerfully undertook the work usually performed by such men, and they did it admirably.

In consequence of the men being able to remain on the beacon, the work went on literally “by double tides”; and at night the rock was often ablaze with torches, while the artificers wrought until the waves drove them away.

On the night in question there was a low spring-tide, so that a night-tide’s work of five hours was secured. This was one of the longest spells they had had since the beginning of the operations.

The stars shone brightly in a very dark sky. Not a breath of air was felt. Even the smoke of the forge fire rose perpendicularly a short way, until an imperceptible zephyr wafted it gently to the west. Yet there was a heavy swell rolling in from the eastward, which caused enormous waves to thunder on Ralph the Rover’s Ledge, as if they would drive down the solid rock.

Mingled with this solemn, intermittent roar of the sea was the continuous clink of picks, chisels, and hammers, and the loud clang of the two forges; that on the beacon being distinctly different from the other, owing to the wooden erection on which it stood rendering it deep and thunderous. Torches and forge fires cast a glare over all, rendering the foam pale green and the rocks deep red. Some of the active figures at work stood out black and sharp against the light, while others shone in its blaze like red-hot fiends. Above all sounded an occasional cry from the sea-gulls, as they swooped down into the magic circle of light, and then soared away shrieking into darkness.

“Hard work’s not easy,” observed James Dove, pausing in the midst of his labours to wipe his brow.

“True for ye; but as we’ve got to arn our brid be the sweat of our brows, we’re in the fair way to fortin,” said Ned O’Connor, blowing away energetically with the big bellows.

Ned had been reappointed to this duty since the erection of the second forge, which was in Ruby’s charge. It was our hero’s hammer that created such a din up in the beacon, while Dove wrought down on the rock.

“We’ll have a gale to-night,” said the smith; “I know that by the feelin’ of the air.”

“Well, I can’t boast o’ much knowledge o’ feelin’,” said O’Connor; “but I believe you’re right, for the fish towld me the news this mornin’.”

This remark of Ned had reference to a well-ascertained fact, that, when a storm was coming, the fish invariably left the neighbourhood of the rock; doubtless in order to seek the security of depths which are not affected by winds or waves.

While Dove and his comrade commented on this subject, two of the other men had retired to the south-eastern end of the rock to take a look at the weather. These were Peter Logan, the foreman, whose position required him to have a care for the safety of the men as well as for the progress of the work, and our friend Bremner, who had just descended from the cooking-room, where he had been superintending the preparation of supper.

“It will be a stiff breeze, I fear, to-night,” said Logan.

“D’ye think so I” said Bremner; “it seems to me so calm that I would think a storm a’most impossible. But the fish never tell lies.”

“True. You got no fish to-day, I believe?” said Logan.

“Not a nibble,” replied the other.

As he spoke, he was obliged to rise from a rock on which he had seated himself, because of a large wave, which, breaking on the outer reefs, sent the foam a little closer to his toes than was agreeable.

“That was a big one, but yonder is a bigger,” cried Logan.

The wave to which he referred was indeed a majestic wall of water. It came on with such an awful appearance of power, that some of the men who perceived it could not repress a cry of astonishment.

In another moment it fell, and, bursting over the rocks with a terrific roar, extinguished the forge fire, and compelled the men to take refuge in the beacon.

Jamie Dove saved his bellows with difficulty. The other men, catching up their things as they best might, crowded up the ladder in a more or less draggled condition.

The beacon house was gained by means of one of the main beams, which had been converted into a stair, by the simple process of nailing small battens thereon, about a foot apart from each other. The men could only go up one at a time, but as they were active and accustomed to the work, were all speedily within their place of refuge. Soon afterwards the sea covered the rock, and the place where they had been at work was a mass of seething foam.

Still there was no wind; but dark clouds had begun to rise on the seaward horizon.

The sudden change in the appearance of the rock after the last torches were extinguished was very striking. For a few seconds there seemed to be no light at all. The darkness of a coal mine appeared to have settled down on the scene. But this soon passed away, as the men’s eyes became accustomed to the change, and then the dark loom of the advancing billows, the pale light of the flashing foam, and occasional gleams of phosphorescence, and glimpses of black rocks in the midst of all, took the place of the warm, busy scene which the spot had presented a few minutes before.

