The Pillar of Light

ed into the

on the 22d of next June, since you found me floating

uracy as to the date. I mi

should be sent adrift on the Atlantic in an open boat and never a word of inquiry made

ion during the fog which had prevailed for several days previously. Tho

of it. I must be an American. Americans start out t

t respect you migh

easant memories to him. Why cumber her also with them? For the rest, he had drawn up and read to her

ke in Constance. "I am just plain English, born in Brighton, of parents no

work attachment of the fog bell to wipe off an invisible speck of dust. Since his fir

ent on. "How strange that, amidst our many j

, a dear but visionary legend. In a degree, it is always so between loved ones lost and those who are left. Truth, honor, work, these are the highest ideals for the individual. They satisfy increasingly. Happ

looked like an aneroid barometer, but the others knew it was th

ether they examined the small dial. It was equipped with an arrow-headed pointer,

either vague or silent. Both girls were quick-witted enough to know that Constance's mother was never willingly alluded to either by t

as to cause her father a moment's suffering by bringing up pai

switch in th

no matter what additional din might be prevalent at the same time. My hopes were wrecked so often that I began to despair, until I chanced one day to read how the high-tension induction coil could b

h it was," volunteered Enid. "It s

t I am profoundly ignorant as to it

ial harmony. However, I will explain my auriscope in a sentence. It only listens to and indicates the direction of foghorns, sirens, and ship's bells. A shrill steam whis

in a fog, how dreadfully difficult it was to discover the wherea

g before we can hear them, and follow her course right round the arc of her passage. It is most interesting to watch its activity when there are several ships using their sirens. I have never had an opportunity of

stop collisi

ard two ships, and a time chart attached to the drums, there would be no need for a Board of Trade inquiry to determin

Enid. "I suppose you will ma

ule," said Brand. "I suppose I differ from the ordinary poor fellow inasm

re being a fog tonight?" queried Enid, so earnestl

you two girls will be in bed a

ance. "Bed at ten, during our fir

ck dawdles in this circumscribed area. Work alone conquers it. O

apwing round Carn du. Mr. Lawton must have le

Brand. "I will signal 'Landing impossible t

s trying to tear the bunting from the cordage, and though they could not hear the three whistles with whic

verlook the table on wh

y recorded those whistl

stle has the Lapw

It was a fad of Mr. Lawton's. They say his

ther l

course," he announced. "I may a

of the wind, the Lapwing held on. With wind and sea against her she would have made slow work of it. As it was, there was

anticipated, demanded full pressure at the lamp. If the air became super-saturated, breakage of the glass chimneys might take place, and he must have a good s

ntern found the progress of t

will tell Mr. Lawton he ought to rechristen

velier. More accustomed than they to the

annot see Lawton. Indeed, so far as I can make out, she is

dy Margaret!" c

ent home!"

to take us for a drive

, with a syllabic emphasis

at us," said Brand. "He can come close enough to see us

om the biting wind by oilskin coats, were standing on the gallery. The reef was bellowing up at them with a conti

rmly against the little vessel's foremast and began to strik

in that idiotic ma

ore-clever fellow, J

Enid held

in turn that he was receiving the

all

he an

Bates compound fracture. If weather m

ht," wav

figure sta

e t-o E

n an extraordin

-o-n-s-t

ght to be only kind regards to you, Co

" shouted Brand, and h

tonight. Lancelot due at six. Will see pe

," was th

ay astern from the

" asked Constance, clo

in that broken water. A little farther out

swung round towards the coast. When broadside on,

ir ready fear. Indeed, there was greater danger than he wanted them to

full speed, for the Bay. And not too soon. 'Ere she reached the comparat

es dancing with excitement, the girls were voluble with delight.

habet. You shall teach us this very evening, dad. Fancy me signaling you the whole length of the Pro

