Otis James
The Light Keepers: A Story of the United States Light-house Service

CHAPTER X
THE RESCUE

Uncle Zenas grumbled because Captain Eph insisted on holding Sidney in his arms, instead of lying down to rest as it seemed he ought to have done; but to all his protests, uttered in whispers lest the rescued men who were sleeping on the floor be disturbed, the old keeper replied:

"I don't need any coddlin', Uncle Zenas, for what I've done this day hasn't tuckered me out a little bit. Besides, I'm restin' with Sonny in my arms, a good deal more'n I would alone in bed."

Sidney had a vague idea that he was much too large a boy to be thus held as if he were a baby; but he made no protest against being thus petted, because it could be plainly seen that it gave the old keeper real pleasure.

After a short time Uncle Zenas proposed that the strangers be left alone, lest their rest be disturbed by the conversation, and the crew of Carys' Ledge light went into the watch-room, where Mr. Peters had already built a fire in the small stove.

The storm raged as severely as at any other time during the day; but to Sidney there was no longer any menace in the howling of the wind, while the beating of the snow against the windows only served to remind him how cosy and comfortable it was inside the tower, for with the return of the two keepers from their perilous voyage he had forgotten his fears.

"It doesn't seem possible that you could have kept the boat right side up in those terrible waves," the lad said at length, and Mr. Peters replied:

"There's a good deal of difference between a dory and a boat with a keel, Sonny. In almost any other kind of a craft I'll allow that it mightn't have been possible; but it was a mighty tough pull at the best."

"All it needed was a clear head an' plenty of grit, Sonny," Captain Eph added. "We were stripped down to it till we had to work or freeze, an' so we kept her goin', but more'n once I made up my mind that we'd have to turn back in spite of the hankerin' to give them poor fellows a lift. Sammy ain't overly fond of laborin', as a general thing; but I must say he pulled away this forenoon as if he was a glutton at it, an' time an' time again it seemed as if he reg'larly lifted the dory out'er the water with his oars."

"That's when I was tryin' to keep myself warm," Mr. Peters said with a laugh. "The hardest part of it for me was keepin' the snow out'er my eyes; twice they got froze up, what with the sleet an' spray, an' I had all I could do to pry 'em open without losin' stroke."

"Was the vessel where you believed, sir?" Sidney asked.

"Ah, Sonny. She'd struck the shoal jest as I allowed, an' had driven up on the rocks till the fo'c'sle deck was well out'er water, else never one of the crew would have lived to talk about it. She was a big barkentine – nigh to a thousand tons, I should say – breakin' up mighty fast when we got there, with only four men left on deck, an' they so covered with ice an' snow that you wouldn't have taken 'em for human beings. They had a small gun, sich as is used for signalin', lashed to the capstan; but were past firin' it when we hove in sight."

"How was it possible to get on board?" Sidney asked.

"That was what we couldn't do, Sonny. The cap'n of the vessel was the only one able to give us any help, an' all we could do was to run down under the lee of the wreck, trustin' to their jumpin' aboard as we passed, for it stands to reason we couldn't hold the dory in any one place many seconds, except at the cost of havin' her stove."

"Now don't you think, Sonny, that it didn't need some mighty fine work to do what Cap'n Eph's tellin' about so quiet-like," Mr. Peters interrupted. "There ain't another man on this whole coast who could have done the trick, an' I'm willin' to confess that my heart was in my mouth pretty much all the time."

"Sammy did his full share of the work, Sonny, an' did it like a little man," the old keeper said, continuing his story as if there had not been any interruption. "The first time we ran down, the captain of the wrecked vessel tossed one of the men aboard us, for the poor fellow was so far gone he couldn't help himself. The second trip we got another passenger in the same way, an' the third venture, which was nigh bein' the last of our work, owin' to an ugly sea catchin' us when we were within four or five feet of the wreck, the other two men jumped aboard."

"An' by that time we had a full cargo, I can tell you," Mr. Peters said, determined to relate his share of the story. "We had shipped a barrel of water while gettin' down there, an' when both the men jumped into the dory at the same minute, she had all any craft could swim under."