“Supper, boys!” shouted Bremner.

Peter Bremner, we may remark in passing, was a particularly useful member of society. Besides being small and corpulent, he was a capital cook. He had acted during his busy life both as a groom and a house-servant; he had been a soldier, a sutler, a writer’s clerk, and an apothecary—in which latter profession he had acquired the art of writing and suggesting recipes, and a taste for making collections in natural history. He was very partial to the use of the lancet, and quite a terrible adept at tooth-drawing. In short, Peter was thefactotumof the beacon house, where, in addition to his other offices, he filled those of barber and steward to the admiration of all.

But Bremner came out in quite a new and valuable light after he went to reside in the beacon—namely, as a storyteller. During the long periods of inaction that ensued, when the men were imprisoned there by storms, he lightened many an hour that would have otherwise hung heavily on their hands, and he cheered the more timid among them by speaking lightly of the danger of their position.

On the signal for supper being given, there was a general rush down the ladders into the kitchen, where as comfortable a meal as one could wish for was smoking in pot and pan and platter.

As there were twenty-three to partake, it was impossible, of course, for all to sit down to table. They were obliged to stow themselves away on such articles of furniture as came most readily to hand, and eat as they best could. Hungry men find no difficulty in doing this. For some time the conversation was restricted to a word or two. Soon, however, as appetite began to be appeased, tongues began to loosen. The silence was first broken by a groan.

“Ochone!” exclaimed O’Connor, as well as a mouthful of pork and potatoes would allow him; “was ityouthat groaned like a dyin’ pig?”

The question was put to Forsyth, who was holding his head between his hands, and swaying his body to and fro in agony.

“Hae ye the colic, freen’?” enquired John Watt, in a tone of sympathy.

“No–n–o,” groaned Forsyth, “it’s a—a—too–tooth!”

“Och! is that all?”

“Have it out, man, at once.”

“Ram a red-hot skewer into it.”

“No, no; let it alone, and it’ll go away.”

Such was the advice tendered, and much more of a similar nature, to the suffering man.

“There’s nothink like ’ot water an’ cold,” said Joe Dumsby in the tones of an oracle. “Just fill your mouth with bilin’ ’ot Water, an’ dip your face in a basin o’ cold, and it’s sartain to cure.”

“Or kill,” suggested Jamie Dove.

“It’s better now,” said Forsyth, with a sigh of relief. “I scrunched a bit o’ bone into it; that was all.”

“There’s nothing like the string and the red-hot poker,” suggested Ruby Brand. “Tie the one end o’ the string to a post and t’other end to the tooth, an’ stick a red-hot poker to your nose. Away it comes at once.”

“Hoot! nonsense,” said Watt. “Ye might as weel tie a string to his lug an’ dip him into the sea. Tak’ my word for’t, there’s naethin’ like pooin’.”

“D’you mean pooh pooin’?” enquired Dumsby.

Watt’s reply was interrupted by a loud gust of wind, which burst upon the beacon house at that moment and shook it violently.

Everyone started up, and all clustered round the door and windows to observe the appearance of things without. Every object was shrouded in thick darkness, but a flash of lightning revealed the approach of the storm which had been predicted, and which had already commenced to blow.

All tendency to jest instantly vanished, and for a time some of the men stood watching the scene outside, while others sat smoking their pipes by the fire in silence.

“What think ye of things?” enquired one of the men, as Ruby came up from the mortar-gallery, to which he had descended at the first gust of the storm.

“I don’t know what to think,” said he gravely. “It’s clear enough that we shall have a stiffish gale. I think little of that with a tight craft below me and plenty of sea-room; but I don’t know what to think of abeaconin a gale.”

As he spoke another furious burst of wind shook the place, and a flash of vivid lightning was speedily followed by a crash of thunder, that caused some hearts there to beat faster and harder than usual.

“Pooh!” cried Bremner, as he proceeded coolly to wash up his dishes, “that’s nothing, boys. Has not this old timber house weathered all the gales o’ last winter, and d’ye think it’s goin’ to come down before a summer breeze? Why, there’s a lighthouse in France, called the Tour de Cordouan, which rises light out o’ the sea, an’ I’m told it had some fearful gales to try its metal when it was buildin’. So don’t go an’ git narvous.”

