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diff --git a/old/63182.txt b/old/63182.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 8031965..0000000 --- a/old/63182.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,4479 +0,0 @@ -Project Gutenberg's Pat the Lighthouse Boy, by Evelyn Everett-Green - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: Pat the Lighthouse Boy - -Author: Evelyn Everett-Green - -Release Date: September 11, 2020 [EBook #63182] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PAT THE LIGHTHOUSE BOY *** - - - - -Produced by MWS, Tom Cosmas and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive/American Libraries.) - - - - - - - - - -Transcriber Note - -Text emphasis denoted as _Italics_. - - - - - PAT - - THE LIGHTHOUSE BOY - -[Illustration: "Where will you go, Jim, when they do take you -ashore?"--_Page 199._] - - - - - _Pat_ - - _The Lighthouse Boy._ - - - BY - - E. EVERETT-GREEN, - - AUTHOR OF - - "EUSTACE MARCHMONT;" "WINNING THE VICTORY;" - "TEMPLE'S TRIAL;" ETC. ETC. - - - _NEW YORK_: - WARD & DRUMMOND. - - - - -[Illustration] - - - - -CONTENTS - - - CHAP. PAGE - - I. LONE ROCK LIGHTHOUSE 9 - - II. "SURLY JIM" 25 - - III. AN ODD PAIR 45 - - IV. LONE ROCK IN FOG AND STORM 62 - - V. A TERRIBLE NIGHT 85 - - VI. JIM'S EXPLOIT 102 - - VII. THE LITTLE PRINCE 122 - - VIII. "POOR JIM" 139 - - IX. HELP FROM SHORE 157 - - X. A WONDERFUL DAY 173 - - XI. THE PROMISED VISIT 195 - - XII. HAPPY DAYS 213 - - - - -[Illustration] - - - - -LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS - - - "Where will you go, Jim, when they do take you - ashore?" _Frontispiece_ - - PAGE - - Jim opened a door close by 33 - - At last, on the third day, it began to feed from - his hand 81 - - He seemed to have received no injury at all, and - began to swallow the warm milk 117 - - "That's our boat, I do believe!" cried Rupert 181 - -[Illustration] - - - - -[Illustration] - - - - -PAT - -THE LIGHTHOUSE BOY - - - - -CHAPTER I - -_LONE ROCK LIGHTHOUSE_ - - -"O mother, mother, mother!" cried Pat, drawing a long breath of awe and -wonder, "it seems like as if we had gone straight to heaven!" - -"Nay, my son, not quite to heaven, for sure the blessed book tells us -that there will be no more sea there;" and the woman looked out over the -heaving expanse of grey-blue water with a strange soft wistfulness in her -big grey eyes. One would have said to look at her then that she had known -what it meant to lose those near and dear to her through the hungry cruel -sea, as indeed in her young life she had done; for she was an Irish woman, -and had lived all her young life beside the wild coast of Galway, and many -of those who bore her name had found a last resting-place beneath the -heaving tossing waves. Therefore it was small wonder if she had come to -look forward to that bright land beyond the moaning waves, of which it has -been expressly said that "there shall be no more sea." - -But Patrick could scarcely enter at this moment into his mother's -feelings on this score. He was wild with excitement and delight, as indeed -he well might be, seeing that he had only just come from a close crowded -alley in a smelling fishing and trading town to this lighthouse home, -which seemed to lie alone in the very heart of the sea, with nothing -above or around but sea and sky, the wild sea-birds for visitors, and the -plash of the waves for one long "hush-a-by." No wonder if in these first -moments of returning consciousness to outward things, little Pat felt as -though some strange thing, almost like death, had befallen him, and that -he had awakened to find himself either in heaven itself, or else in some -beautiful and wonderful place very like to it indeed. - -For Pat had been very ill. He had been a frail little fellow all his short -life, and had never been able to run about and shout and play as the other -children did who lived in his court. He had spent most of his time indoors -with his mother, growing more and more wan and white with each succeeding -summer as it came and went. Although the sea lay only a mile away from -his home, he had scarcely ever walked as far as its margin, for there was -nothing to attract him when he did so. It was not beautiful open sea such -as what he was now looking upon, but a piece of ugly tidal water, with -quays and wharfs lining the brink, and evil smells everywhere. - -His father had a boat, and would have taken his boy out with him in it -sometimes; but Pat was afraid of the rough looks of the other men, and his -mother knew that the frail child would be weary to death long before he -could be put ashore. So that Pat had grown up seeing little more than the -sights of his own court, hearing little besides the shouts and cries and -foul words so freely bandied about there. He had not been much better off -in that respect than if he had come from a London slum, and this sudden -awakening in the Lone Rock Lighthouse was like an awakening in a new world. - -It was on Pat's account that his parents had come to this strange new -home. When the hot May sunshine had come streaming into the alley in which -the child had been reared, he had suddenly failed and fallen ill of a low -fever, which had almost sapped his little life away; and so near had he -come to the gates of death, that the doctor had shaken his head and said, -"There is only one thing that can save him, and that is lots of fresh -air and sunshine and pure salt breezes--not the breezes you get in here, -reeking with all that is foul and impure. If you keep him here, he will -die. The only chance for him is to take him right away; and I am afraid -that, situated as you are, you will find it impossible to do so." - -Perhaps it would have been impossible at another time; but just at this -very juncture it chanced that Lone Rock Lighthouse was vacant, and indeed -the post of caretaker had actually been offered to Nathaniel Carey, -because he was known to be a steady respectable man, who could be relied -upon to do his duty there. Lone Rock Lighthouse was always changing its -keeper, for the life there was so solitary that men could not long stand -the strain of it; and by the end of a year, or a couple of years, almost -always resigned the post, in spite of the regular pay and comfortable home. - -It was not a post that Nat would have cared to accept under ordinary -circumstances, for he was a sociable man, and liked to have other men -about him; but when the life of his only child was at stake, and his wife, -with wan drawn face and piteous eyes, pointed to the little figure on -the bed and told him what the doctor had said, the only thing to be done -was to go and accept the post without any more hesitation; and the next -business was to get the sick child removed there upon the first calm and -suitable day. - -For Lone Rock was not to be approached at all times and seasons, even in -summer weather, and often was cut off from communication with the shore -in winter for many weeks together. It was built upon a very dangerous -sunken reef, round which the sea boiled and surged and raged from year's -end to year's end. And herein lay the chief peril and the chief drawback -of the keeper's life. If anything were to go wrong with him or with his -home--if he were to be ill, or in want of some necessary of life, or if -the structure of the lighthouse needed attention, it might be long weary -days, or even weeks, before he could receive the help he had signalled -for. It is true that every precaution was taken to ensure his safety. The -structure was carefully examined by competent persons at short intervals. -A large store of dried and salted provisions was always kept under the -roof of the building, so that the keeper and his assistant might never be -put to actual shifts for food, and stores of oil, for the great lamp, were -likewise kept--stores which could scarcely run out, however long a spell -of bad weather might last. Every care and precaution was taken; but for -all that the life there was one of singular isolation, and men had been -known to go mad during the long dreary winter months; and once a terrible -crime had been committed there through this very cause--a crime of which -men whispered still sometimes with 'bated breath, though Pat's mother -always resolved that the child should never hear the gruesome tale. - -Eileen Carey was the first woman who had had the courage to make a home -upon the Lone Rock. Other keepers had either been unmarried men, or had -left their wives behind for the time that they lived there. But Nat Carey -came with his wife and his child; and those in authority were glad that it -was so, for they argued that a man who had a real home about him would not -suffer from the loneliness of the life as others had done; and they had -done several things to brighten up the little home before the new-comers -arrived there. Eileen's clever hands had done more so soon as they were -fairly landed, for little Pat required very little nursing, as he lay -day after day in a trance of weakness and exhaustion. But his mother was -satisfied that each day he grew slightly stronger, and was quite content -to wait until he should awaken to a knowledge of his new surroundings, -which she meantime strove to make as bright and as homelike as possible; -for she meant that her husband and her little boy should not lack any of -the comforts which her hands could provide during their whole stay on the -Lone Rock. - -And now the mother was to have her reward. For several days Pat had begun -to look about him, to follow her movements with his eyes, to answer when -she spoke to him, and to smile when she looked his way. He was a long time -in taking notice of anything except his mother and father. It seemed to -them as though he had no eyes for any of the other strange things about -him. He must have known that this new room, with its whitewashed walls, -so spotless and clean, its queer shape, its fresh furniture and bright -curtains to the sunny window, was not the room in which he had lived for -all the previous years of his small life. Yet he did not take any open -notice of these things for many days, and his mother would not let him -be spoken to about them, for, as she truly said, if he hadn't strength -to take them in with his eyes, he had far better be let alone till the -strength began to come back to him of itself. - -And now that time had come. Pat had for some days been noticing -everything--noticing with an ever-increasing curiosity and pleasure. He -had begun by asking what was "that funny noise that never stopped;" and -when his mother had told him it was the sound of the waves, he had asked -"how they got there, for they didn't use to be so near." And so little by -little Eileen had told him all the tale--how father had been offered the -care of Lone Rock Lighthouse, and how the doctor had said that little Pat -might thrive and grow strong if he were to be taken right away from the -court in which he had always lived. And Pat lay and smiled at the tale, -and got his mother to tell it him again and again, and grew so fond of the -song of the sea before ever he had been able to get up and look at it, -that he often told her "it was making him well as fast as it could;" and -she would smile with tears in her eyes and believe him. - -Every day had seen some improvement in little Pat's condition; but it -seemed long to the mother before he had expressed the wish to get up and -look out at the window. She knew that would be the first thing he was -likely to ask for, because he lay and watched the sunny square hour after -hour, with a smile of contentment on his face. But it was only to-day -that he had said he wanted to get up and look; and now she was sitting -with him wrapped in a blanket, he standing with his little bare feet upon -the window-seat, and gazing with wide-open wondering eyes over the vast -expanse of sparkling water that was as little like "the sea," as he had -been accustomed to think of it, as was the noise of the waves like the -ceaseless bawling and brawling that his ears had grown used to in the -court whence he had come. - -Pat was greatly moved and excited by all he saw, and from that day forward -was most eager and anxious to regain his strength, that he might be able -to explore the wonders of the lighthouse, and see what manner of place his -new home was. So he ate everything that his mother brought to him "to make -him strong;" he slept from sunset till morning like a young bird. He began -to chatter and laugh to his father whenever he appeared; and long before -he could attempt to mount the giddy spiral staircase, which led to the big -circular room where the great lamp lived, he got his father to tell him -all about it, and at night he would get out of bed if he chanced to wake -up to see the circle of flashing light which it cast around upon the dark -heaving mass of waters. The child was fascinated by the thought of the -great lamp's lonely vigil over the wide empty sea long before he was able -to understand what it was that it was doing. - -The first step in the child's convalescence which seemed to mark the -era of "getting better," was when he was able to be dressed and to go -into the other room for his meals. The base of the lighthouse was divided -into several queer-shaped rooms. There was the sleeping-room, in which -the child had hitherto spent all his time; and opening from that was the -kitchen or living room, in which he was used to hear his mother bustling -about as he lay in bed. There were also, as he presently found out, other -smaller and darker chambers. One of these was appropriated to the use of -the keeper's assistant, whilst others contained the stores for the lamp -and its caretakers, of which mention has been made before. It was quite -a surprise to Pat to learn that he and his parents were not the only -occupants of the lighthouse. He had never heard any strange voice from -the inner room all the time he had been lying in bed, and so he was very -much astonished the first day he sat up to supper, to see a heavy-looking -dark-browed man come slouching in, and taking his seat without a word of -explanation or apology. The child looked wonderingly at his mother. - -"That is Jim," she said; "Jim helps daddy with the lamp. They take it in -turns to watch. Jim, this is our little boy, Pat--him as has been so ill, -you know. I have told you about him often." - -Pat looked across the table and nodded, but Jim said nothing, and scarcely -appeared to hear himself addressed. He took his food in perfect silence, -and as soon as he had finished he got up and went out, and they heard him -going heavily up the winding staircase towards the lantern house. - -"Can't he talk?" asked Pat wonderingly. "Is he dumb, do you think?" Eileen -smiled, and shook her head at the question. - -"Nay, he can speak. He has a tongue, but he is wonderful loth to use it. -I suppose it is the life here as has made him so quiet. Surly Jim is what -folks call him. He has been with several keepers, but none has had a good -word for him, save that he does his work well and can be trusted with the -lamp. He won't be keeper, though they did offer him the place. But he -stays on year after year when nobody else will. He does all his work well, -and is very clean and neat; but he scarce opens his lips, save in the way -of business, from one year's end to the other." - -This seemed so very strange to Pat that he sat for some time turning it -over in his mind. He thought when he had time he would try and get Surly -Jim to talk to him; but at present there were many other things to think -of, and the child's head was crowded with new ideas and questions. - -What a fascinating place the lighthouse was! As he grew stronger, he began -to explore it from end to end, and found new wonders every hour of the day. - -There was the little door leading out to the rocks on which the place -was built, and the flight of slippery steps which led down to the tiny -creek where the boat lay moored. There were chains for hauling up the boat -in rough weather on to a ledge, where it would not be likely to be swept -away, save perhaps in the very worst weather; and at low tide there was a -wonderful mass of rock uncovered by the sea, where he could wander about -and pick up untold treasures, such as he had never seen or dreamed of -before. And his mother was not afraid to let him wander about here. She -had grown up herself on the wild coast, and had no fear of the slippery -rocks and the plashing waves. Pat was only instructed to take off shoes -and stockings before trying to scramble about them, and very soon he -grew so sure-footed and fearless that neither parent was afraid for him. -Moreover, he was growing brown and healthy-looking, and stronger than he -had ever been in his life before; and though he might not be very robust -for some time to come, he was gaining every day, and they were glad and -thankful to see it. - -Oh, that wide, wild, beautiful sea! How Pat came to love it! It was at -once a friend and playmate and a deep unspeakable mystery. He was never -tired of watching its wild play over the rocks, or of sitting listening -to its deep strange voice, as it laughed or shouted in its wild wonderful -strength. He would sit with his face towards the west as the sun was going -down, and watch whilst the great blazing ball dipped lower and lower, till -it sank, sank, sank, right into the sea itself. And then as the sea opened -its mouth and swallowed it up, it seemed all dyed crimson and gold, as -though it had caught some of the colour from the prisoner it had taken. - -The child would watch with awe this daily mystery, and when he found -that every morning the sun came up again out of the sea, but in quite a -different place, he was awed and perplexed past the power of speech. It -never occurred to him to ask questions even of his mother about this daily -wonder; but he watched it with unfailing interest, and seemed to drink -in new thoughts every time it happened. He was more and more sure that -his new home was very like heaven--not so beautiful as the real heaven, -because Jesus would be there to make the light of it: but like it in some -things--in its peace and beauty and wonderful calm. Pat had been so near -to the gates of death that his mind naturally turned to thoughts like -this. He was still not strong enough to play more than a few hours every -day, and the rest of his time would be spent sitting on the rocks or at -the window watching the sea, and thinking about it, until his face took a -new expression, as though some of the sunshine and the clearness of the -blue sea had got into them and had taken up an abode there. - -Very often he would carry out his little Testament to his favourite -nooks in the rocks, and find some of the places where he loved to read. He -was particularly fond of the chapter about the "sea of glass mingled with -fire," because he was so sure it must be just like his own sea at sunset -time; and there were other places he was fond of too, because they always -set him thinking and dreaming, and chimed in with all his new ideas. He -did not talk much about his thoughts; when he went in to his mother he -would chatter to her of his play and of the live things he had seen in -the pools. To his father he would ask questions about the lamp, and how -it kept awake all the night through--whether it never went to sleep by -accident; for to him that lamp was like a living creature. He had only -seen it once, because the climb up the spiral stairs turned him queer and -giddy, and his parents had bidden him wait till he was stronger before he -tried again. But that one visit had been enough to excite him strangely, -and he always thought with awe of the great revolving light going round -and round the whole night through. He was never tired of hearing about it -and asking questions; but of his own strange thoughts, when he was all -alone with the sea and the sunshine, he said nothing. That was his own -secret--perhaps because he lacked words in which to express himself. And -the new, strange, beautiful life began for little Pat upon the isolated -reef which supported Lone Rock Lighthouse. - - - - -[Illustration] - - - - -CHAPTER II - -"_SURLY JIM_" - - -One night, contrary to his usual habit, Pat could not sleep. He had been -to sleep for some hours during the early part of the night, but now he was -wide awake, and he did not feel like going to sleep any more. He sat up -in bed, and looked round him in the moonlight. There were his father and -mother, both sleeping calmly and quietly. If father was in bed, Jim must -be up in the lighthouse, watching to see the big lamp did not "go to sleep -by accident," as the child phrased it in his own mind. He was suddenly -taken with a vivid curiosity to go to that lighted chamber himself. He -had only been there by day as yet. He wondered what it would look like at -night; and almost before he knew what he was doing, he had slipped out -of bed, and was putting on his clothes. He did not want to disturb his -father, who would by-and-by have to get up and take his own watch in the -tower, as the child called it in his thoughts, so he moved softly about, -and presently found himself creeping up the dim staircase that was lighted -at intervals by small lamps placed in niches in the wall. - -It made him rather breathless to mount so many stairs, but curiosity and -a love of adventure led him on, and presently he found himself within the -wonderful chamber he had visited before, only that now the great bright -lamp with its myriad wicks and wonderful reflectors was alight, and slowly -moving round and round, so that at one time it showed a red eye to those -out at sea in great ships, at another a green, and again a pure white -light, as white as crystal. - -The child stood gazing at the wonderful mechanism without speaking a -word. He was trying to see how it moved, and by what power the great -reflectors moved round and round. Of course he could not understand, and -he quickly came to the conclusion that the thing was some great living -monster, and that it had to be watched all the night through lest it -went to sleep, or refused to do its part properly. He wondered, with a -thrill of nervous terror, whether it would resent his intrusion into its -special domain. Standing as he did in the full glare of the light, he -could not hope to escape observation, and he looked about him as if for a -hiding-place in case of attack. - -And then his eye fell upon the figure of the solitary watcher--a bent -bowed figure, in a slouching and indifferent attitude, now quite familiar -to the child, although he and the individual who owned that rough exterior -had never as yet exchanged a single word. - -Pat was not a shy child as a rule, but he had always stood in awe of -"Surly Jim." He could eat better and chatter more freely when the man was -not present at table. He shrank a little into himself always when Jim -entered the living room. It was not often that he did this, save when -called to meals, for when not on duty, he was either sleeping in his own -room, or sitting in the boat smoking a short black pipe, and Pat had never -attempted to approach him at these times. Now he was nearer to him than he -had ever been, except at table, and yet the man appeared to take no manner -of notice of his approach. He sat with his elbows on his knees, and his -head in his hands, and did not seem to look up at the child's cautious -approach. Pat felt certain he had been seen, but this indifference seemed -a little uncanny. He drew near step by step, and at last laid one small -cold hand on the knee of the assistant. - -"Is it alive?" he asked softly, divided in his awe of the wonderful -mechanism and its grim watcher. The man slowly lifted his head, and stared -at the child without attempting to speak. Pat hesitated a moment, and then -climbed upon the bench upon which Jim was seated, and slipped his small -thin hand within the horny palm of the man. He felt that he must have hold -of something human up here in this strange place of light and movement. He -was trembling, and yet he was not exactly afraid. - -His hand was suffered to remain where he had placed it. Jim glanced -furtively down at the small fingers in his hard hand, and perhaps -something of an unwonted nature stole into his heart, for, to the -astonishment of the child, he suddenly spoke. - -"What did you want to know, little master?" - -Now Pat thought it was very grand to be addressed as "little master," and -his opinion of Jim began quickly to change. He could not be as cross as he -tried to make out. The child took courage, and went on with his questions, -in the order in which they came into his mind. - -"Is it alive?" he asked, with his eyes upon the slowly moving reflectors, -as they solemnly revolved round and round the centre light. - -"Seems like as if she was," answered the man; "her takes a deal of food, -and a deal of cleaning, and a deal of watching. Her be as full of moods as -wimmim folk mostly be. She can't get along without a deal of notice, no -more than they can!" - -Pat fixed his wondering eyes on the speaker's face. He was almost as -much fascinated in Jim's slow and deliberate speech as in the subject in -hand. It was almost as though the mouth of the dumb had been unstopped, -as though it was only in this strange place, and in the witching hour of -night, that the man's tongue was unloosed. He spoke very slowly, as though -it was not easy for him to find words in which to clothe his thoughts. - -"It's a _she_ then, is it?" asked Pat, all alive in a moment. "That's -very interesting. I always thought she must be alive, but mother and -father laugh at me. Perhaps they don't know so well as you--you've been -here so much longer, haven't you?" - -"I've been a-keeping of her this five years or more," said Jim, after a -long pause, in which Pat began to wonder whether he would ever speak again -or not; "afore that I was in prison. They let me come out to look after -her. It was so hard to get anybody to stop." - -Pat felt a thrill of awe run through him. He had heard of people going to -prison of course, and had known many lads and men who had passed through -the ordeal of going there for a time; but that seemed different from Jim's -case. He wondered whether this strange gruff man had ever been a murderer, -or had done some very dreadful deed. If so, was it safe to be sitting up -here with him in the night, all alone? Might he not perhaps think it would -be a good opportunity for throwing him down the staircase, or out over the -gallery into the sea? For a moment the child felt a queer sensation of -fear come over him, and then it all passed away as fast as it came, for -Jim still held him by the hand, and his clasp upon his fingers felt kind -and friendly. He looked up into the sullen, weather-beaten face above him -with his confiding smile, and asked-- - -"What had they put you in prison for? Had you done anything bad?" - -"No," answered Jim, after the inevitable pause, "I hadn't. It were another -man; but they wouldn't believe it. He gave evidence against me, and they -took his word, not mine. Folks said it were proved against I, and so I was -sent to prison. But I hadn't done it--I don't care what they say." - -"No, and I don't care, either!" cried Pat, with hot partisanship; "I know -you didn't do it! It was they who were wicked and bad to send you to -prison! But they had to let you out again, you see!" - -He spoke the last words with an air as of triumph, edging up towards Jim -in a confidential way as he did so. The man was knitting his heavy brows, -and looking as though he was not sure whether all this were not a strange -dream. - -"They let me out to come here. I had three more years to run. They said -if I would stop and do my duty it should count as though I had served -my time. So I came, and here I be. It's the only home I've known since -_that_ thing happened, and I don't want no other. I've got fond of -_her_"--nodding towards the big lamp; "she looks kind at me now, and she's -the only friend I've got. I'll bide here as long as I live. It's sore work -going back to find all one's mates dead or changed to you." - -"Yes; don't go back," said Pat; "stay here with us. I'll be your friend, -too. I should like a friend of my own. Father and mother don't count like -that, because they _are_ just father and mother. I should like to have a -friend as well. Let us be friends, Jim; and perhaps then _she'll_ let me -be her friend too." - -Pat spoke in the simplest good faith, whilst Jim passed his hand across -his eyes, and then looked down at the small figure beside him, rather as -though he were not sure that it was not all a dream after all. Pat was not -altogether sure of this either. It was certainly very queer to be up in -the middle of the night just under the great lamp, sitting hand in hand -with Jim and talking about being friends. He looked up into the rough face -above him and smiled as he said-- - -"Jim, do you think we are _both_ dreaming?" - -[Illustration: "Jim opened a door close by."