"The two men who had life enough left in 'em to bear a hand, bailed the water out while Sammy an' I pulled at the oars the best we knew how," Captain Eph continued, "an' when she was lightened a bit, they got out the second pair of oars. Of course the wind helped us mightily, when we was homeward bound; but at the same time considerable work was needed to fetch her in safe. That's all there was to the rescue, Sonny, an' I reckon Sammy an' I are feelin' a good deal better than if we'd hung 'round here listenin' to the gun without liftin' a hand."

"You're brave men, the bravest that ever lived, as Uncle Zenas said this forenoon," Sidney whispered, and Captain Eph looked up quickly at his second assistant as he asked sharply:

"What right have you got to fill Sonny's head with sich stuff as that, Zenas Stubbs? I've seen you do plenty of bigger things in front of Petersburg, an' never yet felt called upon to say you was so terribly brave!"

"It's nobody's business what I said to Sonny when you two idjuts was away," Uncle Zenas said snappishly. "I didn't tell him then what I will now – that you're both the most pig-headed, opinionated old shell-backs that ever wheedled the Government into appointin' 'em to the charge of a light-house!"

Having thus expressed himself so forcibly, the cook went down-stairs as if suddenly attacked by a fit of the sulks, and Captain Eph whispered in Sidney's ear:

"Now wouldn't you think he was a cross-grained old curmudgeon? Wa'al, he ain't, an' his heart is jest as big as his body. It's what you might call second nature for him to tear 'round when we don't get into the kitchen the very minute he has the food on the table; but, bless you, neither Sammy nor I pay any attention to what he says."

"It's gettin' well on to sunset," Mr. Peters suggested, "an' I was so mixed up this mornin' that I ain't willin' to swear the work in the lantern was done 'cordin' to the rules an' regerlations. It won't do any harm to have a look at the lamp."

"Go ahead, Sammy, though I'm allowin' that we did our duty as keepers before we started out to help them poor creeters," and Captain Eph followed his first assistant, while Sidney kept close at the latter's heels.

So far as the lad could judge, there was no decrease in the strength of the wind, nor could he see anything to betoken the end of the gale, yet Captain Eph confidently announced that the "backbone of the blow was broken," and the weather would be fair next morning.

"I hope you're right, Cap'n," Mr. Peters said, as he examined critically the apparatus, "for it ain't dead sure that we mightn't fetch away from the wreck quite a lot of stuff that would come in handy to us now an' then."

"That may be, Sammy; but the question is whether we'd get enough to pay us for pullin' the dory out there an' back while the sea is runnin' high."

Now, for the first time since the keepers returned from their dangerous errand of mercy, did Sidney think of the motor boat, and he asked concerning her.

"She's stove for good this time, Sonny," Mr. Peters replied, "an' if we hadn't gone ashore in her jest when we did, all my work would have been thrown away. I'm allowin' that you'd have hard work to find two of her timbers; but the motor lays there on the rocks in what I'd call pretty fair shape, considerin' how it was ripped out of her."

"I wouldn't waste many tears on her, Sonny, for, take it all in all, we've come out of this 'ere gale a good deal better than we had any right to expect," Captain Eph said, as if believing the lad would feel badly because his boat had been destroyed.

"Don't think I'd be so foolish as that, sir," Sidney said with a laugh. "Of course I'd rather we had her whole and sound; but she didn't begin to be of as much value in a place like this, as the dory, and if we had put her into the house, taking your boat out, those poor fellows down-stairs would not now be alive."

"That's the way to look at it, Sonny," Captain Eph cried cheerily. "Now we'll start the light, an' then be ready for Uncle Zenas' call. I reckon he'd expect us to come down when supper was ready, even if the kitchen was stacked full of half-drowned sailors."

As if in answer to the keeper's remark, Uncle Zenas' head appeared just above the floor at the head of the stairs, and he said in a hoarse whisper:

"Two of your shipwreckers are hoppin' 'round down there lively as chickens; but the others are still asleep. What 'ere we doin' to do 'bout supper?"

"I reckon we'd better have it the same as usual, Uncle Zenas," the keeper replied. "It won't do any harm if them as are still in bed get wakened, for they're likely needin' food as much as sleep."