“Who’s gittin’ narvous?” exclaimed George Forsyth, at whom Bremner had looked when he made the last remark.

“Sure ye misjudge him,” cried O’Connor. “It’s only another twist o’ the toothick. But it’s all very well in you to spake lightly o’ gales in that fashion. Wasn’t the Eddystone Lighthouse cleared away one stormy night, with the engineer and all the men, an’ was niver more heard on?”

“That’s true,” said Ruby. “Come, Bremner, I have heard you say that you had read all about that business. Let’s hear the story; it will help to while away the time, for there’s no chance of anyone gettin’ to sleep with such a row outside.”

“I wish it may be no worse than a row outside,” said Forsyth in a doleful tone, as he shook his head and looked round on the party anxiously.

“Wot! another fit o’ the toothick?” enquired O’Connor ironically.

“Don’t try to put us in the dismals,” said Jamie Dove, knocking the ashes out of his pipe, and refilling that solace of his leisure hours. “Let us hear about the Eddystone, Bremner; it’ll cheer up our spirits a bit.”

“Will it though?” said Bremner, with a look that John Watt described as “awesome”, “Well, we shall see.”

“You must know, boys—”

“’Ere, light your pipe, my ’earty,” said Dumsby.

“Hold yer tongue, an’ don’t interrupt him,” cried one of the men, flattening Dumsby’s cap over his eyes.

“And don’t drop yerhaitches,” observed another, “’cause if ye do they’ll fall into the sea an’ be drownded, an’ then ye’ll have none left to put into their wrong places when ye wants ’em.”

“Come, Bremner, go on.”

“Well, then, boys,” began Bremner, “you must know that it is more than a hundred years since the Eddystone Lighthouse was begun—in the year 1696, if I remember rightly—that would be just a hundred and thirteen years to this date. Up to that time these rocks were as great a terror to sailors as the Bell Rock is now, or, rather, as it was last year, for now that this here comfortable beacon has been put up, it’s no longer a terror to nobody—”

“Except Geordie Forsyth,” interposed O’Connor.

“Silence,” cried the men.

“Well,” resumed Bremner, “as you all know, the Eddystone Rocks lie in the British Channel, fourteen miles from Plymouth and ten from the Ram Head, an’ open to a most tremendious sea from the Bay o’ Biscay and the Atlantic, as I knows well, for I’ve passed the place in a gale, close enough a’most to throw a biscuit on the rocks.

“They are named the Eddystone Rocks because of the whirls and eddies that the tides make among them; but for the matter of that, the Bell Rock might be so named on the same ground. Howsever, it’s six o’ one an’ half a dozen o’ t’other. Only there’s this difference, that the highest point o’ the Eddystone is barely covered at high water, while here the rock is twelve or fifteen feet below water at high tide.

“Well, it was settled by the Trinity Board in 1696, that a lighthouse should be put up, and a Mr Winstanley was engaged to do it. He was an uncommon clever an’ ingenious man. He used to exhibit wonderful waterworks in London; and in his house, down in Essex, he used to astonish his friends, and frighten them sometimes, with his queer contrivances. He had invented an easy chair which laid hold of anyone that sat down in it, and held him prisoner until Mr Winstanley set him free. He made a slipper also, and laid it on his bedroom floor, and when anyone put his foot into it he touched a spring that caused a ghost to rise from the hearth. He made a summer house, too, at the foot of his garden, on the edge of a canal, and if anyone entered into it and sat down, he very soon found himself adrift on the canal.

“Such a man was thought to be the best for such a difficult work as the building of a lighthouse on the Eddystone, so he was asked to undertake it, and agreed, and began it well. He finished it, too, in four years, his chief difficulty being the distance of the rock from land, and the danger of goin’ backwards and forwards. The light was first shown on the 14th November, 1698. Before this the engineer had resolved to pass a night in the building, which he did with a party of men; but he was compelled to pass more than a night, for it came on to blow furiously, and they were kept prisoners for eleven days, drenched with spray all the time, and hard up for provisions.