--_Page 35._] - -"It seems almost like it, little master," answered the man; "but we'll go -out into the gallery, and get a breath of fresh air. That's the best thing -to wake one up if one is getting be-fogged." - -Pat was delighted at this notion. He knew that there was an outside -gallery running all round the glass house where the lamp lived. He had -seen it from the boat when his father had rowed him out a little way in -the evenings; but he had never been out on it before, and to go there at -night for the first time seemed a very wonderful thing to do. He would see -how the sea looked from up there in the moonlight; and perhaps Jim would -be able to tell him how the sun managed to swim round from one side to the -other before morning, and why it always came up in just the same place -every day, and went down in the same place every night. Jim must know a -lot of things, living so much up there, he thought. - -So Jim got up and opened a door close by, and a breath of cold wind came -rushing into the warm room under the big lamp. Pat looked wonderingly out -into the black darkness, and shivered a little, holding Jim's hand fast in -his small tenacious clasp. And then Jim, all in a moment, shuffled somehow -out of his warm rough pilot coat, and wrapped it round the child's thin -frame, and lifting him bodily in his strong arms, carried him out into -the still calm night, shutting the door behind him as he went, that the -draught might not make the lamp flicker or flare. - -For a moment it came into the child's head to wonder whether Jim was going -to throw him over the gallery rail and into the sea, and he shut his eyes -tight, and breathed a little prayer. But something in the strong clasp in -which he was held stilled this fear almost before it had taken shape, and -the next minute the child wonderingly opened his eyes and gazed with awe -at the scene before him. - -It did not seem dark now, for the silver moon rode high in the sky, and -though the sea beneath looked black in places, there was a great track -of silver light right across it where the moonlight lay, and sometimes a -white sea-bird would fly athwart the silver track, and for that moment its -beautiful white wings seemed to shine like silver too. The little plashing -waves below were tipped and crested with phosphorescent light, and broke -against the reef in a thousand ripples of molten silver. The whole world -seemed as if it had been turned into ebony and silver, and the child -looked and looked, drinking in the wonderful beauty, which was beyond his -powers of comprehension. - -He forgot all the questions he had meant to ask; he forgot the puzzle -about the sun and its setting and rising; he could think of nothing but -the strange majestic beauty of the summer night, and looking up into Jim's -dark face, he wondered if it looked the same to him. - -He was beautifully snug and warm wrapped up, and held close and safely. -There was nothing to mar his happiness and wonder. He gazed, and gazed, -and gazed again, till at last his confused thoughts found vent in words. - -"I can't think how He thought of it!" - -"Who thought of what, little master?" asked Jim, who had now found his -tongue, and did not seem indisposed to use it more freely. - -"Why, God to be sure," answered the child reverently. "You know that God -made everything; and before He made it He'd have to think of it, and know -what it would look like; and I can't think how He did!" - -"I don't seem to know much about that," said the man, as Pat looked up at -him as if for a suggestion. "It's a many years since I heard the name of -God spoke--except to swear by," he added as an afterthought. - -Now Pat knew very well what swearing sounded like, for he had heard a -great deal too much of it in his small life. But his mother had always -taught him to shun those people who used bad words, and he had never -heard an oath pass his father's lips. He had been brought up to read his -Bible, and to learn as much of the meaning of it as his mother was able -to teach him. Neither his father nor his mother were able to do much more -than read and write. They had not much education, and were ignorant of a -great deal that they would have liked to know. But they were devout and -simple-minded Christian folks, and had carefully trained their little boy -in all they knew themselves. If Nat had something of the stern Puritan -element in his creed, Eileen on her part had the vivid imagination and -burning devotion of her warm-hearted race, and Pat had inherited much -of her temperament, though not without some of his father's hard-headed -shrewdness. Pat had begun to feel as though this lighthouse must be -wonderfully near to God--much nearer than the crowded court where he had -lived before. It seemed to him often as though God _must_ be looking -straight down out of heaven at the Lone Rock, and that there was nothing -to come between Him and it, to hinder Him from seeing everything. So the -child had got into the habit of thinking a great deal more than before of -God; and it seemed very natural to think of Him to-night, with the great -dome of star-spangled sky above, and the limitless black sea below, with -the shining pathway across it that might be leading straight to heaven. - -But Jim's words troubled him rather. He didn't like to think that Jim -did not think about God too. He didn't see how he could help it in his -long lonely night-watches. Pat knew very well that he should be frightened -of the loneliness and the darkness if he wasn't quite sure that God -would take care of him somehow, though how He did it the child was not -at all certain. He went off on this train of thought now; and instead of -answering Jim's remark, or asking him why he had not heard or thought -about God for many years, he looked up into his face in a meditative -fashion, and said, slowly and reflectively-- - -"I think He must send the angels to fly about the lighthouses at night -and keep them safe. Mother says perhaps the stars are the angels' eyes -looking down at us; and don't you think it feels like as if there were -angels flying all about here? I think perhaps they like to dip their big -beautiful white wings in the moonlight, like the sea-gulls. I almost think -I can feel them flying round; it seems like as if there was a sound of -wings in the air!" - -"May be, little master, may be," answered Jim, without much interest in -his face and tone. "If there be anything of that sort about the place, I -make no doubt you would be the one to hear and see it." - -Pat did not quite know what these muttered words might mean, nor could -he get Jim to talk to him or sustain his share in the conversation. In -point of fact, the talk grew very broken and disjointed, for the night -air blowing on his face made the child very sleepy, and Jim was never one -to speak by himself. How that night's adventure ended Pat never knew. He -seemed soon to be flying all round the lighthouse on a pair of beautiful -white wings, and trying to coax Jim, who stood on the gallery watching, to -come and fly with him too. But Jim, though he had wings too, did not seem -to have any wish to use them, and only stood still watching his companion, -and refusing to trust himself to the flight to which Pat urged him, and -the child was just trying to make him believe that it would all be right -if he would only believe, when he felt a hand upon his head, and a voice -said in his ear-- - -"Little son, little son, it is time you were waking, honey. The day has -begun hours ago, and I can't find your clothes anywhere. Where did you put -them when you took them off, Pat?" - -Pat opened his eyes to find that he had no beautiful wings after all, and -that he was just in his own bed, covered up very snug and warm, but when -he threw off the bed clothes, there he found himself all dressed in those -very clothes for which his mother had been hunting everywhere. - -"Why, whatever does it mean?" cried Eileen, "the child has been walking -in his sleep. Saints preserve us! but if he takes to that in this place -it's never a wink of quiet sleep I will get!" - -"Oh, mother, it was not in my sleep!" cried Pat, remembering all the -adventure now. "I was wide awake. I wanted to see the big lamp alight, and -I went up, and Jim let me sit with him, and he wrapped me up in his coat -by-and-by, and took me out on to the gallery. And I suppose I must have -gone to sleep there, and he must have brought me back to bed and wrapped -me up like that. Mother, Jim is a very kind man. He isn't a bit like what -I thought; I'm going to have him for a friend. I think by-and-by he will -like me perhaps. I like him very much. He was very kind last night." - -"Well, if anybody can come at his heart, it will be the child," thought -Eileen, whose own advances had been steadily rejected and ignored. She was -sorry for the lonely man with the sad history, and was a little afraid -of him too; but when she whispered a word of her fear to her husband, -Nat stoutly declared it was "all right." Pat could do as he liked, and -make what advances he chose. The worst that could happen would be that -Jim would turn a deaf ear to him. He would never harm the child. He was -not that sort. There were stories against him, it was true; but nothing -they need fear as regards their own child. Nat was not troubled with a -vivid imagination, and Eileen had long learnt to subdue her fears when -her husband told her she was frightening herself about nothing. She would -be glad enough to lighten the dreary lot of "Surly Jim," and watched with -some curiosity the advances of Pat towards him. - -At first little progress seemed made. At table the two hardly looked -at each other, and Jim never spoke unless actually obliged; but now and -again she would see them sitting together in the boat, which had always -been Jim's summer sitting-room, and gradually it seemed as though there -was more talk between them. She could see that Pat began to chatter away -freely enough, and sometimes she fancied that Jim took a share in the -conversation. His pipe would go out, and be laid aside. He would lean -towards the child, and seem to be listening with some intentness. Eileen -was not a little curious to know what all this talk was about, but Pat was -singularly reticent, and seldom spoke of Jim, though he would chatter to -his mother about anything and everything else. Once she did venture to ask -what they had been talking about, and got an answer that surprised her not -a little. - -"We talk about a lot of things; Jim knows such a lot when you once get him -to talk," said Pat, with a certain quiet reserve of manner. "But I think -he likes it best when we talk about God. You see he'd almost forgotten -about Him. He's remembering now, and it's very interesting. We've begun at -the beginning of the Bible, and we skip a good deal, so we shall soon get -to the part about Jesus, and I think that'll be the most interesting of -all!" - -[Illustration] - - - - -[Illustration] - - - - -CHAPTER III - -_AN ODD PAIR_ - - -"It be queer to see them together. They be as thick as thieves," said Nat -to his wife with a broad smile, as he sat down to table for the dish of -tea he always looked for before he went up to see that all was in order -with the lamp before the dusk fell. "As for me, I can't get a word out -of him no how; but the little chap, he makes him talk as I never knew he -could. I can't hear what they say. Bless you! if I so much as look that -way, Jim shuts up his mouth like as if no power on earth would open it, -and Pat he goes as red as a rose, as if he was half ashamed to be caught -chattering; but so soon as my back's turned they're at it again. And glad -I be that the poor chap has found somebody to love and to care for him; -for he's had a hard life of it, if all we hear of him be true." - -"That's just what I think, Nat," answered Eileen. "I'm glad the boy has -found the way to his heart. Sure it's a bad thing for any creature to be -shut up against his fellow-men as he was. May be it's the blessed saints -as have sent the child to him to show him a better way." - -Eileen still spoke sometimes about the "blessed saints," as she had been -used to do in her childhood, when she lived amongst those who used even to -pray to them; but her husband would smile and shake his head when he heard -the words, and to-day he answered slowly and thoughtfully-- - -"Nay, my lass; it's no doing of the saints above--not that I'm one to -say they are not blessed, nor that they may not look down upon us poor -creatures here below and think of us as their brethren; but it's the Lord -as rules the world for us, and gives each one of us a work to do for Him -somehow; and if our boy has been sent as a messenger to this poor chap--as -like enough he has--it's the Lord's own doing, that's what it is; and we -won't say a word to discourage him, not though it may seem as though he'd -got a tough job before him if he's got to win back Jim." - -The ready tears started to Eileen's eyes. She came over and put her hand -on Nat's broad shoulder, bending to kiss him, though he was not a man who -as a rule cared to receive caresses from even his own wife or child. - -"It does me good to hear you talk like that. Sure and it's the children -who are often the Lord's best messengers. I heard a holy man say once as -the beautiful angels were God's messengers, and it does seem sometimes as -though He used the children too--may be because they are most like the -angels themselves--bless their innocent little hearts!" - -But Pat never thought about being an angel. He only felt like a very -happy little boy, whose life had suddenly become exceedingly interesting, -and who had so much to do every day that the days never seemed quite long -enough for all he wanted to put into them. There was so much to learn -about the reef and the lighthouse, about the big lamp and its bigger -reflectors, about the wonderful fog-horn which he had as yet never heard -at work, and about the apparatus which kept all these wonders moving, -that his head fairly swam sometimes in the effort to take in all that he -saw. He had one of those inquiring minds which is not content just to -see what is done, but must know the why and the wherefore of it all. Nat -was content to know that certain results would follow certain actions -on his part, and he followed his instructions, with intelligence and -diligence, but without fully comprehending the mechanism of which he was -the overseer. Jim was the man who more fully understood this. He could put -to rights any small matter which had got out of gear, without any appeal -to the mainland. He had been so long on the Lone Rock that he was familiar -with every detail of the lighthouse apparatus, and Pat would watch him -with awe as he climbed about the great lamp, and cleaned the wheels and -the levers with the air of one who knew exactly what was the work of each. -And then he and the child knew the secret about the creatures being alive, -when everybody else thought it merely a machine. Jim always spoke of it -as "her," and Pat learned to do the same, and to wonder sometimes why she -never awoke by day, but was always so quiet and still when the sun was -shining, though when the dusk fell upon the land she would wake up and -shine, and go round and round with that strange monotonous noise he had -learned to heed as little as the ceaseless plash of the waves. That secret -knowledge shared by both made another link between the man and the child. -And then, if Jim could only find words, he could answer Pat's questions -about the working of the creature far better than the child's father -could do. Pat grew greatly impressed by the depth and profundity of his -knowledge, and came secretly to the conclusion that Jim was a marvel of -learning and skill. He was greatly flattered that he was allowed to be on -terms of such intimacy with him, and grew to think his gruff speech and -silent habits a grace, and a sign of learning and wisdom. - -It was with great satisfaction one day that Pat heard that he and Jim -were to be left in charge of the lighthouse for a whole day, whilst -his father and mother went ashore to lay in stores against the coming -autumn and winter. The summer was waning now. Before very long the fierce -equinoctial gales might be any time expected, and Nat was anxious to get -ashore before this present calm broke up, and thoroughly victual the rock -against the winter. Eileen, too, had many things to think of, both for -herself and the child, before the winter should set in. They had been in -rather low water, owing to Pat's long illness, just before they came here, -and had not any supply of warm clothing with them. Now that Nat had been -drawing his pay all these months, there was plenty of money to purchase -what was needed. Only she felt she must go ashore herself for the purpose; -but she thought the expedition would be too fatiguing for the boy, and Pat -was more than content to be left behind with Jim, to take care of the home -and the lighthouse in his father's short absence. - -It was a beautiful hot September morning when the boat put off from the -rock, and Pat stood holding Jim's hand and waving his little cap to his -parents, as Nat hoisted the sail to the light breeze, and the boat began -to cut its way through the sparkling water in the direction of the shore. - -"The top of the morning to ye!" shouted the child, who loved to air -his little bits of Irish phrases when he was in high spirits. "Sure -it's a lovely day for a sail. Come back again safe and sound, and we'll -be waiting for you here. Good-bye, mother dear. Take care of yourself, -mavourneen. It's meself as will be thinking of you every hour of the day -till the boat brings you back safe again!" - -The mother waved her hand, and Pat stood looking till his eyes were too -dazzled to see clearly any longer, and then he drew Jim back towards the -house. His small face was full of importance and gravity. He plainly felt -himself his father's deputy for the day, and the sense of his position and -the burden of his responsibilities weighed upon him rather heavily. - -"We shall have to watch her very carefully all day, Jim," he remarked. -"Because you see she may know that father has gone, and try to take -advantage. We had a dog who used to do that once. Mother always said he -took advantage when father had gone off for the day. It wouldn't do for -things to go wrong before he came back. You and I will have to be very -careful. Shall we go up and look how she seems now?--and whether she is -all asleep and quiet?" - -Jim grinned in his queer way, but assented at once. - -"All right, little master, we'll go. I've got to clean her up. But I think -she'll be quiet like all day. She's a wonderful one for sleeping so long -as the sun shines--that she is!" - -"Yes, rather like a bat, isn't it, Jim? I read a tale once in a book about -a big bat with a funny name. I think it was called a vampire. I know it -was very big indeed, and rather fierce. Perhaps _she's_ a kind of vampire; -only you've made her tame, and she doesn't hurt people now. Did she ever -hurt you, Jim? You don't seem afraid of her a bit." - -"Nay, she's never hurt I," answered Jim. "She don't hurt them as know how -to humour her. She did break the arm of one man once; but he was a rare -fool and deserved what he got. You've got to be a bit careful of her when -she's going; but if you mind her well she won't hurt nobody." - -They were mounting the stairs now, and Pat seated himself to watch Jim at -his mysterious duties about the great She, as he had come to call her in -his own mind. He had seen everything done a dozen times before; but the -interest and fascination was always new. To-day he was permitted to help -Jim a little by holding his leathers and rubbers from time to time; and -he felt that he should soon be able to climb about and clean himself, so -familiar did he grow with all his companion's evolutions. - -It took the best part of the morning to do all that was needed to make -things ship-shape for night, and Pat presently went downstairs to get -ready the simple mid-day meal his mother had prepared for them. He thought -that it would be pleasant to eat it down on the rocks, for the tide was -out, and as it was a spring tide there was more rock than usual uncovered. -He carried everything carefully down, and presently Jim joined him, and -they sat down together. Pat thought it was quite the nicest dinner he had -ever tasted, down in the cool shadow of the rocks, with the waves washing -up and down only a few feet away. He got Jim to light his pipe by-and-by, -and to tell him some of his sailor stories (Jim, he noticed, always talked -better when he was smoking), and after an hour had passed like that, Jim -suggested to him that it was his turn to tell a tale. - -Now Pat was very willing to take his turn, but he had not any big store -of stories, and such as his mother had told him had all been related to -Jim before--all but the Bible stories, of which, to be sure, there were -plenty left to tell. Pat sat nursing his knees and thinking. At last he -looked up into his companion's face and asked reflectively-- - -"I don't think I've ever told you about Jesus, have I? We've not got to -Him yet in reading out of the Book. But there's lots and lots of stories -about Him--real pretty ones, too. I could tell you some of them, if you -liked. I don't think you know about Jesus yet; do you, Jim?" - -The man had slowly taken his pipe from his lips whilst the child was -speaking, and now sat staring out over the sea with a look on his face -that somehow seemed new to Pat, and which made him all of a sudden look -different; the little boy could not have said how or why. - -"I used to hear tell of Him when I was little," came the reply, very -slowly spoken. "My mother used to tell me of Him when I was a little -chap no bigger than you. But I went off to sea when I couldn't have been -much bigger, and since then there's been nobody to tell me of Him 'cept -the gentleman in the prison; and I didn't take friendly to what he said, -though I dare say he meant it all kind enough." - -"Well, I'll tell you as well as I can," said Pat, settling himself to -his task with some relish. "Perhaps you'll remember some of the things I -forget, and mother could tell us it all afterwards, if we like. But I can -remember a good lot--all the things that matter most. So I'll begin." - -And Pat did begin, in rather a roundabout fashion, it is true, and with -a good many repetitions and harkings back to things he had forgotten, but -still with a zest and good-will that atoned for many defects in style, and -with the perfect faith in the truth of what he was saying, that gave a -reality to the narrative which nothing else could have done. When it came -to the story of the Crucifixion and the Garden of Gethsemane, Pat found, -rather to his surprise, that the tears came into his eyes, and that once -or twice he could hardly get on with the tale. He remembered that his -mother had sometimes cried in telling it to him; but he had never quite -understood why. He began to feel as though he did understand now. When he -was telling it himself to somebody who was listening, like Jim, it all -seemed so much more real. He wanted Jim to understand it all--just as his -mother wanted him to understand; and that made him enter into the meaning -of the story as perhaps he had hardly ever done before. He was glad when -it came to the joyful part, about how the Lord rose again, and showed -Himself to His doubting and mourning followers. Jim never spoke the whole -time, but sat with his face turned out towards the sea, never moving, and -looking sometimes as though he scarcely heard what the child said; yet Pat -was convinced that he was listening to every word. It was only when the -story had been finished for several minutes that he slowly turned his head -round, and Pat saw with surprise that there was a moisture in his eyes -that looked exactly as though it were tears. - -"That's the story as my mother used to tell it me," he said, in a husky -voice. "Do you think as it's all true, little master?" - -"Why, of course it's true!" answered Pat, with perfect confidence. -"Almost everybody in the world believes it--everybody except the heathen!" -(And Pat quite believed this was so.) "Some folks forget, as you did, Jim, -and some don't care as they should. But it's every word true. He did die." - -"Yes, but why? Why did He die if He needn't have done? Why did He let them -nail Him on the cross like that, if He could have had as many angels as He -liked to come and take Him away out of their hands?" - -"Oh, because, you know, He came to die for us," answered Pat, wrinkling -up his forehead, and trying to remember how his mother had answered _his_ -questions on this very point. "He was the Lamb of God who came to take -away the sins of the world--your sins, Jim, and mine, and everybody's. God -could not have forgiven everything if it hadn't been for Jesus, because -He is so just as well as so kind. Somebody had to be punished--somebody -had to die for us. We couldn't have died for ourselves--not like that, you -know, because we are all wicked. It had to be somebody good--like the lamb -in the Passover, without blemish--and that could only be Jesus. I don't -know if I can explain it right; but it's something like that. There was -nobody else, and God loved us so, He sent His own Son. Oh, Jim, it _was_ -good of Him! I don't think we love Him, or Jesus, half enough!" - -Jim passed his horny hand over his eyes. He didn't speak for some time. - -"It doesn't hardly seem as though He _could_ have done it for us--for you -and me," continued the child, filled with his own thought. "But He did, I -know He did; mother says so, and it's all in the Bible, for she can find -the places. - -"I mean to try and think about it oftener, for it doesn't seem as though -we ought ever to forget it. Mother says it ought to make us try and do -things for Him; but I don't know what I can do, except to love Him, and -try to be good. Perhaps till I'm bigger He'll let that count." - -"And when you're bigger what will you do, little master?" asked Jim. - -Pat sat and pondered the question a good while with his chin in his hand. - -"I don't quite know," he answered slowly. "I mightn't ever have the -chance; but I think I know what I should like to do if I could." - -"And what is that?" asked Jim, with sudden and very evident interest. - -"I think," answered the child, slowly and reverently, "that I should like -best to lay down my life for somebody else--like as He laid it down for -us. Some people have done that, you know--brave men who have died doing -their duty--to try and save other people from death. I think God must love -them for it. I think Jesus must smile at them, for He did just the same -for us; and if He knows that they do it because they want to be like Him -and do something for Him, I think He would be pleased. People don't always -die because they are willing to; sometimes they are saved too. But Jesus -would know that they were willing to die for Him. I think, when I grow to -be a man, if I might choose, I should like best to serve Him like that." - -Whilst Pat was speaking, Jim's eyes had been fixed earnestly upon his -face. Now they roved back again over the sea, and suddenly the man gave a -great start. He rose to his feet, and stood looking over the sea, shading -his eyes with his hand. - -"What is it?" asked Pat, coming and standing beside him, and imitating his -gesture. "Can you see anything, Jim? I can't seem to see nothing." - -"That's just it," answered the man. "We can't see half as far as we did -an hour ago. Seems like as if there was a thick sea-fog coming on. I was -thinking only this morning what a time we had been