"Then the sooner you get into the kitchen an' go to eatin' the better it'll be for me. I've got work enough on hand, what with sewin' an' cookin', without havin' the table in the middle of the floor all night."

"If a fat man who claims to be cook on this 'ere ledge would get off the stairs so's we could pass, them as have to do all the work while he's loafin' 'round might get their meals in better season," Mr. Peters cried as he attempted to crowd past Uncle Zenas, and the latter hurried down to the kitchen muttering as if he was beside himself with rage.

When Sidney reached the kitchen all the rescued men were awake, and their captain was introducing them to the crew of the light-house.

"This is Henry Clark, second mate of the barkentine Nautilus," he said as the man who had assisted in rowing the dory ashore stepped forward. "Carl Bragg and Thomas Cutler were of the crew, and are both able seamen. I was in command of the ship, and my name is Benjamin Nutter."

Then Captain Eph introduced himself and crew, including Sidney, and added when that formality was at an end:

"I reckon you're needin' somethin' hot to eat, an' the sooner you tackle what Uncle Zenas has cooked up, the better he'll be pleased."

The rescued men did not delay in acting upon what was a suggestion rather than an invitation, and instead of simply asking a blessing upon the food, Captain Eph offered a fervent prayer of thanksgiving because the crew of Carys' Ledge light had been permitted to save the lives of their fellows.

During the conversation which ensued while the meal was in progress, Captain Nutter explained that his compasses were to blame for the wreck, since, had they shown true, the Nautilus would have been nearly an hundred miles to the southward of where she struck. Then, suddenly, he asked:

"Is that lad one of your crew?"

"Wa'al," Captain Eph replied slowly, "we've begun to think he is, though I don't reckon we can hold him with us very long. He came ashore in a fog storm – "

"His father is Captain Harlow of the schooner West Wind!" Captain Nutter cried quickly.

"Ay, that's who he is," the keeper replied in surprise; "but how do you happen to know it?"

"Because I spoke the West Wind two days ago. She had been cruising around in search of the missing boat, and was only just put on her course again when I met her. Captain Harlow asked me to have the fact of the lad's being adrift in a motor boat inserted in all the leading newspapers, offering a reward to any one who could give information concerning the boy. He is bound for San Juan, and thence to Cadiz."

It was only natural that Sidney should be in the highest degree excited and delighted at thus hearing directly from his father; but an expression of disappointment came over his face as he heard the keeper's question and Captain Nutter's reply:

"How long is he likely to be gone on such a voyage as that?"

"Of course very much depends upon the length of time he is forced to remain in port discharging and loading; but it is safe to reckon on its being ended inside of a year. In the meantime, as I understood him to say, his owners will advance whatever money the boy may need."

"A year!" Sidney exclaimed ruefully.

"A year!" Captain Eph cried in delight, and Mr. Peters asked anxiously:

"Think you'd be able to stick it out on Carys' Ledge that long, Sonny, or will you go ashore the first chance that offers?"

"I'd rather stay here than anywhere else," Sidney replied; "but if the owners of the West Wind are to pay for my board, perhaps they may claim the right to say where I shall live."

"That is easily arranged if you want to stop here, lad," Captain Nutter said. "Write a letter to your father, explaining matters, and there is no doubt but he will prefer that you stay where it may be the most agreeable."

"But no one can say when I may be able to send a letter ashore, sir," Sidney replied in perplexity.

"Get it ready, lad, and I will see that it is mailed without delay. The keeper will be so eager to rid himself of four men, that, as soon as the weather permits, you will see us pulling to the mainland in the dory."

"He's right, Sonny; we're bound to set him ashore as soon as it may be done, an' I'll write to your father myself, tellin' him what we old shell-backs are willin' to do for the sake of keepin' on Carys' Ledge a little shaver whom we're mighty glad to have with us. Of course you'd rather go to him; but since he's arranged for you to stay ashore, I hope you'll want to stop with us."

"Indeed I shall, Captain Eph, and if we can mail our letters very soon, perhaps I may hear from father before he leaves Porto Rico."

"I allow it can be done without turnin' a hair. I'm predictin' a fair day for to-morrow; but with a heavy sea runnin'. Four an' twenty hours later it should be possible for Sammy an' me to make the mainland in the dory. It'll take the best part of to-morrow for me to write out another report as to the wreck, an' a letter to your father, so we'll be gettin' off about as soon as all hands are ready."