“It was said the sprays rose a hundred feet above the lantern of this first Eddystone Lighthouse. Well, it stood till the year 1703, when repairs became necessary, and Mr Winstanley went down to Plymouth to superintend. It had been prophesied that this lighthouse would certainly be carried away. But dismal prophecies are always made about unusual things. If men were to mind prophecies there would be precious little done in this world. Howsever, the prophecies unfortunately came true. Winstanley’s friends advised him not to go to stay in it, but he was so confident of the strength of his work that he said he only wished to have the chance o’ bein’ there in the greatest storm that ever blew, that he might see what effect it would have on the buildin’. Poor man! he had his wish. On the night of the 26th November a terrible storm arose, the worst that had been for many years, and swept the lighthouse entirely away. Not a vestige of it or the people on it was ever seen afterwards. Only a few bits of the iron fastenings were left fixed in the rocks.”

“That was terrible,” said Forsyth, whose uneasiness was evidently increasing with the rising storm.

“Ay, but the worst of it was,” continued Bremner, “that, owing to the absence of the light, a large East Indiaman went on the rocks immediately after, and became a total wreck. This, however, set the Trinity House on putting up another, which was begun in 1706, and the light shown in 1708. This tower was ninety-two feet high, built partly of wood and partly of stone. It was a strong building, and stood for forty-nine years. Mayhap it would have been standin’ to this day but for an accident, which you shall hear of before I have done. While this lighthouse was building, a French privateer carried off all the workmen prisoners to France, but they were set at liberty by the King, because their work was of such great use to all nations.

“The lighthouse, when finished, was put in charge of two keepers, with instructions to hoist a flag when anything was wanted from the shore. One of these men became suddenly ill, and died. Of course his comrade hoisted the signal, but the weather was so bad that it was found impossible to send a boat off for four weeks. The poor keeper was so afraid that people might suppose he had murdered his companion that he kept the corpse beside him all that time. What his feelin’s could have been I don’t know, but they must have been awful; for, besides the horror of such a position in such a lonesome place, the body decayed to an extent—”

“That’ll do, lad; don’t be too partickler,” said Jamie Dove.

The others gave a sigh of relief at the interruption, and Bremner continued—

“There were alwaysthreekeepers in the Eddystone after that. Well, it was in the year 1755, on the 2nd December, that one o’ the keepers went to snuff the candles, for they only burned candles in the lighthouses at that time, and before that time great open grates with coal fires were the most common; but there were not many lights either of one kind or another in those days. On gettin’ up to the lantern he found it was on fire. All the efforts they made failed to put it out, and it was soon burned down. Boats put off to them, but they only succeeded in saving the keepers; and of them, one went mad on reaching the shore, and ran off, and never was heard of again; and another, an old man, died from the effects of melted lead which had run down his throat from the roof of the burning lighthouse. They did not believe him when he said he had swallowed lead, but after he died it was found to be a fact.

“The tower became red-hot, and burned for five days before it was utterly destroyed. This was the end o’ the second Eddystone. Its builder was a Mr John Rudyerd, a silk mercer of London.

“The third Eddystone, which has now stood for half a century as firm as the rock itself, and which bids fair to stand till the end of time, was begun in 1756 and completed in 1759. It was lighted by means of twenty-four candles. Of Mr Smeaton, the engineer who built it, those who knew him best said that ‘he had never undertaken anything without completing it to the satisfaction of his employers.’

“D’ye know, lads,” continued Bremner in a half-musing tone, “I’ve sometimes been led to couple this character of Smeaton with the text that he put round the top of the first room of the lighthouse—‘Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it;’ and also the words, ‘Praise God,’ which he cut in Latin on the last stone, the lintel of the lantern door. I think these words had somethin’ to do with the success of the last Eddystone Lighthouse.”

“I agree with you,” said Robert Selkirk, with a nod of hearty approval; “and, moreover, I think the Bell Rock Lighthouse stands a good chance of equal success, for whether he means to carve texts on the stones or not I don’t know, but I feel assured thatourengineer is animated by the same spirit.”

When Bremner’s account of the Eddystone came to a close, most of the men had finished their third or fourth pipes, yet no one proposed going to rest.

The storm without raged so furiously that they felt a strong disinclination to separate. At last, however, Peter Logan rose, and said he would turn in for a little. Two or three of the others also rose, and were about to ascend to their barrack, when a heavy sea struck the building, causing it to quiver to its foundation.

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