without one. That's a -fog-bank and no mistake, and drifting right down upon us, too. I must go -and see to the horn. We must start that if it comes over us; else your -father might never find his way back--to say nothing of the ships running -aground here. You'll hear her voice, and no mistake, little master, before -another hour is over; and a mighty queer voice it is, I can tell you. -You'll not forget it easy, once you've heard it!" - -Pat was immensely interested. He followed Jim up into the upper room, -and went out upon the gallery to watch the great fog-bank creep slowly -down upon them. The sun was so bright and clear that it seemed impossible -that that slowly moving white mass should ever obscure it; but soon a -few little light vapour wreaths drifted up against the rocks, and very -quickly the sun looked dull and red, and little by little the sky and -the sea seemed all to be blotted out, and Pat could not tell which way -he was looking, nor where the land lay. He seemed to be up alone in some -high place, floating in mid-air, in a world of vapour. He would have been -frightened if he had not heard Jim moving about close at hand. - -And then, all in a moment, a most fearful and extraordinary noise just -above his head made Pat clap his hands to his ears, as though his head -would come off with the vibration if he did not. He knew what it was. -_She_ had been awakened from sleep, and was lifting up that great voice -of hers, as he had heard she could do when it was wanted; and in great -amazement, Pat ran indoors to see how she did it. He felt that such a -wonderful creature as this had surely never lived before! - -[Illustration] - - - - -[Illustration] - - - - -CHAPTER IV - -_LONE ROCK IN FOG AND STORM_ - - -But strange and fascinating as was the voice of the great She, Pat could -not be quite happy till his father and his mother had got back safe to the -rock again. He could not imagine how they could find their way in all the -thick wreaths of darkness which shut the Lone Rock in; but Jim told him -that very likely it was quite clear a little way off, and that the noise -of the horn, which sounded every three minutes, would guide his father -safely to the right place. The sea was quite smooth and still; he could -approach without any trouble. Jim knew that Nat would not be easy away -from his post, more especially now that this fog had come on, which would -entail extra care and extra work. There was a mechanical apparatus worked -by steam, which could keep the horn blowing at intervals for a certain -number of hours; but that required attention too, and for the present, Jim -preferred to work it by the bellows, remaining up aloft, and bidding Pat -keep watch for the boat below, if he liked, but to be very careful not to -lose his footing on the rocks, as there would be nobody to come to his -help. - -Pat was not afraid of that now. He always ran about barefoot, and was as -sure of foot as a goat by this time. - -He stationed himself upon the great square rock overlooking the little -creek where the boat usually lay moored, and watched the thick wreaths -of vapour as they drifted and circled round him. Sometimes, for a few -moments, they would clear away for a while, and he would be able to -look out over the grey waters for some little distance. Then they would -close over again, and shut out even the sight of the waves not ten feet -below him, and Pat would feel as though he were quite, quite alone in a -world of fog, with only the great horn overhead for company. But it was -company, and kept him in mind that Jim was not far away, and so he was not -frightened, although very much surprised and perplexed by this strange new -experience. - -It might have been an hour that he had been watching, when he heard the -plash of oars, sounding a long way off, though in reality they were quite -close, and almost immediately afterwards he saw the outline of the boat -looming large against the background of fog, and uttered a joyful shout. - -"Father! dear daddy! Mother, is that you? I was so afraid you would never -find your way home; but Jim said you would. Did you hear her blow the -horn? Doesn't she do it well? Isn't it nice that she can wake up when -she's wanted? She woke up and blew directly Jim told her there was a fog. -Isn't it queer to be all thick like this? It isn't dark, but we can't -hardly see anything. Daddy, did you ever see anything quite so funny -before? Mother, did you?" - -"I've seen plenty of sea-fogs in my time, my little son," answered Nat, -as he brought in the boat, and moored it safely in its niche; "and I am -always glad to see them go, for they do more ill to ships, I take it, than -storms and tempests. I'm glad to find myself here; for it's ill being at -sea in such thickness as this. However, I think it will lighten a bit -soon. The bank isn't a deep one, so far as I can see, and it must have -pretty nigh drifted over us by now--not but what it may come back again a -dozen times before the day is over. There is no telling what a fog will -do. It's more capricious than a woman--eh, wifie?" - -Eileen smiled as she stepped ashore. Her face was rather pale. - -"I know more of women than of fogs, Nat. I don't know if they be much -alike. Pat, darling, it's glad I am to see you safe and sound again. I'll -not have to go ashore for a long while now. I've brought everything we -shall want for many a month to come." - -Almost as she spoke the fog began to lift, and in a few moments, to the -astonishment of Pat, the sun was shining again quite brightly. A breeze -sprang up and drove the floating vapours away, dispersing them hither and -thither, and making the waves dance and foam round the rocks. The great -horn ceased to make its doleful cry, and Jim came down from above to help -to unload the boat. - -"Have you got _my_ parcel, mother?" asked Pat, edging up to her, and -speaking in a whisper, as thing after thing was brought in by the two busy -men. The mother smiled and nodded, and presently she opened a big square -package, and drew forth a small parcel tied up in brown paper, at sight of -which Pat's face kindled all over. - -"Is it a nice one, mother? And did you spend my bright half-crown?" And -on being satisfied upon these points, Pat vanished with his treasure into -an inner room, and proceeded to untie the string and carefully open the -mysterious parcel. - -When he had removed the two wrappings of paper, his eyes brightened and -glowed with delight. He saw a beautiful book, with red-gold edges, in a -soft black morocco cover, and he turned the leaves with reverent, loving -fingers, and placed the book-mark in the place where he had been planning -to read next to Jim--the place where the story of Jesus began that they -had been talking over this very day. - -"It's a prettier Bible than mine," thought the child; "but mother gave me -mine, so, of course, I like it best, and I shall always keep it as long -as I live. But Jim will like this, I know; and he hasn't got any Bible, -though he says he can read, and used to like to read once. I'm sure he'll -like it. I'll go up to-night and give it him when he has his watch. He -can read it up there in the tower when he's not attending to her. There's -plenty of light, and in the winter he says the nights do seem long. It'll -be nice for him to read about Jesus, and all the stories that are in the -Bible." - -So as soon as supper was over, whilst his father and mother were still -busy putting away the ample stores of provisions and clothing that they -had brought from the mainland, Pat stole upstairs with his treasure in his -hands, and came and took his favourite seat by Jim's side, still keeping -the book safely hidden beneath his jacket. - -"Jim, don't you never read of a night up here alone?" he asked. - -"I don't often now. I did use to read the paper a bit, whenever I get -a few sent over from shore; but one gets out of the habit of it, and -sometimes there's nothing to read for days and weeks together." - -"I like reading," said Pat; "and I thought you'd perhaps like it too if -you had something interesting to read. I've brought you a book. Mother got -it for me to-day. It's yours now, for I've written your name inside, so -that nobody can't ever take it away from you; and I think it would be nice -if you would read it sometimes in the night. I'm almost sure you'll like -it, if once you begin." And with a red but happy face, Pat pulled out his -treasure, and presented it shyly to Jim. - -The man took it and looked at it, and then at the child, as though he -didn't know what to make of so strange a thing as a present. Perhaps it -was a dozen years since he had received a gift of any kind. - -"Be it for me, little master?" he asked in a puzzled voice. - -"Yes, to be sure it is," answered Pat, beaming. "I got mother to choose -it for you, because she always chooses so well. It's a Bible, Jim. It's -got all the stories in that we like to talk about, and all the story of -Jesus--what we talked about to-day, and you liked. I've put the mark in -one of the places where it begins about Him. You can read it yourself, if -you like, whilst you're watching her." - -It was so long since Jim had ever received such a thing as a present that -he scarcely knew how to thank the child, but kept turning the book over -and over in his hands with a sheepish look on his face. However, Pat was -easily satisfied, and he knew that Jim was more pleased than he showed; -so he slipped down the stairs again in a happy frame of mind, and found -his father examining the weather-glass below--a mysterious object in the -child's eyes, which he always regarded with awe. - -"A good thing we went ashore to-day, wife," Pat heard his father say. "For -if I don't mistake me, we'll have a spell of rough weather on us soon. -The glass is going down steady and fast. By to-morrow morning, I take it, -it'll be blowing half a gale of wind." - -Pat looked wonderingly at the glass, and could not see that it had moved -from its niche. He never could understand why his father would say that it -was higher some days than it was on others; but it was one of those things -that he never asked about--one of those mysteries that he pondered over in -secret with a sense of wonder and rather fascinating awe. - -Next morning he was not awakened, as he had been of late, by a bar of -sunshine slanting across his bed and touching his face. He awoke later -than his wont to a sound of moaning and splashing which he had not heard -before; and when he jumped up and ran to the window he saw that there were -heavy banks of cloud scudding across the sky, whilst the sea had turned -from blue to grey, and was dashing itself against the rocks with greater -vehemence than he had ever seen before. There was a moaning sound all -around the walls of his home, rising sometimes to a mournful shriek. The -little boy was glad to get on his clothes, and find a glowing fire burning -in the living room. There had come a chilliness into the air, and it -seemed as if summer had suddenly taken flight. His mother looked up at him -as he came, and greeted him with a smile. - -"Well, Pat; so father is right after all, and here are the gales come -upon us all sudden-like at the last. We shall have to make up our minds -to a deal of moaning and tossing and tumbling if we are to live all the -winter in a lighthouse! You'll be a brave boy, my little son, and not mind -the wind and the rain and the dashing of the waves? It'll not frighten you -to hear it day after day and week after week, will it, honey?" - -"Frighten me?" asked Pat, almost indignantly. "Why, mother, no! I'm almost -a man now, and men aren't frightened by noises. I shall help father and -Jim to take care of the lighthouse, and I'll help you down here when -I'm not too busy upstairs with her. Jim says there's a deal more to do -in winter than in summer, and sometimes they'll be very glad of a third -man to help. I shall be the third man here. I shall have lots to do and -think about!" And Pat looked for all the world like an important little -turkey-cock, and went running up the stairs to see what was going on -there, whilst his mother looked after him with a smile, and breathed a -thankful prayer to God for giving back her child such full measure of -health and strength. - -The next weeks were very interesting and exciting ones to Pat. The wind -blew strongly and steadily, and the sea ran higher and higher. He used -to go out daily into the balcony round the lamp-house, and stand "to -le'ward," as Jim used to call it, whilst he watched the great crested -waves come racing along, and breaking into sheets of spray at the foot of -the reef--spray which sometimes rose almost as high as he was standing, -and would often make the mackintosh coat in which he was always wrapped -fairly run down with water. - -Jim would stand beside him sometimes, and tell him how in winter storms -the spray would dash not only as far as the gallery, but right over the -top of the lighthouse. Pat found it hard to believe this at first, but -as he came to learn more and more of the marvellous power of the sea, he -disbelieved nothing; and used sometimes to say with awe to Jim, when he -had finished one of his stories of shipwreck and peril-- - -"It do seem wonderful that the sea obeyed Jesus when He was here, and went -down and got still just when He told it to. Mother says God holds the sea -in the hollow of His hand. Jim, I think God's hand must be very wonderful; -don't you?" - -Perhaps nothing so helped those two to understand the mighty power of God -as their lonely life in the lighthouse during those stormy autumn days. -If any story in the Bible reading seemed too marvellous for belief, it -only needed Pat to point over the sea with his little hand, and remark -reflectively, "But you see, Jim, He made all _that_!" to convince them -both that nothing was too hard for the Lord. The story of Peter's attempt -to walk on the sea was one of their favourite readings, when once they had -come across it. Jim was wonderfully taken by the tale, and would have the -mark kept in the place for a long time. - -"I read it every night up here alone," he said once to Pat, "and I can't -help wondering if I could ever walk on the sea if I asked Him to help me." - -"Perhaps He would if you were going to Him," said Pat reflectively. "I -don't know if He would for anything else. You see, He'd said 'Come' to -Peter, and so he could do it, until he got frightened and forgot the Lord -had called him. Mother says that was why he began to sink--because he'd -begun to think about himself, instead of trusting it all to Jesus. If he -were to say 'Come' to you, Jim, and you were to go out to meet Him, I -expect it would be all right. But He don't seem to call folks in that sort -of way now." - -New experiences were becoming common enough in Pat's life now, but he -never forgot one curious sight which he was once called up from his bed to -see in the middle of the night. He had gone to bed amid an unusual tumult -of sound--moaning wind and dashing spray, and sometimes such a bang as -a great wave struck the wall of the tower--that for some time he could -scarcely get off to sleep, seasoned though he was to such sounds. - -Then, in the middle of the night, he was awakened by Jim coming to fetch -him, and when he was once fairly awake, he was delighted to hurry into -his warm suit of weather-proof clothes, and follow Jim upstairs, for he -thought that the time had surely come when the services of the third man -were required, and very grand and important he felt to occupy that proud -position. - -But it was not quite what he thought, after all; for though his father -was on watch as well as Jim whilst the storm raged round the lighthouse, -there was nothing very much to be done, save to see that the light burned -brightly, and Pat wondered for a moment why he had been summoned. - -"Jim said you'd like to see the birds, sonny," said his father, taking -him in his strong arms, and holding him up near to the glass: "so I said -he could fetch you. Look! do you see them flying against the glass? It's -the light as brings them these stormy nights. They know they'll get -perching-room somewhere round, if they get nothing else. See their white -wings flitting to and fro, Pat? Jim says in the morning we shall pick up a -score or so of dead birds in the gallery, as have dashed their lives out -flying straight against the glass." - -Pat looked and began to see, for at first his eyes were dazzled. It was -just as his father had said: outside the glass house were multitudes of -wild sea birds, flitting to and fro like ghosts in the black darkness, and -every now and then dashing themselves against the strong dome of glass -with a noise which told of the violence of the effort. There seemed to the -child to be an endless myriad of white and grey birds circling round his -sea-girt home, and he looked at them in wonder and awe, for he had never -before seen so strange a sight. - -"Do they want to get in, father?" he asked softly. "Oh, let us open the -door and take them in. They are frightened at the storm. Why should we not -let them come in and warm themselves here?" - -"They would only be worse scared than they are, Pat," answered his father, -"and would fly into the lamp and hurt themselves and it. Poor foolish -things! they don't know what they come for themselves; it's just the light -attracts them. We'll get feathers enough to stuff a pillow for your mother -to-morrow, if Jim is right about what we shall find outside." - -But Pat was quite unhappy about the poor foolish wild birds driven -seawards by the gale, and coming to the lighthouse, as it were, for -shelter. - -"Let me go outside and see them there," he said; and Jim wrapped him up -warmly and carried him out for a few minutes. - -It was a still stranger sight out there to see the strange antics of the -bewildered birds, and to hear their cries and screams, which made Pat -shiver in spite of himself, remembering the stories his mother sometimes -told him on winter evenings of the "banshee" and its wailing cry. He was -dreadfully sorry for the birds, but they would not let him come near them, -and he saw that nothing could be done for them. - -"I suppose God knows about them," he said at last, with a great sigh. "If -He cares for sparrows, I suppose He cares for sea-gulls, too. If He knows, -I suppose we need not mind very much. But I should have liked to take them -in and feed them, and make them warm and comfortable. They sound so very -sad; but perhaps God will comfort them best." - -And then Jim carried the child down to his warm bed again, and he fell -asleep, thinking of the birds and their strange noises and ways. - -He awoke with the same strange noise in his ears. He was sure it was a -voice like that of a sea-bird. He started up and looked about him, and -then the sound came again. It was broad daylight now, and the noise seemed -to proceed from the adjoining living room. Pat jumped up, and ran in -without troubling to put on his clothes till his curiosity was satisfied. - -"Mother, what is it? What is that queer noise?" he asked; and then he saw -a basket standing in a corner of the room, and the noise seemed to proceed -out of that. - -"Go and get dressed, dear," answered his mother, "and then Jim, may be, -will be down again. It's a wild bird that has hurt itself that he's got -there. He thought you might like to have it to take care of till it got -well, but it's so wild and fierce, and bites so, that I daren't open the -basket till he comes. Jim says they fly at folks' eyes sometimes; but he -seems to know how to manage it. Get you dressed, honey, and then he'll -show it you." - -Pat was not long dressing that morning, and as soon as Jim could be -got down from the tower, the basket was opened, and the treasure inside -displayed to the child's admiring eyes. It was a young gull, whose wing -was badly broken--so badly, that Jim declared it would never fly again, -and was of opinion that the most merciful thing to do would be to pinion -it--since it was the end of the wing that was broken--and bring it up -to be a tame bird upon the rock, living there and catching fish in the -pool, but kept from swimming away altogether by a light fetter round its -foot. He had kept birds on the rock before now that had hurt themselves -against the glass, though when they had grown quite strong and well they -had usually taken themselves off. Still, he had sometimes kept pets for -some considerable time; and Pat was all on fire to tame this gull, and -make a playmate of it. It was not a very promising playmate at first, for -it was wild and fierce, almost past management, and Pat thought it would -have died under Jim's hands when he performed with skill and rapidity the -operation which was soon seen to be a wonderful relief to the suffering -bird. It refused food for two days, and the child feared it would -certainly die; but his patience and care were unwearied, and at last, on -the third day, it began to feed from his hand, being too weak to fear -him; and after a few mouthfuls of fish greedily swallowed, it rewarded -its friend by a vigorous peck on the hand, which nearly drew blood. Pat, -however, was not at all discouraged, but looked upon it as a sign of -returning health; and by slow degrees, as the days and weeks wore away, a -certain confidence and friendship grew up between the wild bird and the -little boy who tended him so faithfully and regularly. - -Jim contrived a little aviary for the bird--if so grand a word could -be applied to the wire erection down among the rocks, where the bird -could get salt-baths at high water, and fish in the pools left by the -retiring tide--by the side of which Pat spent hours every day teaching the -gull to come and take food from his hands, and gradually establishing a -freemasonry between them, which developed at last into a real friendship, -so that the little boy could go fearlessly into the cage at the wider and -taller end against the house, and call the gull to perch upon his knee, -and take bits of fish even from between his lips, and take any liberties -he chose with his captive without fear of a rebuff. - -This new pastime was a source of immense pleasure to the little boy -through the long dreary days of winter. He never felt dull in his strange -home; and with Jim to talk to, the lamp to watch, and his bird to teach -and tame, the days flew by all too fast, and he could scarcely believe -when Christmas was actually upon them. - -It was a queer Christmas, spent amongst the sounds and sights of the Lone -Rock, with the wild waves lashing the walls of his home, and the moaning -of the wind for the only music. But Pat was growing used to the life, and -did not call it queer now. It seemed far stranger to think of going back -to the crowded court, where they never saw or heard the sea, and where -even the sky and the air seemed quite different. - -[Illustration: "At last, on the third day, it began to feed from his -hand."--_Page 79._] - -But it was interesting to explain to Jim about Christmas Day being Jesus's -birthday; and the child discovered to his great satisfaction and surprise -that it was Jim's own birthday, too. He had been born on Christmas Day, -just as Pat had been born on Patrick's Day, to the great satisfaction of -his Irish mother; and so the festival of Christmas was kept as brightly -as it was possible, and neither Nat nor his wife could fail to remark how -changed in many ways Jim was from what he had been in the spring, when -first they had come to the rock. - -"I believe it's the love of the Lord coming into his heart that's doing -it," said Nat, as he sat over the fire with his Bible, when Pat had gone -to bed, and Jim was up aloft. "He took first to the child, and the child -has led him to the Lord. It's often the way with us poor frail human -creatures. We seem as though we must have some human hand to lead us, -though the Lord is holding out His wounded hand all the while, and bidding -us take that. It's wonderful true those words of His about the babes and -sucklings. It seems to me that the heart of a little child is coming in -place of the hard heart Jim seemed to have before. May be the Lord has a -work for him to do yet. It may be we were sent here partly for him. One -never knows where the work will meet one in the vineyard; but we must try -to be ready for it when it comes." - -[Illustration] - - - - -[Illustration] - - - - -CHAPTER V - -_A TERRIBLE NIGHT_ - - -Although there had been plenty of wind, and a heavy sea running for the -greater part of the winter, Pat had not seen what Jim called a "real -storm" until Christmas had been several weeks old, and January had nearly -run its course. The child called any rough bout of windy weather a storm, -and did not quite believe that Jim could be right in declaring that it was -"only a capful of wind," or that it was "only half a gale, after all." But -there came one night late on in January when he began to understand very -well what Jim had meant, and to realise that he had not really understood -before what a real winter storm could be like. - -All day there had been a strange new sound in the moaning and the -shrieking of the wind. His father had looked often at the glass, and had -remarked almost every time he did so that "they were going to get it this -time, and no mistake." Jim had been so busy up aloft that Pat had hardly -seen him since breakfast-time; and even the sea-gull seemed to partake in -the general uneasiness, for he flapped his wings, and screamed and cried -in a way that was quite unusual for him; and when Jim came downstairs -about dinner-time, he walked out to the side of the cage where the child -stood watching his favourite, and said-- - -"I'd bring him indoors to-night, Pat. I'd not answer for it but that the -water will be over here before morning. Anyway, there's be sheets of spray -flying about enough to drown the bird, if he's left where he is." - -Pat looked up wonderingly, for though one end of the great caged-in place -ran down towards the lower rocks, the upper end was against the lighthouse -itself, and it seemed impossible to the child that the waves should ever -reach as high as that. He had lived seven or eight months in his new home -by this time, and had never seen the sea as high as that yet. But of -course Jim must know best. - -"I'll bring him in," he answered readily. "Mother won't mind if you tell -me to, and he does come in sometimes. He hardly ever pecks at anybody now. -See how tame he is when I go to take him!" - -Pat was rather proud of the conquest he had made of the bird, and -certainly the wild creature made no resistance to being lifted by his -little master and carried within doors. Eileen looked up as Pat brought -the captive in with him. - -"Poor thing! so he wants shelter to-night, does he! Put him there in that -bit of a cupboard, Pat dear, with a wire netting in front of him to keep -him from cluttering up my clean kitchen. There, he can see you now, and -you can see him. What a pretty bird he's growing! I'm sure he's welcome to -a place within doors. God help all those poor souls who will be out at sea -to-night!" - -The woman spoke with so much earnestness and feeling, that Pat looked up -in her face with wide-open, questioning eyes. - -"What makes you say that, mother? Is it going to be what Jim would call -a real big storm? I rather wanted to see one. Is it naughty to feel so? I -won't, if it is; but I thought a lighthouse boy ought to know what a real -storm was like. Are we going to have one to-night, mother?" - -"I fear we are, my child. And terrible it will be for those who are -afloat, exposed to the mercy of the wind and the waves. We must pray to -God for them, my little son; for in times like these only God can help -them, and perhaps there are some in peril to-night, who will never pray -for themselves--though in the hour of danger it is wonderful how the human -heart turns to the God of heaven, however hard at any other time." - -Pat's eyes were open wide, and a new look had crept into them. - -"Mother, shall we pray now?