Way down deep in Sidney's heart was a feeling of disappointment because so much time must elapse before he could see his father; but the keepers were so delighted at the prospect of his remaining with them during the winter at least, that he strove to hide his own feelings lest they might think he was ungrateful.

Despite the protests of the shipwrecked men, they were sent to sleep in the room used by the assistants. Uncle Zenas laid down a pile of blankets in the kitchen for his couch, and the same kind of a bed was made for Sidney in the watch-room, he begging for the privilege of remaining there during the night, to the end that Mr. Peters and Captain Eph might use the keeper's room.

The occupants of the tower retired at a very early hour, and Sidney slept so soundly that he did not awaken until after Captain Eph had been on duty a long while.

"Why didn't you waken me when you came up here?" he asked reproachfully, and the old keeper replied:

"I allowed it would do you more good to sleep, Sonny, for you had what might be called a hard day, an' needed all the rest that could be scooped in."

"It was you and Mr. Peters who had the hard day, sir. I did nothing but idle the time away."

"Stayin' inside was the worst part of the whole job, Sonny. If a man can work he's all right; but when it comes that there's nothin' to be done, he reg'larly eats his heart out worryin'. What are you an' me goin' to do from now till sunrise?"

"Suppose you tell me some more sea stories?"

"All right, Sonny, if that's what you want, an' I only hope I'll always be able to satisfy you as easy. This'll be a great year for me; but I reckon I'll be a terrible lonesome old man after you go away."

"There is no good reason for looking ahead so far as that, sir, for no one knows what may happen before father comes back, so we'll get all the pleasure we can now," Sidney said as he seated himself on the old man's knee.

"You're right, Sonny. It's almost wicked for me to be thinkin' of anything but the fact that we're to have you with us nigh to twelve months longer than I thought yesterday at this time could possibly be the case."

Then Captain Eph drew upon his memory for some of the wildest and weirdest yarns that were ever spun during a northeast gale, and the time came for extinguishing the light before Sidney realized that he had been awake more than half an hour.

The morning's work was done, and breakfast made ready, while the survivors of the wreck were yet asleep, and Captain Eph would not allow Uncle Zenas to awaken the slumberers, claiming that it was far better the cook should do a little additional work, than deprive the unfortunate men of the rest they needed.

As Captain Eph had predicted, the storm subsided during the night, and before breakfast had been eaten the clouds were being driven eastward by the wind. The sea yet ran so high that the ledge was covered by the waves a goodly portion of the time; but all the crew were positive that within the next four and twenty hours it would be possible to make the trip to the mainland in the dory, even though she carried the four shipwrecked ones in addition to two of the keepers.

"Now we'll go into the watch-room, an' do our writin', Sonny," Captain Eph said as he arose from the table. "It may be a little early to begin; but we want to put down all the facts an' figgers so that your father an' the inspector may know what has happened, an' there's nothin' like havin' plenty of time when you're writin' out a long yarn."

Before he had finished giving his father a detailed account of all that had happened to him since he left the West Wind, Sidney came to believe that Captain Eph was not far wrong when he proposed that the task be begun early in the day. The lad had the satisfaction of knowing, however, that he told a straightforward, connected story, even though the greater portion of the forenoon had been spent in writing it down.

Captain Eph did not finish his work very much sooner than had Sidney, and when the two went down into the kitchen, they found the rescued men discussing with Mr. Peters and Uncle Zenas the incidents of the disaster.

The details of the disastrous voyage were related by each of the survivors in turn, and then came the question as to whether it might be possible to save anything from the wreck.

Captain Nutter was of the opinion that the Nautilus had already gone to pieces; but the crew of the light felt certain the forward portion of the vessel was yet held by the rocks, and Mr. Peters said decidedly:

"When we come back from the shore I'm goin' to make a try for it, an' if I bring away half a dory-load of canvas, I'll count the time well spent."

"I sincerely hope you may get enough to pay you for your trouble, and only wish I might be able to reward you for what you have done in our behalf; but with the Nautilus a wreck, I'm the same as penniless," and the deep sigh which escaped Captain Nutter's lips told of the sorrow in his heart.