-jointed rigidity and mimicke

when you meet the Tayl

off to tea and gives us a gal

sex regarded gos

't say much, but he winks. One of his winks, at the end

in my own self-defence," he replied. "An

due within a week, just as on the occasion of Enid's first appearance on the rock. The fact struck him as singular. In all probability he would not return to duty. He had completed twenty-one years of active service. Now he would reti

or the opposition that Lady Margaret might offer he cared not a jot. He smiled inwardly-as the convenient phrase h

urging the claims of his adopted daugh

ofttimes make the mistake of rating a man's social status by the means he possesses or the manner of his life in London. No greater error could be committed. The small, exclusive county town, the community which registers the family

yet the edict went forth that his daughters were to be "received," and received they were, with pleasure and admiration by all save such startled eld

s busy trimming a spare lamp, the two girls amused themselves by learnin

ic burner in use. The shore lighthouses with which they were better acquainted were illuminated by electricity or

chool they had not realized the exactness of the statement that oil does not burn, but must first be converted into gas by the application of heat. On the Gulf Rock there were nearly 3

forced by heavy pressure in the cistern right up to the edge of the wicks, and made to flow

city, and demonstrated how dazzlingly brilliant the latter could be

e equidistant from the two points tell me that if they can see anything at all on a foggy night they invariably catch a dull yellow radiance from

noon by the chances of the day. He adopted every expedient to keep them busy, to tire them physically an

athless affair. Going up and down five flights of stairs with soup, joint and pudding, whilst one carried the t

he plates of tapioca, pleaded guilty

of dark iron steps there were beneath me. I felt as if someth

rand's recipe. "When you quitted the door level for the th

looked at

What a long day it ha

rget where you are; each of the bunks is comfortable. Now I w

. It sounded

f burglars?

dded quietly. "I must fasten all the storm-shutters and make

sighed Constance

in the weather report when

r about half pas

to treat the question

s there will be a he

ry bad night,"

r up the lighthouse in

asped the sit

and is practically monolithic, as if it were carved out of a quarry. Indeed, I think its builder went one better than nature. Here are no cracks or fissures or undetected flaws. The lowest course is bolted to the rock with wrought-iron clamps. Every stone is dovetailed to its ne

atisfactory," murmu

who grasped the essential fact tha

t to sit up talking. As a guarantee of good behavior, Enid said she

ue, the fresh air, the confidence of the knowledge that he wa

oking back through the records of several years, he discovered a similar set of conditions one day in March, 1891. He was stationed then on the Northeast coast and failed to remember any remarkable

S.-W. About five o'clock the wind increased to a hurricane and the sea became more violent than I have seen it during five years' experience of this st

next

ur hours of the first signs of the hurricane the Channel was practicable fo

he Atlantic breakwaters of the Scilly Isles. It was fully thirty-five miles distant, but it flung its radiance over the waters from a height of 143 feet, and the Gulf Rock lamp stood 130 feet above high-water m

e abandoned this hope. The growing thunder of the reef as the tide advanced gave the first unmistakable warning of what was to come. As a mere matter of noise the reef roared its loudest at half-tide. He understood now that a gal

e lamp was extinguished and they must learn to endure the monotony and discomforts of existence in a storm-bound lighthouse. They would be nervous unquestionably-perhaps he had forgotten

ls sleep through the next few hours? Possibly, if awake, they would attribute the vibration of the column to the wind. He trusted it might be so. Shut in as they were

er midnight-there was a sustained screech in the voice of the tempest which he did not remember having heard before. At last the explanation dawned on him. The hurricane was there, a few feet away, shut off from him by mere sheets of glass. The lighthouse

nessed a storm of such fury. He thought he heard something crack overhead. He looked aloft, but all seemed well. Not until next day did he discover that the wind

t at the tornado, the whole mass of water, many tons in weight, was instantly torn from the surface and flung into nothingness. Some of these adventurers, forced up by the

phantom then. The granite column would not yield, but it was quite within the bo

rdor must be checked. With a steady hand he readjusted the little brass screws. They were so superbly indifferent to all this pandemonium. Just little brass screws, doing their work, and heeding naught beside. Suddenly there came t

mured aloud. "How can a man

tance appeared, pale, with shining eyes. She carried the lantern. Behin

performance arranged for our benefit?" said

ghtened," cried Enid.