--you and I together?" he asked; and Eileen -took his little hand in hers, and knelt down then and there on the kitchen -floor, praying aloud in very simple words for those in peril on the deep -that night, that God would be with them in every danger, and bring them -safe at last to the haven whither they would be. And Pat shut his eyes -tight, and clasped his hands, and said "Amen" softly, several times, -adding, as his mother ceased, "And if there are any little boys like me, -please keep them quite safe, dear Lord Jesus, and bring them safe back to -their mothers again." - -And then, when the child opened his eyes, and rose from his knees, he saw -that Jim had crept in, all unknown to them, and that he was kneeling, too, -his head down-bent, and a tear slowly trickling down his weather-beaten -face. Pat had never seen him on his knees before. He had never been able -to get Jim to tell him whether he ever said his prayers at all. But he was -sure now that he did, and he ran across to him before he had had time to -rise to his feet, and throwing his arms about his neck, he cried out-- - -"Now we have all prayed to God together, so I'm _sure_ He'll hear us. He -likes there to be two or three gathered together--it says so, somewhere in -the Bible. I shan't be so unhappy about the poor people in the ships now, -because we've asked God to take care of them, and He always hears what we -say--doesn't He, mother?" - -"Yes, dear, He always hears," answered Eileen, with a smile and a sigh. -"But He does not always answer us quite in the way we would have." - -"But, then, He knows best," said Pat, with sudden thoughtfulness. "So if -He does it differently from what we meant, we needn't mind, need we? You -don't always do just what I want, mother dear; but afterwards I always -know you decided best. It's like that with God and us, I suppose." - -Eileen stooped with a tear in her eye to kiss the child, and Jim went out -to help Nat to haul up the boat, and place it in the greatest security the -rock offered, to leeward of the wind, well braced at both ends to keep it -steady. Pat watched these operations with great interest. - -"But why do you take it out of the water?" he asked. "I should have -thought you'd want it there in case any ship in distress should go by. You -might want to send a boat out to them, and if it was up here you wouldn't -be able to get it out at all quickly." - -"No boat could live in such a sea as we'll have to-night, sonny," -answered the father gravely. "Nothing but a life-boat, anyhow, and then -it could not be launched here amongst these rocks. Look at those waves, -now. Do you think there would be any putting out to sea amongst such -rollers as those? No, my little son. Please God we'll keep our light -burning brightly--which is the duty given us to do--and that will help the -big ships to keep clear of this cruel reef, where the best of them would -be dashed to pieces. But more than that we cannot do, and may God grant -that no vessel comes nigh these rocks to-night. None will, unless she be -disabled; but, if she did, we could do almost nothing to help her. God -alone could direct her course that she should not be dashed in pieces on -this treacherous coast." - -So Pat went indoors, looking very grave, and feeling sobered by the shadow -of peril resting upon some lives; and already the dark lowering clouds -seemed to be driving faster and faster along the sky, and the shrieking of -the wind grew ever angrier and angrier as the daylight waned. - -Bang! bang! bang! It was only the waves flinging themselves in wild fury -against the rocks upon which the lighthouse was built, but Pat felt the -tower shudder beneath the shock, and looked into his mother's face as -though to ask if they themselves were in any danger. Her face was grave -and a little pale, but there was no personal fear in her steady eyes as -she met the child's look, and answered it by a thoughtful smile. - -"The walls of our home have stood through many a winter's storm, Pat. It's -not ourselves we need fear for to-night, but for those at sea, in disabled -vessels; and I fear me there will be many such upon a night like this. -Hark at the wind! It is rising every moment!" - -It was indeed, and Pat soon became too excited to do anything but wander -up and down the stairs, watching the wild strife of the wind and waves, -first from one place and then from another, not knowing whence the best -view was obtained. He might not open the door upon the gallery to go out -there, as he would have liked. Jim told him he would not be able to stand -there in such a night; and that the air rushing and sweeping in would be -bad for the lamp; and to-night, above all nights, she must be studied and -thought of. Many, many lives might depend upon her light, and she was the -object of the most scrupulous care on the part of both the men in charge -of her. - -"It seems as if she was trying to shine as bright as possible," said the -child, with fond pride, as he looked up into the great ball of white flame -above him. "Do you think she knows that there is a storm to-night, Jim, -and is trying to throw the light as far as ever it will go?" - -"I shouldn't wonder," answered Jim. "Her knows a power of things by this -time, her does;" but he spoke absently, as though his thoughts were far -away, and he kept moving across to one of the small windows which looked -out over the wild tossing sea, as though to make sure that there was no -indication of the presence of any vessel in distress on the horizon. Pat -grew nervous at the silence of the man, and the furious noises of the -raging storm without, and crept downstairs to his mother again. - -By this time it was getting very dark. The tide was rising--a high spring -tide--and the waves seemed to come thundering against the very walls of -the lighthouse itself, making them shake to their foundations. Pat often -looked anxiously into his father's face to know what he thought about it; -but he knew the tower was safe, and was only thinking of the perils of -others, like his wife. - -"It is going to be a fearful night," he said, as he rose from the -tea-table. "There will be no sleep for either of us to-night, wife. We -must both watch whilst the gale blows like this. I'll send Jim down now to -get a bite and sup, and then he can join me up aloft. You and the child -can go to bed when you will. Only leave us a good fire here, and something -hot to take if we get chilled and wet." - -"I shall not go to bed, Nat," answered Eileen. "I could not sleep, and I -shall keep my vigil for those poor souls who are in deadly peril to-night. -There be times when it seems heartless to lie down and sleep. If we were -in fearful danger ourselves, we should like to know that there were those -ashore praying for us, even though they knew not our names." - -Nat kissed his wife and child, and his weather-beaten face looked tender. - -"Well, well, my lass, please yourself, please yourself. It will make the -fireside brighter for a man to come to if you are there to-night." - -"Mother," said Pat, coming up and laying a small hand on her knee, "may I -stay with you? May I keep a vigil, too? I know I could not sleep in my bed -with all this noise of wind and waves. Please let me stop up too." - -"Very well, my child; until you grow sleepy you may. We will watch -together, and be ready to help the men, if help is needed. In such a -storm as this one never knows what will befall. We will be ready whatever -betide." - -Jim came down to his tea next, and Pat eagerly asked him whether he had -ever known such a storm before. He was surprised that Jim was not more -filled with wonder at it than he was; but supposed that he had grown used -to such tempests, as indeed was the case, for no winter ever went by -without some such storm as the present one. - -When mother and child were together again, Pat occupied himself for a -while in feeding and playing with his bird, who was a good deal disturbed -by his new surroundings, but was content to be coaxed and quieted by his -little master's hand and voice. By-and-by he retired to the back of the -cupboard where it was dark, and seemed to settle himself down for sleep. -By this time the tea-things had been washed up, and the room made bright -and tidy. There was little more to do that night, save to see that there -was food and something hot for the watchers at intervals, when they should -be able to come down for it; and at Pat's suggestion his mother got out -her needlework, whilst Pat brought out the big Bible from which his father -generally read a chapter aloud every day, and laying it on the table, -drew his high chair up to it, and began turning over the leaves to find -all the places where it told of the sea, and especially of any storms; -which passages he then read aloud to his mother, and they discussed them -afterwards together to the sound of the stormy voices from without, which -made a fitting accompaniment. - -As the night wore on the gale seemed rather to rise than fall. There were -times when the child's voice could not be heard for the wild shrieking -of the wind without. Now and again Pat would creep up the stairs to the -lamp house, and report to his mother, with an awed face, that the spray -was dashing right over the top of the tower. Sometimes one or other of -the men would come down to sit awhile by the fire, and refresh himself -with the good cheer Eileen had ready. Now and again Pat would doze off -into a little light sleep, leaning against his mother's knee. But he would -not hear of going to bed, and, indeed, there was no chance of continuous -sleep, even for those used to the sounds of the winds and waters; for it -was one continual battle without of raging strife, and Pat never slept -long without waking up with a start at some crash of water against the -wall, or some wilder shriek of the furious gale sweeping round the tower. - -But, hitherto, there had been no sight or sound of human peril or -distress. Each time that a watcher had come down, Eileen had anxiously -asked if he had seen any vessel in peril, or had heard any signals of -distress, and each time the answer had been that nothing of the kind had -been seen or heard. Eileen breathed a sigh of thankfulness each time the -report was made, and as the night wore away, and the storm did not seem to -be increasing, she began to try and coax Pat to be put to bed, for he was -growing very sleepy at last, and had kept his vigil very bravely and well. - -Her persuasion seemed just about to triumph over the child's reluctance -to own himself sleepy, when a new sound suddenly smote upon their ears, -causing Eileen's hand suddenly to fall to her side, whilst her face put -on a look of white dismay and terror. For a moment she stood as rigidly -as though she had been turned into stone, and Pat woke up wide in his -surprise, for he had not understood the sound he had heard, and could not -account for the change which had come over his mother. And then he heard -again the faint new sound--only a distant report--the sound as of a gun. - -"What is it, mother?" he asked in his perplexity. - -"God help them--that is the signal gun. That is a ship in distress! There -it is again! Oh, dear Lord Jesus, be with those poor souls in their hour -of peril, 'for vain is the help of man!'" - -Pat was wide awake now. His heart was beating fast and hard. Something -of his mother's awe had communicated itself to him; but inaction was -not possible in this time of excitement. He must be doing something, -and without another word or question he darted up the stairs to go and -find his father and Jim, and ask them what they knew about this ship in -distress. - -They were both at a look-out hole. His father had the telescope, and Jim -was shading his eyes with his hand, and gazing out into the night too -intently to be aware of the presence of the child. The moon was full, and -in spite of the wrack of clouds in the sky, the night was not wholly dark, -and from time to time a shaft of light would stream out upon one portion -of the sea or another, showing to the watchers something of the dismasted -vessel beating helplessly in the trough of the raging sea. - -"The Lord help her, for she cannot help herself!" exclaimed Nat, as he -handed the glass to Jim. "She's a fine vessel--a steamer; but her fires -are out--may be her screw is broken--and the mast is snapped clean in -half. It may be they will reach the lee of yon promontory before they -are beaten to pieces. That is what they are making for plainly, and the -vessel is well handled. But what can any helmsman do with such a crippled -log? There is another gun! Would God we could help them, poor souls. But -there is nothing we can do, and she is a good mile from the rocks, thank -Heaven! If she can but weather it out for another half-hour, and keep the -course she is making, she may get in safely yet. Or the life-boat may see -her, and take her passengers ashore. But 'tis a fearful thing to see her -labouring like that in such a sea. Every wave seems as though it would -swallow her up!" - -"Daddy, let me see," pleaded Pat, and Jim adjusted the telescope so that -the child could see the great disabled vessel lying rolling helplessly in -the trough of the angry water, driven along almost at the mercy of the -winds and waves, yet gallantly striving to keep such a course as should -give her her only chance of safety. Pat was not seaman enough to estimate -her chances of escape, and cried out every moment that she must sink. - -Jim was afraid rather she would be driven in and dashed upon the rocks; -but that she was under able management both men saw; and when Nat carried -the child down to his mother, and saw Eileen's white face and straining -eyes, he was able to kiss her, and place the boy in her arms, saying, -"Please God, they will weather it yet; but 'tis a fearful thing to see. -They have escaped being driven on this reef; and if they can get round the -next point, they may find shelter from the gale. Pray for them, my lass, -for it is all we may do. We will watch while you pray, and may be they -will be safe yet!" - -[Illustration] - - - - -[Illustration] - - - - -CHAPTER VI - -_JIM'S EXPLOIT_ - - -"It's a little boy! It's a little boy! Daddy! Oh, mother, look! look! I -see him quite plain! It's a little boy. Oh, save him! save him!" - -Pat's shrill little voice, sharpened by fear and pity, rang high through -the noise of wind and waves. The cold dawn was breaking over the Lone -Rock, and its four inmates were standing together at the base of the -lighthouse with their eyes eagerly fixed upon the vast sheet of heaving -and tossing water. The wind had abated its fury somewhat during the past -hours, but the sea was still raging like a wild thing round the sunken -reef. The tide, however, had fallen, and there was safe foothold for the -little group anxiously gathered together. For some minutes they had all -been gazing in the same direction--had been looking towards an object -floating in the water, drifting nearer and nearer to them; and now the -child's shrill cry broke the silence, and spoke the words the men had not -dared to do, though for some moments they, too, had known what it was, -lashed to a floating spar, that was being drifted down upon the Lone Rock. - -"It's a little boy! It's a little boy!" cried Pat, in an agony of sorrow -and fear. "Oh, father! Oh, Jim! Will he be killed? Will he be killed? Oh, -don't let him be killed! Don't let the waves dash him on the rocks! Oh, -what can we do? What can we do?" - -Eileen covered her eyes with her hand as though to shut out the sight of -the thing that seemed as though it must happen. It would be too frightful -to see that little frame dashed in pieces before their eyes, even though -life might be already extinct. Pat was clinging to her dress in an agony. -Nat's voice shook as he made reply to his child-- - -"I'm afraid he's dead already, Pat. He may have been hours in the water -with the waves dashing over him. The life is soon beaten out of a strong -man like that. A little child could scarce live half-an-hour." - -"Oh, save him! save him!" cried the child, his voice rising almost to a -shriek. "Oh, I don't believe he's dead! See, his head is quite out of the -water--only when the waves wash over it. I don't believe he's dead. Oh, -don't let him be killed! Save him! save him!" - -Nat shook his head sadly. He gave an expressive glance at his wife, and -she gathered her own child in her arms and sank upon her knees, weeping -and mingling prayers and supplications with her tears. Nat stood perfectly -still and rigid, his gaze fixed upon the spar which carried the body of -the child--whether living or dead none could tell--towards those cruel -rocks which (if dashed upon them) would surely tear it in pieces before -their very eyes. It was a moment that none of those ever forgot who had -taken part in it. And only some minutes later did they observe that Jim -had moved, and was no longer with them. - -Pat was the first to note this. He raised his white, tear-stained face -from his mother's shoulder, and looking round quickly, asked with sudden -eagerness, as though some new idea had struck him-- - -"Where is Jim?" - -That made them all look round, and then they all saw that Jim had gone -within doors, and that he was now issuing forth with a life-belt round -him, to which was attached a long coil of strong rope. He had taken off -his coat, his boots, and leggings, and had nothing on but his shirt and -trousers, which last was rolled up to the knee. He looked a very strong, -muscular fellow as he stood rolling up his shirt sleeves, his face set in -lines of the most dogged and resolute determination. Pat gave a little -shriek, and rushed forward towards him. - -"Jim! Jim! what are you going to do?" - -Nat and Eileen had also come forward, and Nat laid his hand on his -assistant's shoulder-- - -"Thou art a brave fellow, Jim," he said (when Nat was moved in spirit he -had a way of resorting to thee and thou which he had heard as a child from -his Quaker mother), "but thou must not throw away thy life. It is certain -death to try and live in yon sea, and thou hast thy duties here to think -of. Thou must think of that, too, my good comrade." - -"I have thought of it," said Jim, "but yet I must go. I know what I am -doing. Yon spar will not be washed upon the reef; it will be carried just -beyond round the point where we stand. I shall spring off yonder into deep -water as it is swept by and seize it, and you will pull me in--for with -that burden in my arms I cannot swim. I have not lived all the years on -Lone Rock not to know what may and may not be done. It will not be certain -death----" He stopped suddenly short. He could not say that it might not -be death, and already he had spoken more freely than he had been known to -do to any one but the child. - -Pat rushed up to Jim, and flung his arms round his knees. His face was all -in a glow of loving admiration and enthusiasm. - -"Jim! Jim! Are you going to save the little boy? Oh, Jim, can you bring -him safe home to us? Oh, Jim, how brave and good you are! Oh, how I do -love you! If I were a man I would go with you, I would, indeed!" - -Then Jim did a very strange thing--strange at least for him--for he lifted -the child up in his arms and kissed him; and Jim had never kissed Pat in -his life before. When he held Pat thus he could speak in his ear words -that nobody could hear except the two themselves. - -"Pat," he said, and his voice was rather husky, "it seems just as though -the Lord Jesus had told me to trust myself to the waves--to come out to -Him, in a manner of speaking, and not to be afraid of the boisterous -waves or the wind. I don't expect to be able to walk on the water; but it -seems like as though He would be there to help me. I've been wanting to -find something to do for Him all these weeks. It seems like as though He -said to me just now, 'Go and do that, Jim. It's one of My lambs that is -in peril.' So I'm going. And if I don't come back alive, don't you fret, -little master. It's all right. You know what you said yourself you would -like to do if you had the chance when you were a man--just to lay down -your life--as He did." - -Pat's tears were running down his cheeks, but he could not try to stay Jim -after that, though he realised then that the peril of the rescue would be -great. The man put him gently down, and pushed him towards his mother, who -took him within her sheltering arms; and then he made his way with Nat -cautiously to the very edge of the rocks towards the edge of that great -basin--to leeward as it chanced to-night--of the lighthouse, where the -water was comparatively calm for a few yards, and where if he sprang in he -would find depth to swim without being immediately caught up and hurled -backwards by the fury of the sea. - -Nat saw that his strong and skilled comrade had just a chance of doing -what he meditated, and yet escaping with his own life, and he would not -seek to hold him back. Every seaman, at one time, or another, risks his -life for his fellow-men, and Nat had not been backward in deeds of bravery -in his own time. But as keeper of the lighthouse now, and with a wife and -child to think for, he could not have taken his life in his hand to-night -as Jim purposed to do. Still, he could aid and assist his comrade by his -skill and strength, and judicious management of the rope; and he knew -that Jim's life, when once he should have taken the plunge, would depend -entirely upon the strength and foresight and management which he should -show. He beckoned his wife to his side, for she was a strong woman, and -had grown up amongst scenes of this sort. Eileen understood him in a -moment, and came and stood beside him with her hand upon the ropes, ready -to second his every effort, and do her share in the work of rescue. Pat -stood beside his mother, his little face calm and quiet now, his eyes -fixed full upon Jim. There was something in the expression upon all those -faces that a painter would have loved to transfer to canvas--a look of -lofty courage, of self-renunciation and purpose. Not a word more was -spoken; the time for action had come, and all were nerving themselves for -it. - -Although all this takes time to tell, only a few minutes had passed since -Pat's first cry before they were all standing here at the edge of the -basin, where the boat in the summer months rode at anchor. The sea was -sweeping wildly past just outside this small basin, and the great waves -were bringing nearer with every heave the floating spar, upon which all -eyes were bent. Even Pat now understood exactly what Jim meant to do. It -would have been madness for him to try and stem the force of the waves--to -attempt to swim out against them. But he might launch himself into the -boiling sea, and swim with them just as they were carrying their burden -past the lighthouse, and then if he could once grasp it, the united -strength of those upon the rocks might be sufficient to haul the double -burden back to shore. Nat had already made fast the end of the rope to a -great pinnacle of rock, which rose up like a gigantic needle at the edge -of the basin. But all knew that ropes had been known to break beneath the -strain which would come upon this one, that the strands might be cut where -it was tied to the rock; and there was just the possibility that those -on shore might be pulled into the boiling gulf before Jim and his burden -could be dragged ashore. Nat realised this possibility, and his face was -very set and grave; for he had the lighthouse to think for as well as his -wife and child; and he knew that many, many lives might depend upon that -sleepless light. The keeper of the lamp must not desert his post, come -what might. It would be a fearfully hard choice if it had to be made; but -Nat did his duty. If it came to be a question between Jim's life and that -of his own duty, Jim must go. To let himself be dragged into the vortex -would not save the life of his comrade, but it might cost the lives of -tens and even hundreds of fellow-men. Nat's face was set and stern as all -this flashed through his mind, but his resolution did not waver. - -"It's coming! it's coming!" cried Pat, breaking the strained silence -with a sudden cry, and he pointed with his little hand towards the dark -fleeting mass on the water, which was very near to them now. In the grey, -but steadily increasing, daylight they could see the face of the little -child--the damp hair floating round it, the expression calm and tranquil, -as though the little one was sleeping in his mother's arms. They could -see, too, that there was a great life-buoy about the child, so that it's -head had been kept well above the water. It was just possible that life -might be restored. Sailors have wonderful experiences of such returns to -life after long immersion in the water. Pat could not believe the little -boy was dead, and with breathless eagerness he watched Jim quietly slip -into the water, and strike out in strong vigorous strokes for the floating -spar. Eileen put her hands before her eyes for one moment at the plunge, -and then stood up calm and strong. - -"God help him! God be with him!" she murmured softly under her breath, and -Nat said "Amen" in deep steady tones. - -"Wife," he said, after a moment's pause, "remember that the lighthouse -is now thy charge and mine. That must be our first duty. We two are its -keepers now. God grant we have not to choose between it and yon brave -fellow; but if it be His will that it be so, we must remember our duty to -those who placed us here, and to those who sail on the sea, and look to be -guided by yon light." - -She understood him in a moment, and nipped his hand. - -"Pray God it come not to that," she said. "We are both very strong." - -And then they held their breath to watch the bold swimmer, who was already -beyond the shelter of the rocks, exposed to the full play of the sweeping -billows, rising and falling like a cork on the face of the mighty deep, -but with every strong stroke approaching more near to the object he had -started to seek. - -Nat was paying out the rope with a look of strained anxiety on his face. -Suppose it should not prove long enough! Coil after coil was payed out, -and still Jim had not quite come up with the floating spar. Would there be -enough? Heaven send he reach it soon! - -A shout from the child. Pat had clambered a little way above them to get a -better view. Now came a wild hurrah. - -"He's got him! He's got him! Oh, brave Jim! Strong Jim! Daddy, he's got -him. He's seized him fast. Pull him in! Pull him in quick! Oh, his head -keeps going under! He can't help himself now! He keeps his arms fast round -the little boy. He's doing something; I can't quite see what! Oh, I see -now.... He's cut the rope that ties him to the spar! I can see it floating -away by itself. But he's got the little boy! He's got him fast! Oh, daddy, -be quick! be quick! Don't let Jim drown! His head does go under so often! -Make haste and pull him out! Oh, do make haste! The waves are so big and -fierce, and wash over them so often. He always keeps the little boy top; -but he keeps going under himself so much. Oh, dear, brave Jim! How I do -love you. Oh, daddy, that wave! There was something floating just under -the water. It hit Jim; I'm sure it did! Oh, I hope it did not hurt him! -He keeps fast hold of the little boy. Oh, they are coming nearer! Do make -haste! Do make haste! Oh, I hope they will not both be dead! Oh, hold on -strong, Jim! Daddy will pull you in soon; but the sea is so strong! Oh, -how I wish the sea was not so cruel! I know now why mother said that it -would be a blessed thing when there was no more sea!" - -Pat was too excited not to keep talking all the time, though some of his -words were piped out in shrill tones to his parents below, and some were -said beneath his breath to himself. Below at the edge of the basin Nat and -Eileen were straining over their task, pulling in the rope hand over hand, -and using the pinnacle of rock as a lever to assist their efforts, their -faces set and pale, their muscles tense and quivering; for it was a hard -task--harder almost than their strength was equal to; for the rush of the -hungry water dragging their prey away was very great, and they dared not -relax their efforts for one moment. - -But Eileen's muscles seemed to be turned into steel, and as Nat said -afterwards, he could scarce believe it was not a strong man who stood at -his side. The mother instinct in her made her fight as if for life itself -for that unknown woman's child, whose life lay in the balance, as well as -for honest Jim, who had served her husband so faithfully all these months, -and had been such a friend to her own boy, too. - -"We shall do it yet, wife--thank the Lord!" spoke Nat at length, in -laboured gasps, as the strain upon the rope grew less. When once they -had drawn the lifeless burden out of the track of the sweeping waves, -and into the comparative tranquillity of the little bay, their task was -comparatively easy. Hand over hand the rope came in, bearing the strain -well, and showing no sign of rupture, until at last Nat leaned over the -edge of the basin, and grasped the child by his floating hair. - -Not the least difficult part of the business now was the raising of -the half-drowned pair--the rescuer and the rescued inextricably locked -together--out of the water and on to the safe shelter of the rocks above. -Jim was by this time as insensible as the boy he had risked his life to -draw ashore, though Nat was confident that he still lived, as he had not -been long enough in the water to be past restoring. But his bear-like -embrace of the child was hard to undo; and only when the pair lay side by -side upon the rocks did Nat's strong hands succeed in loosing that rigid -clasp. - -The moment the child was free, Eileen took the dripping form in her arms -and bore it indoors. She scarcely dared to hope that the little fellow -could be living. There was no means of knowing how long he had been in -the water, but it must have been a long while. However, she laid him on -her table, with a small cushion beneath his head, dried and chafed his -cold limbs, and applied a steady and gentle friction in the neighbourhood -of the heart. Presently she was almost certain she detected a faint -pulsation, and redoubled her efforts, disregarding Pat's entreaties that -she would bring the little boy to the fire because he must be so cold. - -[Illustration: "He seemed to have received no injury at all, and began to -swallow the warm milk."