"We wouldn't take the value of a cent if you had all the money in the land," Captain Eph cried emphatically. "This 'ere crew tries to do its duty by the Government, an' when that's been done, if we can work in a little overtime, like takin' you off the wreck, we feel as if we could look ourselves in the face knowin' we'd lent a hand when it was needed."

The serious tone which the conversation had taken did not please Uncle Zenas, and in order to change the subject he held up the coat on which he had been working, saying as he did so:

"Come here, Sonny, an' let me see how it fits. I don't claim to be any great shakes of a tailor; but I hope there's gimp enough in me yet to do a job like this in a decent manner. Of course Cap'n Eph will buy you what's needed, when he goes ashore to-morrow, but even then this won't go amiss to knock around on the ledge in."

Uncle Zenas had no reason to be ashamed of his work; he had made a sailorly looking garment out of Captain Eph's second-best uniform coat, and it fitted Sidney quite as well, if not better, than any which could have been purchased ready made.

"I allers said you was a master hand with a needle, Uncle Zenas," Mr. Peters cried as he surveyed Sidney in his new coat, with the eye of a critic, "an' here's the proof that I knew what I was talkin' about. Captain Eph may buy clothes for Sonny till the day of his death, an' he won't get anything that'll match this one for all-around goodness."

"I'll do better than that before Sonny has finished his year on Carys' Ledge," the cook said, vainly striving to hide the pardonable pride he felt because of his work. "Jest now, though, it's my business to get dinner, an' if you people will go up into the watch-room so's a man can have a chance to turn 'round, we'll have some prime salt fish boiled, with plenty of pork scraps."

"So long's you've got your coat on, you may as well come with me an' see what's left of the motor boat," Mr. Peters said to Sidney, and since Captain Eph did not make any objection to the proposition, the two went down to the ledge.

The machinery was all that could be seen of the little craft in which the lad had spent so many wretched hours, and that was so badly rent and rusted that Sidney felt confident it could never be put in working order again.

"I'm not so certain of that," Mr. Peters said as he examined the motor carefully. "Of course neither you nor me could set it up, because we don't know how; but if it holds good weather I'm goin' to take it ashore, an' put it in the hands of some man who understands his business. If it's possible to get it in shape, I'll buy a hull, an' next spring we can knock around out here like a couple of swells, with our own yacht."

Sidney was not particularly elated by the promise, since he believed the motor was injured beyond repair; but Mr. Peters was so confident that he talked of little else during the remainder of the day, and before sunset even Uncle Zenas had begun to speculate upon the possibility of owning a power boat, which might be housed on the mainland during the winter season, when she could not be kept on the ledge.

"You're to stay with Uncle Zenas to-morrow, Sonny," Captain Eph said while he and Sidney were in the lantern waiting for the moment when the lamp should be lighted. "I allow it'll be a bit more lonesome than usual; but it's better than knockin' about in a boat that's overloaded with six grown men."

"I shall get along all right, sir," Sidney replied in a cheery tone, although the prospect was not pleasing. "I've been wanting to know more about light-houses, and I'll spend the time reading some of your books."

"That's right, Sonny," and the keeper stroked the lad's hair affectionately. "I like to see a boy try to make the best of everything, as you've done since comin' ashore here. It ain't likely I'll be gallivantin' all over creation this winter same's I've been doin' these three days past, an' we'll have some prime good times after we're shut in by the weather. Now what are you allowin' that I shall buy for you at the store?"

"I really don't want anything, except something more to wear, and of course you know that father will give back all the money you may spend for me."

"He won't if I can prevent it," Captain Eph cried sharply. "It'll do me solid good to rig you out in proper shape; but I do wish you was hankerin' after gim-cracks."

"But I'm not, Captain Eph, and I'll be perfectly contented here till father comes, for I'm a mighty lucky boy to have fallen into such good hands after floating around so long in an open boat."

"Sunset, an' time to start the lamp!" the keeper cried, looking at the watch he had been holding in his hands, and once more the light on Carys' Ledge streamed out across the waters, warning sailormen of the treacherous rocks near at hand.