--_Page 120._] - -"Wait a bit, honey," she answered, still rubbing vigorously, and working -the little arms up and down in a way which perplexed Pat not a little. -"We must get the little heart to work before we warm the little body, -else the blood will run there and choke it, and it won't be able to beat -again. Set the heart going first, and then we'll wrap him in blankets by -the fire. That's what I have always been taught. And put the kettle right -on the fire, sonny, and get the bath out ready. I do believe--praise the -Lord!--that the darling is living still. If he is, and if he gets a bit -better, a hot bath will restore him quicker than anything. And get that -box of dried herbs and sea-weed from the cupboard. There are some rare -good things there for rubbing the skin with. I've seen wonderful cures -with them in my young days." - -Pat was intensely excited as he watched his mother's quick and clever -ministrations to the little boy, who already began to look different--less -like a child of marble, and more like one of flesh and blood. It seemed -very, very long to Pat before his mother looked up with kindling eyes -to say he was still alive; but Eileen herself had been surprised at the -quickness with which the little heart had begun to beat beneath her hands, -and decided in her own mind that the child could not have been very long -in the water before they saw him. - -Pat ran from the kitchen, where his mother's operations were carried -on, to the little room where Jim had been carried by Nat, and reported -to each worker the success of the other. Jim very soon began to breathe -again. He was not in the state the child had been, but he had evidently -received some blow which had injured him in some way Nat could not at once -determine. He awoke in great pain, and on trying to move himself became -again unconscious; and Nat could only apply hot flannels to the side where -the pain seemed to be worst, and get his wife, when she could spare the -time, to mix him some of her simples, which had the effect of sending him -off to sleep at last. - -The little boy's case was different altogether. He seemed to have received -no injury at all, but to be suffering simply from exposure and the length -of time he had been in the water. The bath of herbs and pungent roots -prepared by Eileen seemed to have a marvellous effect upon him, and he -began to swallow the warm milk in teaspoonfuls which she gave him from -time to time, each time with increased ease and eagerness. - -"He likes it, mother," cried Pat excitedly; "I'm sure he likes it. I do -wish he'd open his eyes and smile. Is he asleep, or what?" - -"I hope he'll be asleep soon," answered Eileen, as she dried him by the -fire, and prepared to lay him in her own well-warmed bed. "He's coming -round beautiful, and if he doesn't get a fever on it, which I'm in hopes -he won't after what I've done for him, he may wake up to know us in -another few hours. But he'll be best in bed now; and so would you, honey. -You've been up the whole night long, my little son. Shall mother put the -pretty little boy to bed first, and then little Pat?" - -It had not occurred to Pat before that he was tired; but now he found -that he could only just keep his eyes open, and that his limbs were quite -stiff from fatigue. So after seeing the little stranger boy put to bed, -he consented to be undressed and fed himself. "Just as if I were a baby -myself!" as he said sleepily; and his head had hardly touched the pillow -before he fell fast, fast asleep, and slept for more hours at a time than -he ever remembered to have done in all his life before. - - - - -[Illustration] - - - - -CHAPTER VII - -_THE LITTLE PRINCE_ - - -What was that noise? Pat sat up in bed to listen; and as he did so, -he began to wonder where he was, and what had happened; for he had an -impression that there was something strange in the way the light fell on -the wall, and in his mind there was a feeling that some great event had -taken place which he could not at that moment recall; and then, what _was_ -that noise in the living-room? It was for all the world like the sound -of a little child laughing and prattling; but how had any child come to -Lone Rock in the night?... And then all in a moment, like a flash, it -came back to Pat--all the events of the night of the storm, the dismasted -ship, the little boy lashed to the spar, Jim's heroic attempt to save -the child--everything that had occurred up to the time he had let his -mother put him to bed in broad daylight. It was daylight again now. He -knew by the place the sun had got to on the wall that it was not only day, -but afternoon. He thought for a moment that it was the afternoon of the -day on which he had gone to bed; but he soon found out that it was the -day following that one. He had slept for more than twenty-four hours, as -little folks will sometimes do when they have been through great fatigue -and excitement; and now he waked up as fresh as a lark, and full of eager -curiosity about the new inmate of the lighthouse. - -He slipped out of bed, and into his clothes as fast as possible, and then -stepped softly across the floor, and peeped into the next room. He wanted -to see the little stranger before he was himself seen. He wanted to have a -good look at him, and in this he was not disappointed. - -The living-room looked very neat and trim. All the disorder and mess -which had been brought in the previous day was cleared away. The table -was spread for a meal, and Eileen herself was sitting comfortably in her -rocking-chair, with a laughing little boy perched upon her knee, laughing -and crowing lustily at the movement of the chair. He was a great many -years younger than Pat--this little waif of the ocean--perhaps not more -than four years old. He had quantities of soft yellow hair, that floated -round his head like a cloud, all curly and pretty; and his skin was like -a peach in its soft bloom and pretty rich colour. He had big dark eyes -that seemed full of sunshine, and when he laughed his little teeth looked -like pearls. Pat thought he had never seen such a wonderful and lovely -little boy before. He himself was not handsome, though he had a dear -little shrewd intelligent face of his own, and a pair of pretty grey eyes -like his mother's. Indeed, Pat had never before troubled his head as to -whether people were pretty or the reverse; but the beauty of this child -struck him as something so wonderful, that he could not help noticing it, -and rejoicing in it. He had not thought about it in that strange night -when the little guest had been brought in, looking like a marble image on -a church monument. It was hard to believe that this could be the same -being; and yet, of course, it must be. He came slowly forward, almost -timidly, feeling as though he must apologise for his intrusion to this -fairy prince. - -His mother looked up, and greeted his appearance with a smile. - -"Well, honey, quite rested after your vigil? That is right. And if you -are up, will you mind the little boy whilst I get the tea? We have been -living a strange life these past two days, and I scarce know what to call -the meals; but father will like some tea when he comes down; and Jim, may -be, will take a cup, too. Poor fellow! I wish we could get a doctor to -him, but I'm afraid there'll be small chance of that for a week or more. -The sea will run so high after the storm, though the wind does seem to be -going down at last." - -For the moment Pat was too much engrossed with this wonderful little boy -to heed even what his mother said of Jim. He was standing on his own feet -now, where Eileen had set him, looking hard at Pat, as though wondering -who he was, and where he had come from. He was dressed in a little old -suit of Pat's clothes, which was many sizes too big for him, though -Pat had long outgrown them. Yet little figure of fun as he was in this -respect, nothing could destroy the look of dainty finish and beauty which -seemed to belong to him as by a natural inheritance, and after he had -indulged in a good long stare at Pat, a smile beamed all over his face, -and he remarked graciously-- - -"I'll play wis'oo, ickle boy. I likes to play nice dames." - -Pat was his slave in a moment, begging to be allowed to crawl round the -room with the little prince on his back; and as this form of entertainment -was mightily to the liking of the small guest, it was carried on -uninterruptedly till Nat came down from the lighthouse, and laughed aloud -to see the two children thus occupied. - -"What! is he turning a little tyrant already?" asked the father, as he -picked up the rider, and lifted him high in the air, laughing and shouting -in glee at this sudden change in the game. "So, Pat, my boy, you are awake -at last! We thought you had turned into one of the seven sleepers, whoever -they may be; and this young man, too, though he woke up the first, and -shows he has the making of a first-rate jack-tar in him. He's none the -worse for a wetting that would have made an end of any landlubber. He -must be cut out for a sailor--aren't you, my hearty?" - -The child laughed, and danced up and down in those strong arms, and pulled -Nat's beard, and shouted with glee. He was certainly none the worse, to -all appearance, for the narrow escape of his life. Eileen marvelled at -him, and her faith in her herbs and simples was tenfold increased. Perhaps -Nature has secrets which are better known to the humble than the learned, -for surely this unlettered woman, with her store of half-superstitious -lore, gleaned in her girlhood from old women who were learned in the -matter of Nature's cures, had achieved a result that many a medical man -would have envied her. She was proud and delighted at her own success, and -could hardly believe that any child could have gone through so much, and -yet be so well and hearty twenty-four hours later. - -"He was never born to be drowned--the little rogue--that's plain enough!" -laughed Nat, as he took his seat at table, and gave the child to his wife. -"And now let me have my tea as quick as you can, for there is double work -up aloft since poor Jim is laid by his heels." - -Pat stood beside his father, and waited on him with assiduity. - -"How is poor Jim, and what is the matter with him? May I take him his tea? -He will like it, I think, if I bring it." - -"I think he will, sonny. He speaks of thee more than of any other. I -scarce know what is the matter. It seems like as if he had broken a rib or -two, and they were pressing inwards, somehow. He can't move without pain, -and sometimes can scarce draw breath. But so long as he's lying still -and quiet he seems fairly comfortable like. We must get a doctor to him -as soon as ever we can. I've signalled ashore that we want help; but I'm -afeard it will be some days before any boat can come anigh us." - -Pat took the cup of tea and slice of buttered toast his mother had made, -and went carefully with it to Jim's little dark room, which was not far -away. - -Jim was lying propped up with pillows, and there was a curious whiteness -about his weather-beaten face, and a sunken look about his cheeks, which -made Pat realise in a moment that he must be very ill. His heavy eyes, -however, lightened at sight of the child, and he just moved his hand -along the counterpane in token of greeting. - -"I've brought you some tea, Jim," he said softly; "I'm going to stop -and give it you. I'm a good hand with sick folks. Mother always says so -when she's ill. You needn't move or talk if you don't want to. I'll do -everything for you. You've been a hero, you know, Jim; and now we must -take care of you till you're well. I wonder what it feels like to be a -hero? Do you feel different from what you did before that night?" - -Something like the ghost of a smile passed across the man's face, and -he made a slight sign of dissent. Pat saw that he could not talk much, -and he contented himself with giving him the tea, and coaxing him to try -and swallow just a morsel of the toast, talking to him softly the while, -and telling him how well and strong and beautiful the little boy was. -Jim listened with evident interest and pleasure, but speech was visibly -difficult, and the only connected words he spoke were whispered just at -the end before Pat went away and left him. - -"I want you to read.... Just a few verses ... about Peter ... walking -on the sea, ... and what the Lord said to him;" and Pat understood in a -moment, and got the Bible from the table, and quickly found the place. - -As he read the simple story, a happy and satisfied look passed over Jim's -face, and he closed his eyes as though he were asleep. Pat put the book -back, and as he did so he could not help noticing how many signs of wear -it showed, considering that it was new only a few months before; and there -were bits of paper tucked into so many different places. It was plain that -Jim had read it a great deal. Pat thought that it must have been that -which helped Jim to be a hero that stormy night. The child knew he had -risked his life to save the little boy, and he loved Jim with an admiring, -reverential love, quite different from his former affection. - -But since there could be no conversation, he need not linger here, and -he began to want his own tea, as well as the society of the beautiful -little boy. Stealing from Jim's darkened room he found his way back to -his mother, and there was his tea all ready for him, and the little boy -enjoying his own share mightily, perched on Eileen's knee, and chattering -away to her in a babbling fashion, which she seemed to understand better -than Pat did all at once. - -"Mother, what is his name? Can he tell us?" asked Pat eagerly; and the -question being put by Eileen to the child, was received by a gurgling baby -laugh, and an answer which the listening Pat barely understood. - -"He calls himself Prince Rupert, by what I can make out," she said, -turning with a smile to her own boy. "I've asked him again and again, for -I don't know whether that isn't a pet name, not his own----" - -"Oh, but, mother, why should it be? I'm sure he's a sort of little -prince--one can tell it by looking at him!" cried the delighted Pat. -"Prince Rupert! What a pretty name! Oh, mother, I have wanted so often to -see a real live prince. Mother, are any of the Queen's children called -Prince Rupert? Do you think he might be one of them?" - -Eileen smiled at the simple good faith with which Pat asked this question, -and also at the wonder she saw in the boy's eyes as they were turned -towards the little guest, who was busily engaged in trying to reach -everything upon the table, that he might better examine its properties. - -"No, dear; he's a deal too young to be our Queen's son, and there isn't a -Prince Rupert amongst them; but he's plainly some well-born little boy, -even if he isn't a real prince; and we must try and find out who his -parents are, and where he came from, so soon as a boat can come to us, -when the storm is over. Somebody must be mourning him for lost; unless, -indeed, those who belong to him have found a watery grave themselves. -One cannot guess how he came here, except that it must have been from -some vessel, either wrecked or in great peril. He has been washed -overboard--that's plain enough; but whether or not the ship went down, we -cannot tell. We shall have to try and learn; but he can tell us nothing, -bless him. He doesn't seem even to remember much about being on a ship. -It's as if the salt water had washed everything out of his pretty head." - -Pat's face was full of eager excitement and purpose. - -"Oh, mother!" he cried; "and if nobody comes for the little boy--if his -relations have been drowned in the ship--may we keep him? May I have him -for a brother? You know you've said sometimes you wished I had a brother -to play with. If nobody else wants Prince Rupert, may he stay here in the -lighthouse with me? I should be so very happy if I might have him always. -I would take care of him. He shouldn't be any trouble to you. Oh, mother, -do say yes! I do love him so very, very much!" - -Eileen was smiling at her little boy's request, but she did not give him -any direct answer. She set the child on his feet, and he promptly ran -across to Pat with a shout of glee; and as the pair scrambled to the floor -for a renewed romp together, she watched them a few minutes, and then -said-- - -"Poor little boy; he's too young to miss his mother yet, but I fear she -may be in a terrible state of fear for him if she be living, poor soul. We -must not think of ourselves, little son. We must think first of others. -We must send word ashore about the little boy, and the police will do all -they can to find out who he is. I can't but think he was washed off yon -great steamer that was labouring past us that stormy night; and both Jim -and your father think and hope that she weathered her way round the point, -and reached harbour safely. If that is so, we shall soon hear who little -Prince Rupert really is, and his parents or friends will send for him. -That will be best of all; for this would be a poor sort of a home for him -to be brought up in. He's plainly been used to something very different. -Princes don't live in places like this, my little son." - -"No, I suppose not," answered Pat wistfully, "but I would have tried to -make him so very happy!" - -"Well, make him as happy as you can whilst he is here. May be it will be -for a good spell yet. And never mind what happens afterwards. You will -always like to think you made his visit to the lighthouse a pleasant one." - -So Pat set himself with all his heart to the task of entertaining the -little prince thus wonderfully cast upon his hands. It was not difficult -to do this, for the wee boy was the merriest of little mortals, and took -an immense liking to Pat from the very first. Very soon Pat began to -understand his lisping prattle perfectly, and was delighted with his -sharp observation, and little airs of baby importance and mastery. It was -very plain that Prince Rupert had been used to plenty of attention and -petting. He demanded both as a natural right, and soon had the submissive -Pat completely under his yoke. Pat was to sit by him when he had his -bath, so that he could splash him all over with the water, crowing with -mischievous delight all the while. Pat was to come into the inner room, -and see him go to bed, and sit beside him and tell him a tale; and of -course Pat was enchanted to do this, and would have told him tales till -midnight, had not his little tyrant speedily gone off to sleep, holding -him fast by the hand. Pat never thought of taking his hand away. He -would have sat by the little bed all night sooner than disturb his small -majesty; but his mother came in and unclasped the chubby fingers, whilst -she tucked the little stranger warmly up in his cot; and then Pat found -that he was rather stiff and cramped, though he hardly knew then how to -tear himself from the side of his new playmate. - -"Isn't he beautiful, mother?" he whispered softly, as he stooped to kiss -the little rose-leaf face. "Oh, mother, it must have been Jesus who sent -Jim to fetch him out of the sea." - -"Yes, Pat, dear, I think it must have been. Dear, bonny little lamb--he's -one of the dear Lord's own little children." - -"Oh, yes, mother! and Jim told me before he went that it seemed just as if -the Lord had called him to go out into the sea--like as He told Peter to -come to Him, you know. Jim is very fond of that story. I read it to him -often. You know, mother, Jesus kept Peter from sinking in the sea, and I -think He must have been with Jim, too, for the waves were so very, very -strong. I thought he would never be able to reach him. But he did; and -then you and father pulled him safe to shore--but I don't think you could -have done it if Jesus hadn't been helping too." - -"I'm sure we could not," answered Eileen with dewy eyes, as she turned -away and took Pat's hand tenderly in hers. "I often think that the dear -Lord is walking over the sea on stormy nights, very near indeed to those -who are in peril, if they could but see Him there. And Pat, honey, did -you say that Jim felt that too? Did he think that he was doing it at the -bidding of the Lord Jesus?" - -"Yes, mother, I am sure he did. I can't remember just what he said, but it -was something very like that. I'm almost sure that Jim loves Jesus very -much now. He's always reading about Him in the Bible you bought for me to -give him. Why do you cry, mother? Aren't you glad that Jim is happier than -he was? because I am sure he is. I think it makes everybody happy to love -Jesus, and to like to know about Him, and think about Him." - -"Indeed it does, my little boy," answered Eileen, bending to kiss him, -"and it's thankful I am that poor Jim has come out of the darkness into -the light. Go to him, Pat, and see if he is asleep, or if he is wanting -anything. I must try and get the little boy's clothes mended to-night for -him. They were so drenched and stained I had to wash them out in rain -water, and get them well cleaned and dried. I must sit up till they are -ready for him to-morrow, for I can't bear to see him running about such -a little object as he is in your old things. His own mother would scarce -know him, I take it. Beautiful, soft, warm clothes his own are--too good -to be really hurt by their wetting. Run to Jim, dear, and see if you can -do anything for him, and then come back and read to me. Father will have -a long watch again to-night, and I shall sit up and take a spell with him -by-and-by. We must all put our shoulder to the wheel and help him till we -can get help here from shore." - -[Illustration] - - - - -[Illustration] - - - - -CHAPTER VIII - -_"POOR JIM!"_ - - -"And you were the little boy that was taken out of the water, and poor Jim -was the brave man who swam into the great big waves to save you!" - -Pat was the speaker, and the beautiful little boy the listener. They were -sitting together in the hot sunshine, just beneath the south wall of the -lighthouse, well sheltered from the wind; and the sun was shining with all -the brilliance that it sometimes can in early February on the south coast, -though the sea tumbled and foamed beneath the strong gale which still -blew steadily day by day, and cut off Lone Rock from the mainland. But -the weather began to show signs of modifying. The careful keeper of the -lighthouse had that day told his wife that he believed a few more days -would see the end of this bout of rough weather. The glass was beginning -to rise after its long period of depression, and this was the third day -on which the sun had shone out brightly and bravely, tempting the two -children out upon the rocks for several hours, in the brightest part of -the day. By this time the two boys were the best of friends. They were not -happy for a moment if separated. Pat took the lead in devising amusement -for his small guest, and was in one sense of the word the leading spirit, -yet it was the little prince who really ruled the pair, for his word was -law to his comrade, who could have sat and looked at him, or listened -to his merry prattle for hours. The little gentleman had a way with him -which had captivated every heart within the lighthouse. Nat and Eileen -were almost as much his slaves as Pat. He could twist any one of the three -round his chubby little fingers, and this was plainly no new art to him. -Those merry ways of his, half-coaxing, half-commanding, had plainly been -practised before. He was no novice in the art of getting what he wanted, -this beautiful little prince (as Pat firmly and fully believed him to -be); and it seemed to Eileen a pathetic thing that the little fellow -should thus be cast among strangers, and those of a rank in life so much -humbler than his own, without being able to explain to them who he was, -nor whence he had come, although in other ways he could prattle away fast -enough, and tell little stories, too, in his own peculiar fashion. - -Eileen had listened in vain for any illusions to his parents in his talk; -but the name of father or mother was never on his lips. Once, when she -asked him where mother was, he pointed vaguely out over the sea; but she -could not make out whether he meant anything by the gesture; and the only -relative he ever spoke of was "Auntie;" whilst he did not appear to be -pining after anybody, but was as merry as a lark from morning to night; -very different from what Pat would have been, even as a little child, if -suddenly robbed of all those whom he had learned to love. - -"I sometimes think the water has washed the memory of what went before -clean out of his head," Eileen had said to her husband, in some -disappointment at her failure to learn anything of the boy's history from -him. "It seems strange he should have forgotten everything, such a quick, -noticing little fellow as he is. He talks a little about a ship to Pat; -but never seems to remember the people who were with him. I can't make it -out. At his age, Pat would have been able to tell anybody where he lived, -and what his name was, and who his father and mother were. It puzzles me -altogether, that it does. And we want to send a message ashore when the -relief boat comes. I'd have liked to be able to say who the boy was." - -"Well, we'll say enough for his relations to know him by, if he's got -any living claim to him, poor little chap. I suppose the children of the -gentry, who always have a nurse beside them, don't learn to be as knowing -and independent as our little ones, who have to fend for themselves so -much sooner. Pat may be will find out something more sooner or later. He -chatters away to him like a young magpie. The child looks a deal better -since his little prince came. It's good for boys to be together. I'll not -grumble if his folks don't come for him in a hurry. Look at them now; why, -they are as happy as kings together--and a deal happier than many kings, -I take it, if all we hear of the ways of the world is true." - -The two boys were sitting in the hot sunshine in the lee of the -lighthouse, and the tame sea-gull was hopping about near to them, -sometimes diving into a pool after a dainty morsel that caught his eye, -sometimes flapping his wings, and uttering his harsh cries, which seemed -those of joy at seeing the sunshine again. Pat was evidently telling a -tale to the little one of more than usual interest. The little prince's -eyes were fixed upon his face with a look of wrapped absorption, his rosy -lips were parted, and his whole expression was one of deep and undivided -attention. He was in reality hearing the story of the little boy who had -been seen a few nights ago, just as it was growing to be dawn, floating -on the water on a broken spar; and of the brave man in the lighthouse, -who had swum out amongst the great waves to bring him in safe to shore; -and Prince Rupert had been more fascinated by this tale--told with all -the graphic power of which the youthful eye-witness was capable--than by -any other from Pat's store; and when at the close he was told that he -himself had been the little boy, and that it was Jim who had gone into -the boiling sea to fetch him out, he looked fairly bewildered at the idea, -and turning his dark eyes towards the lighthouse behind, he looked up and -down, and then asked-- - -"And where is poor Jim?--does he live here, too?" - -"Yes, he lives here," answered Pat. "But he got hurt that night. He has to -lie in bed. I go to see him every day. Poor Jim looks very sad and poorly. -Father says he won't be better till we can get a doctor to him." - -Little Rupert's eyes were wide with sympathy and interest. He was quite a -kind-hearted little fellow, though he had been taught to think first of -himself and his own wishes, as too many little children are, whether those -about them know it or not. - -"Did he get hurted coming into the water after me?" he asked, in a voice -that was quite soft and subdued with surprise and thought. - -"Yes, Prince Rupert, he did," answered Pat. "I don't quite know how it -was; but there was a big black thing floating in the water, too. I saw it, -and a great wave came and carried it right against Jim. I think it might -have hit you, perhaps, only Jim saw it coming, and turned over so that -it came against him instead, and a big wave broke all over him then, and -I couldn't see what happened. But I know he got hurt then, for after that -he couldn't help himself a bit; and father and mother could only pull you -both in, for Jim never let go of you. And it seemed like as if you were -both dead at first. But mother took care of you, and father took care of -Jim, and you both got better. But Jim has to lie in bed, and his side -hurts him dreadfully when he moves. But you can run about and play. I'm so -glad you weren't hurt, too. Do you remember being washed into the water?" - -But the child did not answer the question. He seemed to be watching the -gull at his queer play; but he was evidently thinking of something else, -for he turned presently to Pat, and said with a lip that quivered a -little-- - -"I don't like Jim to be hurted in getting me out. Where does Jim live?" - -"In there," answered Pat, indicating the lighthouse behind. "When he was -well, he helped father to take care of her--the big lamp, you know, that -you went to see last night. He can't help now, because he's ill. But when -he gets better he will again." - -"I'd like to go and see Jim," said the child, suddenly scrambling to his -feet. "I fink Jim must be a very good man. I'll go and tell him so." - -"Yes, do!" answered Pat eagerly. "I'm sure he would like it. I tell him -about you every day, Prince Rupert. He likes to hear about you, I know, -though he can't talk hardly at all. You must talk to him. He can't say -hardly anything himself. It hurts him so; and mother says he mustn't." - -"I'll talk," answered the little prince serenely. "I can talk very well, -if I like. I've heard people say so, though they don't always understand -when I do. Why didn't you take me to see Jim before?" - -"I don't know. I didn't think perhaps you'd care to come. You see, he -has only a poor little dark room, and you are a little prince." Pat's -loving admiration was betrayed in every word he spoke, and in the glance -of his smiling eyes. He thought Rupert looked prettier than ever with his -golden curls blowing about in the breeze, and his little face, with the -peach bloom tanned by the kisses of the sunbeams which had been caressing -it these past days. His own stylish little sailor suit had been neatly -mended, too, and had not suffered so very much by the long immersion in -salt water. The child had an air of refinement and sovereignty about him -of which Pat's sensitive Irish nature was keenly conscious. He felt he -could lay down his life for this princely child; and understood very well -now how it was that real kings and princes in history had got hundreds -and thousands of followers to go with them to victory or death. Sometimes -before, his mother's stories had puzzled him. He did not quite understand -how men had been so easily led to fight against fearful odds. But it was -no puzzle to him now. The spirit of hero-worship had entered into his -being, and had made many things plain that had perplexed him before. - -"If I am a prince, princes must be good," said the golden-haired child, -suddenly straightening himself out, and looking at Pat with a new -expression in his eyes. It was as if some sudden memory were coming back -to him--a memory of something or somebody almost forgotten hitherto. Pat -held his breath to watch and listen. "I know that's right. She said so. I -remember quite well. She said, 'If you are a prince, you must be a good -one,' and she kissed me, and took me in her arms. The sea was all shining -over there, just like it shines now. Was it here she said it, Pat?" - -Pat shook his head. He was almost as curious as his mother would have been -to know who the "she" was whose words the child has just quoted. - -But the flash of memory did not seem to go farther, and after a moment's -pause, Rupert went back to his former theme, speaking with his baby lisp, -yet in words quite intelligible to Pat. - -"Take me to see poor Jim. I'd like to see him. I'd like to tell him he's a -good man, and that I'm very much obliged to him for pulling me out of the -sea. I suppose I should have been drowned if he hadn't got me out in time; -shouldn't I, Pat?" - -"Yes, indeed you would; I thought you'd be drowned as it was. It seemed -such a long time before they could get you both out. Now I'll take you to -see poor Jim. I'm sure he'll be pleased, though perhaps he won't seem to -be. Jim is rather a funny man; but he's very nice when you know him. You -won't be frightened if he looks rather cross at you?" - -"Nobody looks cross at me, except nurse, when she's in a bad temper," -answered the child serenely. "And only babies and girls are frightened at -things. I wasn't frightened when the gull pecked me--you said so yourself." - -"No, you weren't, you were very brave," said Pat, in loyal admiration; -adding, after a moment's pause, "Now come with me. I'll take you to Jim; -but go quietly, in case he's asleep. Mother says he gets so little sleep -at night. We won't awake him if he should be asleep now. This is the way, -just up these little steep stairs. There are only four of them. Have you -never been here before?" and Pat laid his fingers on his lips, and pushed -open the door, and peeped cautiously in before he turned back to his -companion. - -"We can go in. He's not asleep. His eyes are open. It's rather dark, when -you first get in, but you'll see better when you've been in a little -while. Jim," he added, advancing into the bare little wedge-shaped room -which had been Jim's as long as he had been on Lone Rock, "Prince Rupert -wants to come and see you. I told him to-day about how you went into the -sea after him. He thinks it was very kind of you." - -"Lift me on the bed. I can't see him properly," spoke the second visitor -in imperious tones, and Pat hastened to obey. The next minute the -beautiful child and the rugged faced man were looking straight at each -other with mutual curiosity and interest; and after a few seconds spent in -this silent inspection, Rupert put out his tiny hand and laid it in Jim's. - -"I like you," he said deliberately. "I fink you're a very brave man; and -you're a very good one, too. I shall tell my papa about you. I fink he -will make you one of his soldiers, or servants, or somefing like that. He -will like you very much for coming into the water after me. He likes men -when they are brave. He is very brave himself. I shall tell him to take -you away from here, and let you be always with him." - -Pat listened breathlessly to these words. The little prince had never -before spoken in this manner at all. - -"Have you got a father?" he asked in eager accents; but Rupert looked at -him as though he scarcely understood the question. - -"Have you got a papa, little gentleman?" asked Jim, in his very low, faint -tones, so unlike the old strong gruff voice that used to rise above the -tumult of the winds and the waves. - -"_Torse_ I have," answered the child, almost indignantly. "I'll tell my -papa about you. He'll like you because you got yourself hurted instead -of me. My papa did that himself once. He got nearly killed, instead of -somebody else. Mamma told me about it her own self. And the Queen gave him -a cross for it. She showed it me. It wasn't so very pretty; but mamma said -papa liked it better than anything else he had. Perhaps when I'm a man, -I'll get one for myself; but mamma said they only gave them to very brave -men. P'raps they'll give one to you, Jim. You're very brave, you know. -When my papa comes home, I'll tell him about you. He'll come and see you -then. P'raps you'll have a cross, too." - -Jim smiled faintly, and stroked the small hand that lay in his palm, -rather as he might have stroked a delicate rose petal that had floated -to him from the sky. He could not talk; but it was a pleasure to lie and -look at this beautiful child; and Rupert became all at once wonderfully -communicative. He plainly took a strange and wayward liking to Jim, as -children will do sometimes to the most unlikely people. - -"I feel as though he belonged to me," he remarked later on in the living -room, as the mid-day meal was going forward. "You see, he got me out of -the water; and I fink my papa will take him for one of his soldiers, -because he's so brave. I'm to be a soldier when I grow up. Perhaps I'll -have Jim to be my orderly. Papa has an orderly, I know. I suppose he -keeps his things tidy for him. I fink I'll have Jim for mine when he gets -better. Why doesn't he get better quickly?" - -"Because we can't get a doctor to him yet, little gentleman." - -"My papa would send one if you'd ask him," said the child, in the same -rather magnificent way. "He can send anybody anywhere, I know. He can do -anything he likes. My papa is a very great man." - -"And where does he live, dear?" asked Eileen breathlessly, realising -for the first time that, though the words father and mother conveyed -no impression to the child's mind, he had a very decided notion about -his papa and mamma, although he had never spoken of them before to-day; -but the question was beyond the child's power of answering. He looked -perplexed for a moment, and then said-- - -"They're going home--we're all going home. They'll go home as soon as the -big ship gets to land. I suppose they've gone home already," and then -he looked about him with wide-open wondering eyes, filled with a vague -distress and perplexity; and glancing up into Eileen's face, he asked-- - -"Is this home? Is this where they are coming to, by-and-by?" - -"No, darling," answered Eileen quickly, the tears springing to her eyes -as she realised the possibility that the child's parents had found a -different home from the one they had talked about to their little boy. -"Papa and mamma stayed on the big ship; and if the big ship got safe into -port, they would go home when they landed; and we will find out where they -are, and you shall go to them. Don't cry, little prince. As soon as ever -a boat can come from shore we will find out all about it." - -"I don't want to cry," answered the child, whose wondering eyes were quite -dry. "I like being here. I like you, and Pat, and Jim, and the gull, and -everybody. I fink I'll stay here always. My papa and mamma can come and -live with us if they want to; and if they don't, I'll go and see them -sometimes. I don't live with them ever--only now and then. I'd like to be -a lighthouse keeper, with Jim to help me. I fink I'll live always with -you." - -"Oh, do, do, do!" cried Pat, clapping his hands, and running across to his -little prince, he folded him in his arms in a long embrace. "I should be -so unhappy if you went away. Now I am going to give Jim his dinner. Will -you come and help me?" - -"_Torse_ I will. I like Jim. I'll help you take care of him till he's -better;" and the pair went off together, carefully carrying Jim's light -repast, while Eileen looked up in perplexity at her husband, and said-- - -"What does the little fellow mean?--and why doesn't he seem to care more -for his parents? He has never cried for them, or seemed to miss them, and -yet he knows all about his papa and mamma, as he calls them. I cannot make -it out--no, that I can't--such a warm-hearted little fellow as he is, too." - -Nat shook his head slowly. The problem was beyond him also. - -"May be we'll find out some day. It isn't all fine folks that get the -love of their little ones. Perhaps they're too fine to notice him, and he -doesn't love them as our little one loves us. But plainly his father is -a soldier, and a bit of a grand one, too. I doubt there'll be no trouble -in making out who the youngster is, once we get ashore. But if he belongs -to them as have no love for him, it will be a hard matter to let him go, -though we'll have to do it, I suppose." - -Eileen sighed at the thought, but knew it would be inevitable. Yet as the -days passed by, the child endeared himself to them more and more by the -singular devotion he suddenly conceived for "poor Jim," as he invariably -called him. He was in and out of the little dark room morning, noon, and -night. He insisted on taking Pat's place on the bed at meal times, and -feeding the patient with his own tiny but capable hands. A singular bond -grew up between the rough man and the two children, one of whom he had -risked his life to save; and in this way the days slipped by, one after -another, until the sea went down, the waves ceased to dash themselves -against the reef; and Pat came tearing down from the gallery in wild -excitement one morning to announce to his mother the fact that the relief -boat was coming out to Lone Pock as fast as winds and waves could bring -her. - -[Illustration] - - - - -[Illustration] - - - - -CHAPTER IX - -_HELP FROM SHORE_ - - -The two little boys stood hand in hand on the rocks, waving their caps -and cheering as the boat came dashing through the foaming waves towards -the Lone Rock. The sea was still running high, but approach was possible -to those who well understood what they were about. A man stood upright in -the bow of the boat, boat-hook in hand, and every few moments he called -out some word of warning to those behind him. As the boat neared the -rock, the sail came down with a run, and the crew, taking to their oars, -rowed carefully and cautiously towards the basin where a boat could float -at ease, and where Nat stood, ready to render assistance when the craft -should come alongside. - -"Glad to see you well and hearty, mate," shouted the man in the bow, as -soon as he was within earshot. "We've been anxious about the Lone Rock -ever since you signalled for help. We were afeard some harm had befallen -you. What's wrong with you here?" - -"Jim's on the sick list," shouted Nat back, "can't stir hand or foot. Have -you brought a doctor with you, mates?" - -"Ay, ay, he's here sure enough, and other things too you may want if -you've a sick man with you. Is he too bad to be sent ashore? What's wrong -with him?" - -"The doctor must tell us that. My wife thinks it's broken ribs. I'll tell -you the tale when you get on shore. Steady there with the boat! Ease her -a bit and hold her back. There's a big drift running in just here. So -steady! Here she comes. Throw me the line, mate. Now she'll do. Keep her -steady and fend off from the rocks. So!" - -The boys, watching with eager eyes the advance of the boat, cheered aloud -when it was safely drawn up in the little creek. The man in the bow, who -was an old crony of Nat's, looked at the pair with an air of astonishment. - -"Why, Nat, you've never raised another in this time!" he exclaimed; "I -never knew you had more than little Pat over here. Where did the second -come from? He doesn't look much like a child of yours. He looks as if he's -come straight from fairyland, wherever that may be." - -"From the sea-fairies, then," answered Nat, with a smile, "for Jim got him -out of the water the night when the storm was at its worst. That's how he -came by the blow which has laid him by the heels. But the boy never seemed -a bit the worse after he came to. He's a wonderful saucy little fellow, -gentry-born, as one can see, and as hold as a little lion. Have you heard -aught ashore of a child gone overboard in the gale?" The men shook their -heads, looking with keen interest at the little golden-headed fellow -who was helping Nat to hold the boat, and looking as though everything -depended on himself! - -"Look alive, men!" he piped out in his high pitched voice. "Tumble out and -get ashore! We've been waiting for you ever such a lot of days! Lend a -hand, Pat, and hold her steady!" - -Laughing and admiring, the men sprang ashore, speaking kindly words -to Pat, whom most of them knew, and looking with keen interest at the -beautiful little boy, who continued to issue his baby commands in such -nautical language as he could command. - -"He's been afloat before now," said the men one to another. "He's picked -up that air from some bo'sun as keeps his men well in order. He's a rare -young game-cock, he is! Picked up out of the sea, was he, Nat? We must try -and find out where he comes from. Anything about him to say?" - -"No; and the spar he came on was not picked up either. That might have -told us something; but it was so heavy Jim cut the child loose before we -hauled them both in. There's a sort of a mark on some of his underclothes -which my wife takes to have been a D before it was well nigh washed out; -but it's hard to tell anything now, and all we can get from him is that -his name is Prince Rupert, and that his father is a soldier. He seems to -know very little about his parents, and the salt water perhaps washed most -things out of his head. He hasn't talked but very little of anything he -knew before; but he's a bold, merry little chap, and will make a fine -sailor one of these days. Doesn't know what fear means!" The men all -looked with interest at the little waif, who was busily engrossed with the -rope--making fast the boat, as he plainly believed--and ordering Pat about -in the most lordly way. His yellow curls were blowing about his rosy face; -his big dark eyes were alight with excitement and self-importance. No one -could fail to regard the little prince with admiration; and the sailors -laughed together, and told Nat he had done a good thing for himself in -befriending such a boy as that. - -"He comes of fine folks--any one can see that, and they must be real set -on such a smart little chap as him," said one, as they began to make -their way to the lighthouse, where Eileen stood in the doorway smiling a -welcome. "You won't be the loser by being good to him. He's a fine little -fellow, and no mistake!" - -"So he is," answered Nat, "but I don't want nothing for doing my duty by -him. It was Jim as risked his life to save him. If his folks want to do -something for him, I'll only think it right and proper, since I doubt if -the poor chap will ever be the same again. But I've done nothing, and I -want nothing. My wife's had all the bit of trouble he's been, and she'd -do the same for any child that breathed, be he never so poor." - -"Ay, that she would," answered more than one voice heartily. "She's a -real good one is Eileen;" and then there were pleasant greetings between -the bright-faced wife and mother and those who had come to assist the -prisoners upon the Lone Hock; whilst the young surgeon, whom the sailors -had brought with them, asked to be taken to his patient without more delay. - -The boys lingered down by the boat, for the little prince was fascinated -by it, and Pat had to show him everything, and explain the use of the -various parts. - -"We had boats," said Rupert, with his head a little on one side; "but they -were fastened up so high I could never see into them. I like this boat. Do -you fink we could get in and sail her off round and round the rock till -the men want her again?" - -But Pat negatived this bold suggestion, and Rupert was reluctantly borne -off indoors "to see how poor Jim was getting on," as Pat coaxingly put it, -for he was quite afraid the daring little fellow would really try to cast -the boat loose and let it drift away. Nat's knots would most likely prove -too much for him; but there was no knowing what his determination might -not achieve. - -The doctor and Eileen were with poor Jim, and the men sat round the table -partaking of the meal she had prepared for them, and hearing from Nat the -whole history of the storm, and the details of the rescue of the little -stranger, which was thought a very interesting piece of intelligence. -"We'll do all we can to find out who he is when we get ashore," said the -cockswain of the boat, "and we'll leave Robin behind to help you with the -lighthouse till something can be settled. You've had a hard time of it, -Nat, these last ten days--Jim laid up, and another little 'un on your -wife's hands." - -"My wife's a jewel," answered Nat, a smile beaming over his honest face. -"She's the sort of helpmate for a man like me. Never a word of complaint, -however hard the work, and she's always ready to take a watch and let -me get a good sleep. Then luckily there was nothing went wrong with the -light, and the days were clear and fine. It might have been a good bit -worse; not but what I'll be glad enough to have Robin's help for a spell. -I fear me it'll be many weeks before Jim is up to anything again." - -"Poor chap, I'm afeard he's a good bit hurt," said another, "but he seems -a bit quieter like now. I wonder whether the doctor will let him be took -ashore. He's a good bit of trouble to your wife here." - -"I san't let Jim be took away," remarked a small voice from about the -level of the table; "Jim's my pal. I likes him very much. I tell him -tales, and I make him better. I san't let anybody take him away till my -papa comes and makes him into a soldier, and then p'raps I'll go too, and -everybody here, and we'll all live together somewhere where there's just a -little more room. It isn't always just very con-wenient," with a gulp over -the long word, "to have water everywhere all round. I fink a garden is -better for some fings." - -"Did you have a garden where you came from, my little man?" said the -cockswain, lifting the child on to his knee amid a general laugh. - -"_Torse_ we did!" answered the child, looking up into the weather-beaten -face fearlessly, "a great big garden, with trees and fings, and I played -there every day. It was nice; but we hadn't got a sea-gull there, only -two dogs. I fink I like a sea-gull best. He makes such nice noises and he -dances, too. I fink I shall dig a great big ditch all round the garden, -and fill it with the sea, and put a lighthouse in the middle, and Pat and -his daddy and my Nan can live with me there; and the sea-gull, too, and -then we should have everything, and it would be quite con-wenient for -everybody." - -"Do you know the name of the house where you lived, my hearty?" asked the -man, with beaming face; but Rupert shook his head impatiently, and went -chattering on about how his future domain was to be arranged. - -"You can come sometimes in your big boat and see us, man," he remarked, -"and I'll show you how to sail it in our sea, for I don't expect you'll -know how to do it properly. I shall have a boat of my very own then: my -papa will give me one. And when I'm not a soldier I shall be a sailor, and -I'll teach you how to be one too." - -"Thank you, my little man, I'll be sure and come and learn of you," and -the child looked a little offended at the general laugh from the rest. - -"You needn't bring those men with you another time," he said, "I don't -fink they understand fings properly." - -At that moment the young surgeon reappeared with Eileen in his wake. She -looked grave and sorrowful, and went to the fire to take off the soup she -was preparing, whilst the men glanced up at the doctor, and asked what he -thought of his patient. - -"We heard him groaning a good bit at first, and Jim isn't one to cry out -for naught," said Rupert's friend; "I'm afraid he's a good bit hurt. What -do you make of him, sir? Can he be taken ashore?" - -"No, he must stay where he is. He could not stand any sort of move yet. He -has been badly hurt, and there is a great deal of inflammation about him. -He will be easier now that I have bandaged him up right, and his lungs -will have a chance of healing; but he has been left much too long without -medical aid. If I could have seen him at once, things would have been much -better. However, we will hope for the best. Any way, the worst of the pain -is over now, unless the inflammation spreads." - -"Have you hurted my Jim?" asked Rupert, doubling his little fists and -bristling up like a young turkey-cock. "If you have, I'll frash you. I -won't have my Jim hurted. He came into the water after me. Now I'm taking -care of him. You didn't ought to have gone and seen him without my leave!" -and he strode up to the doctor as though he meant to inflict condign -punishment upon him forthwith. - -But the young man understood children, and soon made friends with the -young autocrat, now ruling Lone Rock with a rod of iron. He soon got him -to talk of himself, and called up many reminiscences of his past life, -all of which he carefully noted. From his own better knowledge of the -way in which gently-born children lived, he succeeded in eliciting more -information from the boy than any of his other new friends had done. - -When the little fellow grew tired of talking at last, and went out with -Pat to play, the young man made some notes in his pocket book, and turning -to Eileen, said-- - -"Are you anxious to be rid of your young charge? I will take him home to -my mother if you like. I am sure she would give him shelter for a time, -till he can be traced. Is he not rather a burden to you here?" - -"Oh, no, sir, thank you kindly all the same; but unless it's wrong to say -so, we's far rather keep him here till his own relations come for him. -He's got that into our hearts that he almost seems like one of our own, -bless him; and though I know the life's rough, and not what he's been used -to, it hasn't seemed to hurt him." - -"Hurt him! I should think not!--do the little rogue all the good in the -world! There's nothing like roughing it a little to make a man of a boy -brought up in luxury. Lone Rock discipline will be good for him in more -ways than one. I was only thinking you would be rather full here with your -patient and this boy, as well as the extra man left to help your husband; -but you know best." - -"Oh, the little fellow takes no room. He shares Pat's bed, and the two -play together and help me with poor Jim, and I think they'd pine if they -were took from each other now. Thank you kindly all the same, sir. Did you -make out from the little boy who he was or where he came from?" - -"Not exactly, but I think it's plain that he's been separated from his -parents for some while, and that his father is either an officer in -the army, or else holds some important official position in India. The -child has been plainly made to understand that he is a very great man, -and lives in kingly state somewhere. I think I have found out enough to -help materially in identifying the boy when we set about to find out his -belongings. He appears to be an only child of wealthy parents; and there -will be inquiries after him along the coast, even if it is only for some -trace of the drowned body. He could not have been so very long in the -water before you got him, or he would have been more difficult to bring -to life. It has been a wonderful escape, look at it as you will; and I -hope that those to whom he belongs will do something for that brave fellow -who risked his life for him; for I greatly fear he has received an injury -which will disable him from active labour for the rest of his life. It is -difficult to tell so soon, but I have my fears that it will be so. I will -come over again in the course of a week and see him, if it is possible. -Meantime, you can only go on as you have been doing, and I hope, now the -bandaging has been done which was so much needed, that he will be easier. -I see you are a very good nurse, and I leave him in your hands with every -confidence." - -"I will do what I can for him, sir, I'm sure; for he is a brave man, and -he went to what might well have been his death without a thought for -himself. But it's a hard thing to be laid aside at his age, especially -since he has no friends to go to, and no relatives to help him. He's had a -very lonely life of it, and a hard one, has poor Jim. It seems as though -it was to be hard to the very end." - -"We will hope there are brighter days coming for him," answered the young -surgeon cheerfully; "I shall certainly make it known, if we succeed in -tracing this child, that Jim has received these injuries in saving him -from certain death. I cannot believe he will be allowed to suffer in -consequence--suffer any sort of want, I mean. Poor fellow, he has had -suffering enough of another kind, and may have more still, though I hope -what I have done will give him ease." - -And then the doctor went down to the boat where the crew were by this -time waiting for him. The children were there, too, and cheered lustily -as the boat put off into the big waves beyond the little creek. Rupert -had stoutly resisted the blandishments of the cockswain, and had quite -declined to let himself be taken from "his Nan," as he had called Eileen -almost from the first. He was in charge of the lighthouse, he gravely -asserted, and he couldn't possibly go away unless his father came for him. -He was very busy every day, helping to keep the light burning, and taking -care of Jim. He was far too important a person to be spared, and he flatly -refused to be taken away by anybody. - -"Now we'll come and tell Jim all about it," he said, as soon as the boat -had grown small and insignificant in the distance; and as Jim was looking -rather better by that time, he was pleased for Rupert to climb upon the -bed and tell him all that had been said and done. - -"They wanted to take you away, but I wouldn't allow it," said the little -autocrat; "I said you'd like better to stay here, and that I'd frash -anybody who took you away. I san't let you go to anybody except my -papa, and if he takes you we'll all go and have a lighthouse of our own -somewhere else, where there isn't so much water. I fink it's a pity to -put them in the middle of the sea; they'd be more con-wenient in a garden -where we could get at them more easily. We'll have our lighthouse in a -garden when we go away from here." - -Then Pat stole in with his soft step, and Jim looked at the Bible that lay -beside him, and Pat took it and read a story, and explained it to Rupert -as he was used to do now. The little boy liked this wind up of the day -almost as much as Jim, and was always very attentive. - -"I'll say my prayers to Jim to-night," he remarked suddenly, when the -reading had concluded, "because I fink he's a very good man. I want him to -get quite better, so we'll ask Jesus if He won't make him. I fink He must -love poor Jim very much!" - -[Illustration] - - - - -[Illustration] - - - - -CHAPTER X - -_A WONDERFUL DAY_ - - -The two little boys were up in the gallery. Nat was burnishing the -reflectors and overlooking the great She, whose wonderful individuality -was taking a strong hold upon the imagination of both the children. Rupert -knew almost all Pat's stories about the wonderful creature who slept all -the day, but waked up to keep watch all the night, and he was never tired -of watching her cleaned and fed; but the process lasted longer some days -than others, and they would vary the morning's work by going out upon the -sunny gallery, and calling out to the men at work within what vessels were -in sight, and where they seemed to be going. And whilst thus occupied, -Rupert would generally demand that Pat should tell him some of Jim's -many stories, many of which they would try to enact between them, making -believe that the gallery was the deck of a ship, and that they were the -officers in charge. Pat's vivid imagination, inherited from his mother, -made this kind of make-believe easy and entrancing to him, and Rupert -delighted in it, and in flourishing about and being the lord and master -of everything and everybody. He was growing so brown and sturdy that it -was a treat to look at him, and Pat had increased in health and strength -visibly since he had had a little playmate to romp with. Before that he -had been inclined to spend rather too much time in sitting and thinking. -The sea and the rocks and the sky gave him many strange ideas; and there -was Jim, too, who wanted so often to know things that took a great deal of -puzzling out. Pat had liked all the thinking, being of a cogitative turn, -but it was better for him to run about and shout and play more, and to sit -and ponder rather less. The parents looked in wonder at him sometimes, -remembering how all last winter he had seemed wasting away, and had fallen -into a state from which it seemed as though nothing but a miracle could -lift him. They could not be thankful enough for the wonderful change. The -dreamy wistfulness which had lingered so long in his eyes, was changing -now to something more boyish and healthy. He did not look as though he -were always walking on the border-land of the unseen world. The romps and -merry games with his little companion were fast making a boy of him again, -and Nat looked with hearty satisfaction at the change. - -A merry rosy pair they were up aloft to-day, and their shouts of glee rang -cheerily over the dancing water. Eileen now and again heard them as she -sat at her needle below, and she would smile and glance upwards, as though -to try and see what the urchins were about. To-day was a glad one at the -lighthouse, for Jim had taken a decided turn for the better. Now that the -broken ribs were properly set and in place, and no longer pressing upon -the organs they had injured, he was relieved of the worst of the pain. He -had been able to sleep and eat better, and to-day he felt so strong that -he had coaxed Nat and Eileen to let him get up and sit beside the fire -in the living room, well wrapped up in blankets, and with plenty of rugs -about him. The doctor had said he might do this if he felt well enough, -as a change of posture might be a relief. The children had watched the -move with great interest; but had been sent upstairs after a while to let -Jim rest and be quiet. The mother had told Pat to go and look out whether -any boat from shore might not be coming to the rock. It was a fine day, -and the week had expired which was to bring the doctor for another visit. -He might come any day now; and the children were delighted to go up aloft -and play the game of "look-out man," as they called it. - -There were a good many fishing boats out in the bay, and Rupert had been -certain that every one of them was coming to Lone Rock, till at last he -had grown weary of watching, had declared that nobody was coming to-day, -and had suggested another game at which they had played some time. When, -however, they were tired of this, Pat had gone to the rail to look over, -and now he called to Rupert with some excitement. - -"Come and look! Come and look!" he called out, "I do believe that boat is -coming here! Look how she skims along! What a pretty one she is! How white -her sail is! And doesn't she go fast! I don't know that boat, Prince -Rupert. I don't think she belongs in the bay. Yet she looks just as if -she was coming here. Shall I call father and ask him what he thinks? She -doesn't turn or tack. She comes straight, straight on. Oh, I do hope she -is coming! Perhaps she has got something for you on board." - -"Perhaps it is my papa come for me," said Rupert, not looking as though he -knew exactly whether he relished this thought or not, "but I'm not sure -that I'll go away with him if it is. I like being here. I like playing -lighthouse games. I didn't have anybody to play with me before. I don't -much fink I will go with him if he comes. I fink I'll belong to you're -father and mother. I like them very much." - -Pat, not quite knowing how to reply, and greatly moved in spirit in case -this pretty white-sailed boat should be coming to rob them of their -darling, hastily called his father, who came out into the bright sunshine, -and shaded his eyes with his hand. - -"It looks as though she were making for Lone Rock," he said, "and it's -no boat from our bay, Pat; it's a better built and better-rigged craft -than we often see in these parts. It's a yacht's boat by the look of -her, and a tidy little craft she is. Well, well, we shall soon know; but -she's heading for Lone Rock as sure as fate; and it's not the coast-guard -inspection, neither. That boat belongs to some gentleman, I'll be bound," -and the man's eyes turned towards the little fellow beside him with a -look that Pat understood in a moment. His eyes filled with tears, and for -a moment everything swam in a golden haze. They were coming to take away -his little prince, the darling little boy who had become the first object -in his life. However should he bear to let him go? It did not do to think -about it. If he thought, he would surely cry, and that would be a pity, -for perhaps Rupert would cry too, and it would never do for his parents to -find him in tears, they would think he had been badly treated, and take -him away as quick as thought. No, he must put a brave face on, and try to -make the best of it. Perhaps Prince Rupert would decide not to go, and -Pat could hardly believe that his word would not be law if he once boldly -asserted his determination. - -"Shall we go down and watch her come in, and tell her how to make the -creek?" he asked of the child, and Rupert assented gladly. - -Nat, too, descended the winding steps with the two children, and as he -passed out he said to his wife-- - -"I believe the little fellow's friends are coming for him, wifie. There's -a boat on its way that doesn't belong to our parts. Make the place as -bright as you can, and set some food on the table. I'll make them welcome -to come in if they have a mind. May be they'll like to see the place as -their little boy has lived in these last weeks." - -Eileen's kitchen was always neat and trim, and she soon whisked out a -bright table-cover, and a few bits of ornaments, to smarten up the place, -as she did for Sundays and holidays, or when summer guests were expected. -Jim still sat by the fire dozing, and scarcely alive to what was passing; -but it was out of the question to think of moving him again so soon. There -he was and there he must remain; but she cast a quick eye all over her -small domain, and saw that everything else was in order; and then she -went out to see what was happening outside. - -The children were standing below on the rocks, for the tide was ebbing, -and nearly low. The sun caught the yellow curls of the little prince, -and made them shine like gold. He was visibly excited, and kept hopping -from one foot to another, whilst Pat held his hand in a close, protecting -clasp, and kept him from slipping in his excitement, and falling amongst -the wet sea-weed. - -Nearer and nearer came the pretty boat, skimming its way through the water -like a white-winged sea-bird. It was manned by sailors in uniform; plainly -it was what Nat had said, the boat from some gentleman's yacht. "That's -our boat, I do believe!" cried little Rupert, as it drew near. "Our men -wear tings like that on their heads. I fink papa must have sent them to -fetch me!" - -[Illustration: "'That's our boat, I do believe,' cried Rupert."--_Page -180._] - -Pat's heart beat so fast he did not know how to reply; but there was -no need for him to say anything; for just at that moment the sail came -fluttering down; they saw in the stern of the boat a lady and gentleman, -sitting together, looking eagerly ahead; and the next moment a cry went -up that awoke an answering thrill in Eileen's heart, and made the tears -spring suddenly to Pat's eyes--the cry of a woman's voice-- - -"It is! It is! Rupert! Rupert! My own little boy!" - -Rupert started at the sound of that call, looked hard at the boat, and -then waved his little hand joyously. - -"Mamma! Mamma!" he cried, and pulling Pat by the sleeve, he added, in -a tone of pleasurable excitement, "That lady is my mamma, Pat, and the -gentleman is my papa, and those are his sailors. I should have liked him -to bring his soldiers better; but perhaps he has them on shore waiting." -Pat looked as one in a dream. He could not understand it--the child's -calmness in the recognition which should have filled him with ecstasy, and -the evident deep emotion of the mother. Hardly had the boat touched the -rock before the pretty young lady, with the sweet, sad face, had sprung -out, catching at Nat's outstretched hand, and in another moment she had -come flying towards them, and sinking on her knees upon the wet sea-weed, -she took the little one in her arms in a clasp so close that it seemed -as though she would never let him go; and Pat knew that the tears were -raining down her face, and that the reason why she did not speak was that -she could not for overmastering emotion. - -When he looked up it was to find a tall, stalwart, bronzed man standing -beside them, who put his hand upon Pat's head, and said kindly-- - -"Well, my little man, and have you been helping to take care of our little -boy for us all these days?" and Pat crimsoned to his very ears with -shyness and pleasure. - -"We are all so very, very fond of him, sir," answered the boy -shamefacedly. "Are you going to take him away from us?" - -He could not help asking the wistful question, and as he did so he -raised his face and met the glance of a pair of very kindly, though very -keen eyes fixed upon him. The question seemed half to amuse and half to -surprise the gentleman, who hesitated a moment before he said-- - -"Don't you think that is what is our business to do, since he belongs to -us, eh, little man?" - -"I--I suppose so, sir," answered Pat sorrowfully, "only we shall so miss -him when he is gone!" - -"Well, well, we will see, we will see," said the gentleman kindly, and -then he stooped over the child, and said in a voice which shook just a -very little in spite of the playful ring in it-- - -"Well, Rupert, my little boy, haven't you got one word or look for -papa?--or have you forgotten him altogether?" - -"I haven't forgot--_torse_ I haven't--but mamma frottles me so!" answered -the little fellow, who was by this time trying to wriggle himself free -from the embrace of his agitated mother, which had become too close for -comfort. He seemed better pleased when his father took him up in his -strong arms, and he laughed and kicked with pleasure, as he did when Nat -took and tossed him high in the air. - -The lady rose from her knees, wiping from her eyes the tears which still -seemed inclined to start, and putting out her soft hand to Pat, she said -very gently and sweetly-- - -"And so you are the little boy who has been playing the part of brother -to our dear little Rupert. Have you got a kiss to spare for me, my little -man?" - -And Pat felt hot all over with surprise and pleasure, as the gentle, -beautiful lady bent her head and kissed him, and he hardly dared to kiss -her back, lest it should be taking a liberty; but he remembered that -queens had their hands kissed when they sat in state, and so he raised the -white hand that held his to his lips, and kissed it reverently. - -"Shall I take you to my mother, madam?" he asked. "She has taken care of -Prince Rupert. I only played with him and helped her." - -"Prince Rupert!" repeated the lady, smiling. "Who taught you to call him -that?" - -"He said Rupert was his name," answered Pat, looking up, "and we all know -he must be a little prince--he looks so like one." - -The lady smiled again, her tears were drying now. Eileen had come forward -by this time, and had heard the last words. The lady stepped forward, and -held out her hands to the lighthouse-keeper's wife. - -"I have heard of your goodness to my boy," she said, in a quivering voice, -"how can I thank you for it?" - -"I do not want any thanks, my lady," answered Eileen, with her soft shy -pride. "I would have done the same for any blessed baby cast up on our -shores; and the darling has won his way to all our hearts--and it's a real -prince of princes that he is--the bonny boy!" - -"No, no--not a prince at all--only a very spoiled little boy, I am -afraid," said the mother, with something between a sob and a laugh. "A -little boy who badly wants his father and mother's care and training. But -we had to leave him with my sisters when we were sent out to India in -haste two years ago; and we have been there ever since. He was brought -out to meet us as we came home; he came in my husband's yacht, which met -us at Malta, and we were to come home to England in her. The child had -hardly more than learned to know us well before that fearful night, when -we thought we must go to the bottom before we reached port. Oh, how can -I tell you the agony we suffered when we heard that the mast to which -the child had been lashed for protection had been snapped clean off, and -had gone overboard, and we running before the gale as our only chance, -and expecting almost moment by moment to be sucked beneath the cruel -waves! It only seemed then as though he had been the first. There was -water below, and above the waves swept the deck every moment. I was lashed -to another mast; but I was almost insensible from cold and exposure. I -think I saw the light of the lighthouse above us as we passed half a mile -off from it. I had just heard then that the child had gone, and nothing -seemed to matter then, whether we lived or died. And then somehow we got -round the headland, in the wake of a big steamer also in distress, and -they helped us, though in need of help themselves, and at last we both -weathered the storm together. But, oh! what days of misery those were when -we thought we had lost for ever in this world the little son we had just -received back after those long years of absence!" - -Tears of sympathy were in Eileen's eyes; but she began to understand many -things that had puzzled her before. - -"Oh, my lady, I am so thankful to hear you speak so. I was grieved that -the little boy spoke so little of you, and seemed to care so little -whether his own father and mother came for him or not. Glad was I for -sure that he was happy with us; but it didn't seem natural-like for him -never to pine a bit for his mother. It made me afraid (you'll forgive -me speaking so plain) that his parents had not cared for him as a child -should be cared for, and that went to my heart; but now----" - -"Ah, yes, you understand how it was--we had only had him with us for a -bare ten days--and part of that time he was sea-sick and fretful, and -could scarce be made to look at us. It was only the last few days that -he was his bonny bright self, learning to love us and know us. No wonder -he forgot us quickly after that fearful night. I cannot think how he -lived in those boiling waves. Oh, I must see the brave man who saved him! -The doctor who came over with us in our boat has told me how he injured -himself in plunging after our darling. Oh, you must tell us what we can do -for him--what we can do for you all--to show our gratitude. I did not know -how to believe it when Mr. Deering told us that our little boy was alive -and well, and very happy on Lone Rock in the care of the keeper of the -lighthouse!" - -"Bless him! He has been as happy as the day is long, and he and my Pat -have played like brothers, if you will pardon my boldness in saying so." - -"Nay, what is there to pardon; are they not brothers in the sight of our -God?" said the lady, with a sparkle of tears in her eyes. "If you only -knew what it was to me to hear how he had been cared for--my little boy, -whom we were mourning as dead! Ah, you must let us be friends after this," -she added, turning her sweet quivering face full on Eileen. "I cannot and -I will not talk of 'rewards' to those who have shown themselves the best -and truest of friends to my child, when only devotion such as he received -could have saved his precious life. It would be a wrong to you and to me; -but you must let us be your friends from this time forth. You must let us -see what may be best done for your happiness and his. _You_ saved his life -by your skill and promptitude when he was brought ashore, as much as the -brave sailor did who plunged into the waves to bring him out of the water. -You must never think that I could forget that." - -"Oh, my lady, I only did what any other mother would have done----" - -"Ah, but you did more than some _could_ have done, because you had skill -and knowledge beyond what many have. The doctor said so himself. But let -me see the sailor who saved my child. I must thank him, too. And he must -never suffer for his devotion in risking his life for our boy. You must -tell me what I can do for him. Mr. Deering says he fears he will never be -strong again." - -"Oh, I don't know, my lady. He is getting on; but he hasn't tried to do -aught but sit by the fire yet. But he's up to-day, and you can see him by -stepping indoors. May I just tell him you are here? But I do not know by -what name to call you?" - -"I am Lady St. John," was the answer. "My husband is Sir Arthur St. John, -who--but you will hardly know that. And Rupert is our only child. Let me -go and see the man who saved his life." - -Eileen was sadly afraid that Jim would be very rough and gruff when the -visitor came and stood beside him; but somehow--whether it was that -illness had softened him, or that the influence of the children had had -an effect upon him, or that the inherent sweetness of the lady took -effect in an unexpected manner--anyhow, he was wonderfully gentle in his -manner to both the strangers, and though he said almost nothing, his -rugged face looked smiling and peaceful, and there was no rough turning -away from the kindness that was proffered. Not much was said that first -visit; but a great many questions were asked both of the Careys and of -Jim. The visitors sat down to partake of the simple fare provided for -them, and whilst they ate they talked and asked questions. Eileen, intent -on hospitable cares, scarcely noted all that was passing, and Nat was too -straightforward and unsuspecting to see the drift of much that was said, -and spoke freely enough in reply to Sir Arthur's various inquiries as to -his past life, his qualifications, tastes, and pursuits. Pat's health was -also mentioned, for it had been for his sake that his father had ever -consented to become an inmate of Lone Rock Lighthouse. And whilst the -elders thus talked, Pat and Rupert sat close together, and sometimes Pat -had to brush away the tears from his eyes, for he knew the parents would -take their little boy home with them, and it was dreadful to him to think -of seeing his little prince no more. Rupert, too, was very much divided -in mind as to whether or not he would "let himself be took away;" but Pat -loyally told him in eager whispers that he must "do as his own mother -wished," and the tie of blood was beginning to assert itself when once the -little fellow had felt his parents' arms around him. - -But when the moment for parting came, and Lady St. John saw the tears in -the eyes of Eileen, and the manful struggles on Pat's part to keep back -his sobs, her own eyes looked very dewy, and she turned and spoke quickly -in a foreign tongue for several moments with her husband. Then turning to -the expectant group on the rocks, she said, smiling sweetly-- - -"You will see us all again very soon. I promise to bring Rupert back to -see you in about a week's time from this--at least if we get a fine day. -So cheer up, my brave little Pat, and do not cry, Mrs. Carey. You shall -see your nursling again very soon; and I hope we may have pleasant news -for you by that time." - -Then the lady stepped into the boat, Nat took the boy from his wife's arms -and handed him to his mother, half eager and half reluctant to go, Sir -Arthur followed, and the men pushed off, whilst Pat watched through a mist -of tears the disappearance of his fairy prince, who seemed for the moment -to have vanished out of his life for ever. - -[Illustration] - - - - -[Illustration] - - - - -CHAPTER XI - -_THE PROMISED VISIT_ - - -Pat lived in a chronic state of excited expectation after the departure of -little Rupert, counting the days till the week should be over, and then -spending almost all his time in waiting and watching for the white-sailed -boat which should bring his little prince back to him again. - -But for this hope to look forward to, the child would have felt very -keenly the absence of his playmate; for they all sadly missed the happy -laughter and baby prattle of the golden-haired child they had learned to -love. Jim seemed to miss him as much as anybody, and perhaps both he and -Pat were happiest when sitting over the fire together after dusk, and -talking of his beauty, his bold, masterful ways, and the quick, clever -things he had said and done. They never seemed tired of the subject, and -if Pat was not reading to Jim out of the book they both loved so well, -they were almost always talking of Rupert, wondering where he was, and -what he was doing, and whether he would come soon and see them and Lone -Rock again. - -Poor Jim only got on very slowly. The doctor who had come with Sir Arthur -and Lady St. John in their boat had told them it would be a long time -before he would be fit for any sort of work again, and Jim began to feel -as though his working days were over for ever. He had of late lost flesh -and muscle rather fast. He noticed how shrunken his arms began to look, -and Pat would sometimes tell him that his face was much thinner than it -used to be. His bronze was paling too, and now that Eileen kept his hair -neatly brushed and trimmed, and his bushy beard was reduced to order, he -certainly looked a very different creature from the rough, uncouth Jim of -past days. He used to feel a sheepish sort of pride when Pat would hold -up a little looking-glass before his face to show him "how handsome he -was getting!" But certainly the change both in the man's aspect and the -expression of his face was greatly in his favour; and Eileen found it -hard to remember that she had once thought him the most rugged specimen -of humanity that she had ever come across. But she was more and more -convinced that there was something seriously wrong with him, and that -he would never be able to resume the hard life of a seaman which he had -always led hitherto. What would become of the poor fellow she could not -bear to think, only that the recollection of Lady St. John's gentle look -and words would occur to her at intervals, and she felt sure that the lady -would not allow the brave rescuer of her child to come to want through his -act of devotion and bravery. - -What Jim thought about it all himself she did not know, until one night -when they chanced to be alone together whilst the other men were up aloft, -and Pat was sleeping soundly in his bed. The wind had been rather wild -again the last few nights, and it was blowing half-a-gale now. Eileen was -preparing something hot for the watchers when they should come down, and -Jim, who was not disposed to go to bed just yet, was sitting watching her. - -"It must seem a strange sort of thing to you, Jim," she said, smiling, "to -have naught to do with the lamp on nights like these. I wonder if you miss -going up to her (as Pat says) these nights? Do you think of her or dream -of her in your sleep?" - -"Now and again I do--dream I'm going up and up and up the stairs, and -can't never reach the top. That's the nights when my breathing's bad. It -comes to me like a dream of going on and on up the stairs, not able to -breathe, and the stairs never ending. I'm glad to wake then, and find -myself in bed. Sometimes I wonder whether I'll ever get up those stairs -again." - -Eileen's face was full of sympathy and quick comprehension. - -"Do you feel like that, Jim? Do you feel very bad?" - -"I don't know rightly how to say it; but I feel as though all the life and -spring had been took out of me. I don't seem to have no strength inside -nor out. That's all I feel. The pain don't trouble me much. But I've a -feeling sometimes that it could be pretty sharp if I was to try moving -about or lifting weights again. I don't know whether I shall ever get up -those stairs to have a look at her again. Sometimes I feel as if my last -look would be when the boat comes to take me away from the Lone Rock for -good and all." - -"Oh, Jim! But you're not going to leave us yet!" - -"I don't know, my lass. I don't know. But I'm only a useless log here, and -any day they may send and fetch me away. I sent a message by the doctor to -them on shore, saying as I wasn't able to do my work, and that I couldn't -look to stay on here. I've sort of expected to be took away ever since, -but they haven't come for me yet." - -"And where will you go, Jim, when they do take you ashore?" asked Eileen, -with wide-open, wondering eyes. "Have you got any friends as would give -you a bit of a home till you were fit for work again?" - -"Nay, I've got naught of that sort," answered the man quietly. "You see I -wasn't never one for making friends at the best of time, and the last ten -years I've been in prison, or else here on Lone Rock. I suppose they'll -take me into the 'Firmary till I'm a bit stronger and better; and if so -be as I'm never fit to earn my bread again, I suppose I shall get kept on -there the rest of my time." - -"Oh, Jim!" cried Eileen, her eyes full of tears, "you don't never mean -you'll have to spend the rest of your days in the workhouse!" - -He shook his head gently, and his face grew strangely soft and thoughtful. - -"Nay, lass, I don't know--I can't see not a step before me; but somehow -that don't trouble me. May be it's because I'm weak-like and sick; but the -thought about what's coming doesn't trouble me one bit. I've a feeling -somewhere that the Lord will see after me; and His way is sure to be the -best, and will lead straightest home. It seemed like as if He called me by -name that night, and I went out into the sea not knowing whether I'd sink -in the waves or not. He kept me from that, and brought me safe ashore, and -it seems as though I could leave everything else to Him now. I couldn't -see the way in the dark, with the waves all tumbling and washing over me; -but He could see, and so He can now. That's how I think about it; it's all -right as long as He knows." - -Eileen's tears dropped, but she turned her face away and dried them -quickly, and then her smile shone out like a sunbeam. - -"Well, if that's how you feel about it, you're a happy man, Jim, and I -needn't worrit myself about you as I have been doing. If we only leave the -future in the hands of the blessed Saviour, we never find that He gives us -cause to regret. He cares for us a deal better than we know how to care -for ourselves." - -"It's caring for ourselves as makes us sink in the waves, I'm thinking, -often," said Jim thoughtfully. "That was the way with Peter. It was all -right with him so long as he looked at the Lord and trusted. It was only -when he began to think about himself, and the danger he was in, that he -began to sink, and then so soon as he cried to the Lord he was saved, -and helped in the midst of his peril. It all comes to that all the Bible -through--do the best you can--do the duty that comes to you--and leave the -rest to Him. That was in my head all the while that night. I can't feel -afraid now. Whatever comes to be will be His doing." - -And after that Eileen ceased to fret herself over poor Jim's future. She -felt that he had within him that which would brighten his lot, and make -it a happy one, be it cast where it might. - -The seas ran too high for several days longer for there to be any hope of -a visit to Lone Rock, but towards the end of the month a calm came down on -the face of the sea, and Pat resumed his watch with the greatest eagerness -and interest. How he wished that Jim could climb up to the gallery and -share it with him, but Jim was quite unable to think of attempting such a -feat. So the little boy divided his time between the high look-out place -and the fireside where Jim passed his time; and Eileen spruced up her -kitchen, and made it as bright as hands could make it, to be ready day by -day for the arrival of the little prince on his promised visit. - -One day Pat saw a beautiful yacht steaming past the Lone Rock at half a -mile distance, and making for the bay beyond. He was always interested in -such a vessel, but he did not connect her appearance with the return of -his little prince, till he presently saw her casting anchor in the bay and -launching a boat from the side; and then in great excitement he got his -father to come with the telescope, and five minutes later was tearing down -the winding stairs at the risk of toppling down and breaking his neck in -his haste. - -"Mother! mother! Jim!--he's coming! They're coming! I saw them quite -plain. They came in a beautiful ship of their own, and now the boat is -coming to the rock. Oh, mother! they are all there--the king and the queen -and the little prince"--for so Pat was accustomed to speak of them, in -spite of his father's laughter and his mother's attempted explanations. -"Oh, Jim, do come down to the rocks and see them land! Prince Rupert will -be so pleased to see you there. Come, mother! Come, Jim!" - -There was no resisting him. Jim could hobble about a little with his -stick, and the three went out together into the bright sunshine, and stood -watching whilst the white-winged boat came skimming over the waves towards -them. Pat was wildly waving his cap, and shouting out his greetings long -before they could be heard; but as soon as the boat got within hail, -the little yellow-haired boy, who was in a suit of sailor white, and a -veritable picture of childish beauty, sprang up in his seat and began -waving his straw hat, and shouting at the very pitch of his voice, and -hardly had the boat touched the rocks before the two boys were in each -other's arms, hugging and kissing as though they never meant to let each -other go. The mothers stood looking on and smiling, Eileen half ashamed at -the "forwardness" of her child before the gentry, but Lady St. John, all -smiles and sweetness, as she turned to her, and said-- - -"My little Rupert has been crying out for Pat every day, and sometimes -will not be pacified without him. I am so glad for them to meet again. I -think you made him happier on Lone Rock than we have done at home." - -"Oh, my lady, don't say that!" said the woman, half pleased, half shamed, -as she led the way within, Rupert leaving Pat for a moment to give her a -warm hug, and then dashing at Jim to renew acquaintance with him. - -"We must manage for them to be friends still," said the sweet-voiced -lady as she entered Eileen's bright living-room, whilst the men and the -children remained outside. "It is not good for children to be brought up -without companionship, and Pat is such a dear, gentle, little fellow, -Rupert will learn nothing but good from him." - -"I hope he will learn no harm, my lady; but Pat is only a sailor's son, -and I hope he will not take liberties with the little gentleman. It was -being so much together those days that did it, but----" - -"Now, you must not speak as though I were not very glad my boy should make -a friend of your son," said Lady St. John, in her sweet way. "I know that -in after life their paths will lie widely asunder, but that is no reason -why as children they should not play together, and love each other. And it -will do my child good to learn, whilst he is still young, that the lives -of others are not cast in quite such pleasant places. It will give him -sympathy and comprehension as to the troubles of others, which it is right -that all should learn. And now, Eileen--if you will let me call you by -your pretty name----" - -"Please do, my lady. Most folks call me so. I know myself best by it." - -"Yes, and I have heard so much about you by that name that it comes first -to my lips. So Eileen, then, I want you to sit down and talk with me a -little about the future. Now that Pat's health is re-established, are you -still anxious to remain upon the lighthouse? Is Lone Rock the home you -would choose for yourself if you had the choice?" - -"Well, no, my lady, I can't say it is; though we have been very happy -through the best part of a year. It's a lonely life, and a rough one, and -there's no way of getting the boy taught, save what his father and I can -teach him ourselves, and we should like him to be better educated than -we were. But I'm afraid if we took him back where he came from, he would -droop and pine again; and the pay here is good and regular, and the work -not so very hard, save in rough weather. Still----" - -"Still, if anything should turn up that would give you a pleasant country -home, and advantages for Pat, without all the drawbacks of the lonely -lighthouse life, you would be willing to think about it?" - -"Why, yes, my lady," answered Eileen, smiling, "glad, and thankful, too. -But chances like that seldom come to us poor folks; and we must not -repine, for we have been very happy here." - -"I am sure you have," answered the lady, "but my husband and I want -you to be happy somewhere else instead. I will tell you in a few words -what has recently happened to us. The death of a relative has put us in -possession of a large property on the coast a few miles to the eastward -of Lone Rock. This has made my husband give up his position in the army, -and come home to live. The yacht which met us at Malta with our child is -another possession of his, and the sailing-master, who has been in charge -of her many years now, and has come in for an annuity from our relative, -is anxious to retire when his place is filled. My husband wants your -husband to take command of the yacht. He has made all due inquiries about -him, and is satisfied that he is qualified for the post. We shall not use -it a great deal, but we intend to keep it, as our means allow it, and we -are both fond of the sea. You would have a cottage on the estate to live -in--most likely one of the lodges--and your husband would be a great deal -ashore as well as a good deal afloat, and there is anchorage for the yacht -quite near to the Hall, which is on the coast, as I have said. Pat could -go to school, and would still have sea air about him, and a pleasant -country home to live in; and as for poor Jim, he is to receive a pension -so long as he is in any wise disabled, and we should be very glad to pay -you a fixed sum for boarding him out with you, as there is plenty of room -in the lodge, and he could help to open the gate even before he was able -to take any other employment, which we shall find for him when he gets -stronger, as I trust he may----" - -But Lady St. John stopped short there, for Eileen had suddenly thrown her -apron over her head, and was sobbing aloud. - -"You are not distressed, I hope?" began Lady St. John; but Eileen, by a -great effort, recovered herself, and looked up with brimming eyes that -were shining like stars through the mist of happy tears. - -"Oh, my lady, my lady! it seems too good to be true; sure they are tears -of joy I am shedding. It's myself that can hardly believe my own ears. I -don't know what to say, nor how to thank you. It's like a blessed dream -entirely--that's what it is, and my breath is fairly took away!" - -"Oh, if that is all, I do not mind," said the lady, smiling; "tears of -joy are soon dried. Well, Eileen, I believe my husband and yours are -talking it over outside now; and I hope by what you say that he will -be willing to entertain the offer. I have set my heart upon having you -and Pat at the lodge, and then my little Rupert will not quite lose his -playfellow. The children will be able to meet and enjoy a game of play -together sometimes, and, perhaps, as Pat grows up, if he takes kindly to -his father's life, he may live to take his place in time, and remain as -my boy's captain or mate, when his parents' sailing days are over. Rupert -must never forget what he owes to those who saved him from death that -fearful night. I think that that is a story which will become engraved -upon his heart, as it is engraved upon that of his mother." - -A sound of voices without warned the women that others were coming in. Nat -entered with a happy glance beaming from his eyes, and an expression of -mingled bewilderment and delight upon his face. - -"Have you heard the news, wife?" he asked; "I scarce know whether I am -standing on my head or my heels." - -"And you will take it, Nat?" asked the wife breathlessly, and Lady St. -John waited eagerly for the reply. - -"Take it? Ay, that I will, and be thankful to them who offer it, and to -the good God who watches over us. I don't like this rough life for you -and the little one. We've had a good winter this last year at Lone Rock, -and you've made home home to a man, even out here. But it's not the right -place for a woman and a bairn. I've been thinking so more and more as -I've heard sailors tell of some of the hardships that have been lived -through here. The boy has got his health back again, thank the Lord, and -we've been happy here, and I'd not have thrown it up in haste if nothing -else hadn't come in the way. And I'll not be in a hurry now to leave them -before they can get another man to suit. But we'll not turn our backs on -such a chance as has come in our path. I've told Sir Arthur that I thank -him most kindly for thinking of us all like this; and since we may take -poor Jim ashore with us, and make a home for him still--why, there's not -another word to be said. We'll be ready to go ashore as soon as they can -get a man to take charge of the Lone Rock. I can't say more than that." - -"And that is quite enough," answered Sir Arthur, smiling; "I would not -have you act unfairly by your employers, and my sailing-master will remain -on with me till you are free, and for a little while longer, to show you -the ways of the vessel. And now, that being all settled, we will think of -getting away from here; but it will not be long before we meet again, and -then our boys will not find that visiting each other is fraught with quite -so many difficulties." - -Rupert was a good deal displeased at being carried off so quickly, but -the parents knew that those on the rock would have too much to discuss to -wish their visitors to remain. The little autocrat was pacified by hearing -that Pat and Jim should come to see him at home quite soon, and whilst the -boat sailed away in the distance, Pat was told the wonderful news, whilst -Jim sat still on the rock which was his usual seat out of doors, and gazed -out over the sparkling water, his hands clasped together on the top of his -stick, and his chin resting upon them in meditative fashion. - -"Oh!" cried Pat, when he fully understood the whole matter; "isn't it -wonderful? Isn't it just like a story, mother? Oh, Jim! what do you think -about it?" - -"Why, it seems to me," answered the man quietly, "for all the world as -though the Lord had done it. It's just His way of helping us out of the -deep waters, and it's too good not to be true." - -[Illustration] - - - - -[Illustration] - - - - -CHAPTER XII - -_HAPPY DAYS_ - - -It was a lovely evening in August. The sun was setting in a blaze of -splendour over the sparkling sea. The smooth shaven lawns and majestic -sweep of park land around the fine old Tudor house were looking their -loveliest upon an evening like this, and down by the sea, just where -the creek ran up through a belt of woodland, and into the very garden -itself, a man and a boy were waiting beside a neat little boat, fitted -with cushions and other requisites of comfort, as if in expectation that -somebody from the great house behind the trees would shortly be coming -down for an evening row or sail. - -The man and the boy were both dressed in suits of sailor blue. Their caps -were of the same pattern, and had in gold letters round them the words, -"Prince Rupert." The same words were painted in gilt letters upon -the pretty boat; and the little boy--who was none other than Pat, only -grown wonderfully brown and healthy and strong-looking--sometimes glanced -at the name with a smile, and then up at Jim's smart head-gear. - -"This is better than Lone Rock, isn't it, Jim?" he said, breaking the -silence which had lasted some considerable time. "We didn't think last -summer ever to be in a place like this." - -"No, that we didn't," answered Jim, with the smile, which was now so -frequently seen, and which lightened his rugged face wonderfully. "It's -a better place than ever I dreamed of once; though I know now there's a -better one still waiting for us by-and-by." - -Jim's face lighted as he spoke with a look that Pat was used to seeing -there now, and which always filled him with a certain wonder and awe. Jim -had been up and about again for some little time now. He had the sole -charge of the three boats which were kept in the boathouse in the creek, -and used by the people in the big house whenever they wanted a sail or a -row. No more scrupulously clean and attentive boat-keeper had ever been -known, and all who came to the house noticed Jim, and had a kind word -for him. But it was already quite plain that the man would never be fit -for hard work again. He had received an injury on the night of the storm -which baffled the skill of all the clever doctors who had been called in -to see him. They could "patch him up" for a little while; they could give -him sufficient ease and strength to enable him to get about his light -daily tasks with comfort and pleasure. He could sail a boat in the bay -in fine weather, or gently scull the light little _Prince Rupert_ about -with its young master as passenger. But that was about all he was fit for, -and those who had heard the doctors' verdict knew that any winter he was -liable to be carried suddenly off through the injury to the lung, which -had so nearly caused his death whilst he lay in the lighthouse under the -care of Eileen. Jim knew this himself as well as any one, but the thought -gave him no trouble or anxiety. He was wonderfully happy and contented in -his life; yet he was as ready as ever to go forth over the unknown sea if -the Lord should hold out His hand and bid him come. - -"Do you miss _her_ very much?" asked Pat, after a pause, turning his eyes -towards the sea in the direction of the Lone Rock, which in very clear -weather could be distinguished from the garden wall. "You were fond of -her, and knew her better than the rest of us. Do you think she misses you -now that you're gone?" - -"Why, no, I hardly think she do," answered Jim, with a smile; "I'd got -into the way of thinking and speaking of her as though she were alive--it -seemed a bit of company when one was all alone. But when I wasn't alone -any more, why, she didn't seem to be more than a big lamp then. I always -look out for her of a night when the light shines over the sea, but I -don't seem to want to be over there no more. It's wonderful how one grows -to like the life one has to lead. I used to think I'd never be happy off -Lone Rock, and now----" - -"I know you're happy here, Jim," said Pat, with a quick upward glance of -loving admiration; "you always look so happy!" - -"I oughter to be ashamed of myself, if I wasn't," said Jim. "If I was a -prince I couldn't be better took care of, and me able to do so little. It -'ud make me ashamed, it would, if our lady wasn't the sweetest mistress -that ever drew breath. It does one good to see her face day by day. It's -like a bit of God's sunshine come down on earth--that's what it is." - -"Yes, I do love her, and little Prince Rupert too," answered Pat eagerly. -"Oh, Jim! what a thing it's been for us your swimming into the sea that -night and pulling him out. It hurt you a great deal, I know; but you're -glad you went, aren't you?" - -Jim's face wore a look that it often did when his thoughts were growing -beyond his powers of expression. It was some little time before he tried -to speak. - -"Yes, Pat, lad, I'm glad enough I went; but I'd have been just as glad, I -hope, if it hadn't brought none of these good things to us." - -"Do you mean you'd have been glad if you'd had to go to the workhouse as -mother was afraid once?" asked Pat, with wide-open eyes; and Jim looked at -the boy with a curious half-smile in his eyes. - -"Well, I suppose the Lord Jesus is with His folks in the workhouse as -well as anywhere else, Pat, and if so be as He's there, I can't think it -could be such a bad place. I know old folks make a deal of fuss against -going there, and may be it's right to struggle as long as one can to earn -a living oneself; nay, I'm sure it is. But if so be as He sends sickness, -and there's nothing else for it, why, I suppose He'll be there to take the -sting away, like as He does always. I don't think folks think quite enough -about that when they talk agin the workhouse. It's the way we get into of -thinking all about ourselves and scarce a bit about Him." - -"That's not your way, Jim," said Pat warmly; "I think you're always -thinking of Him." - -"I've got so much lost time to make up, you see, Pat," answered the man -gravely; "I'd never thought of Him, and of all He'd done for me, till you -brought it back to me again. I've lived the best part of my life without -Him. It's wonderful how He'll take the poor bit that's left, when all -one's best years were spent in forgetting and scorning Him." - -Pat looked grave and said nothing. The thought was rather beyond his -comprehension, but it always made him happy to think that he had helped -Jim back to the light, though he never quite knew what he had done. - -A joyful sound close at hand caused both the pair to start, and a little -figure in white darted forth round an angle of the path, and yellow-haired -Rupert stood before them, his face beaming with delight. - -"Good evening, Jim; good evening, Pat! I'm going to have a beautiful row -to-night, and mamma's come to see how well I row. See, there she comes -through the trees! Lift me in quick, Jim, and you come too, Pat, I want -her to see how well I do it. Let me have the sculls. I can do it like a -man now!" - -Jim was already in the boat, and helped the eager little boy in, where he -stood between his knees, with his hands upon the sculls, which Jim was -getting ready for use. Pat sprang after and took the tiller, pushing off -from shore just as the lady came round the angle of the path to nod to -them with sweet smiling glances. - -"Look, mamma! Look at me, mamma! I'm sculling!" shouted Rupert, his bright -face all in a glow of importance and pleasure, "I can scull as well as Jim -now, and I'll take you out sometimes like papa does, when I've got time. -But I like going with Pat and Jim best. It's like as if we were living -together in the lighthouse and had just gone out for a row." - -"Yes, darling," answered the mother, smiling and waving her hand. "Take -good care of Pat and Jim, because they took good care of you once. How are -you feeling to-day, Jim? and how is your mother, Pat?" - -"Nicely, thank you, my lady," they both answered in a breath, and the lady -waved her hand once more to the party before turning back towards the -house again. - -"She knows you are safe with me," remarked Rupert, slightly transposing -a phrase he frequently heard from his parents' lips, and then the boat -was headed towards the Lone Rock, and Rupert played the game all the time -that they were living there again. He and Jim and Pat had been across once -with Nat since their coming to live at the Lodge, and Rupert never forgot -that it had once been his temporary home, and made many plans about buying -it for his very own when he was a man, and going there to live with Pat. -Whenever he had little friends of his own to tea at home, he would always -assert his superiority over them by telling how he had once lived in a -lighthouse, which certainly none of the others had done. And the story of -his life there never failed to arouse a great interest and wonder. - -The child's father was waiting to take him when the boat neared shore -again, and he spoke kindly to Jim and Pat before leading his little son -home. - -As the latter put away the boat safe in the boathouse, and walked slowly -towards the pretty lodge together, they saw the light from the Lone -Rock streaming out over the darkening water, increasing every moment in -brightness. Pat looked lovingly at it. - -"I used to wonder as I lay in bed how she would look to people a long way -off. I didn't know she was quite so bright. I think they must be taking -good care of her, Jim." - -"Yes, I think so, she's bright enough of nights. I can just see her as I -lie awake in bed--through that gap in the trees. It makes me think about -the Lamp to our feet and the Light to our path." - -"Oh, yes," answered Pat quickly and eagerly, "that's what mother said too, -Jim, and she said something else as well; I wonder if I could remember -it. I think it was about you. I know it made me think of you directly she -said it." - -"About me?" questioned Jim absently, his eyes still on the light. - -They had paused now upon a little bit of rising ground to look over the -sea. A short distance to the right, a little bit farther up the hill, -twinkled the lights from a charming little lodge, within the rose-covered -walls of which Eileen was stepping to and fro setting out the supper, -whilst Nat smoked his pipe by the handful of fire, looking the picture -of contentment and well-being. Pat could see the lights from both his -past and present home as he stood beside Jim on the brow of the rising -ground, waiting till the man should have recovered breath to go on, for -going up hill always tried him a little, even though he went slowly. But -it was their habit to stand thus a few minutes looking out towards the -lighthouse, especially after dark, when the rays of the lamp could be -seen; and now Pat took up the word again and went on eagerly-- - -"Yes; mother was saying that when she looked out at night and saw the -light, and the great track it made in the water, it made her think about -some words in the Bible, where it says about the 'path of the just shining -more and more unto the perfect day.' And when she said it I thought of -you, Jim, and I said to mother, 'Isn't that what Jim's path does, mother?' -And she said, 'Yes, Pat, I think it is; because Jim seems to me to be -going on more and more to the perfect day than anybody I ever saw before.' -So it must be like you, Jim, for mother always knows." - -Jim made no response in words; but Pat saw him draw his hand softly -across his eyes. Presently he laid his hand upon the boy's shoulder, and -there was something in the touch that made Pat look suddenly up. He met a -glance of such affection and tenderness that for the moment he felt half -startled, and then Jim spoke in tones that faltered a little with the -deepness of his feeling. - -"You mustn't think too well of me, Pat; you don't know what I've been -through in the dark before the light came. I'm the last man in the world -as should be spoken of so. But I do know that my sins are washed away. -I do know that He's taken the burden off my back. He's led me into the -light now, and I think He'll keep me there to the end. But, Pat, it was -your little hand that first pointed the way. I can't see how I should ever -have found it if the Lord hadn't sent you to show it me. There's never a -night as I lie watching the light, and thinking of that other Light that -lighteth every man that cometh into the world, if so be as he'll turn his -eyes towards it, but that I think of those old days of black darkness, -when there wasn't a ray of light in my poor heart. And then I think of how -the light came, and how He sent it to me. For it must have been His doing -all the while that you came to Lone Rock, Pat, and taught me to know that -we were never alone if so be as we would take the Lord at His word, and go -to Him across the blackness and the darkness." - - - THE END. - - - - - * * * * * - - -Transcriber Note - -Illustrations were moved to prevent splitting paragraphs. Minor -typographical errors were corrected. Produced from images generously -made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries. 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