The inmates of the light-house were astir next morning very shortly after Captain Eph went on watch, because it was the desire of the keepers to start for the mainland at the earliest hour possible.

Uncle Zenas had insisted that they should leave as soon as breakfast had been eaten, declaring that he and Sidney could trim the lamp and clean the lens before the kitchen had been set to rights.

Therefore it was that the day had but just begun to break when the party was ready to set off, and Captain Eph said warningly to his second assistant when all were gathered at the cove, waiting for Mr. Peters to launch the dory:

"See to it, Uncle Zenas, that the light is shut off on the stroke of sunrise."

"I reckon I know enough to run this 'ere place one day, without any extry lessons from you," the cook said gruffly, and Captain Eph continued placidly, as if there had been no interruption:

"Remember that the lantern must be put in order before you get to work on the kitchen. It seems to me as if we'd been a little slack in our duties lately, an' I'm countin' on keepin' a stiffer hand over this 'ere crew from now on."

"If you're goin' ashore, be off, an' don't try to teach your grandmother how to suck eggs!" Uncle Zenas cried as if in anger. "Unless I'm a nat'ral born idjut, I know as much 'bout this 'ere light as you do, Ephraim Downs."

"I ain't sayin' anythin' agin that part of it, Uncle Zenas. We'll all allow you know enough; but what worries me is that you'll get the idee inter your head that it's more important to fix up the kitchen first, an' I want you to keep sharp in mind that the cookin' part don't cut any figger alongside of the light itself."

"Anybody would reckon you thought the cookin' part was all in all on this 'ere ledge, if they could hear you growlin' when the meals don't jest suit you," Uncle Zenas cried, and perhaps he would have said more but for the fact that Captain Nutter came forward to say good-bye, and thank him for the hospitality extended.

"Don't say a word about it," Captain Eph interrupted. "It's mighty little we've done at the best, an' no more'n one Christian man ought'er do for another. If we could have saved your whole crew, then there'd be somethin' to talk about."

Each of the shipwrecked men in turn wanted to give words to his gratitude, as was only natural, since, save for the exertions of the keeper and his first assistant they would not have been alive; but Mr. Peters was as much opposed to being thanked as was Captain Eph, and the men went on board the dory after silently shaking hands with Uncle Zenas and Sidney.

"Don't let Sammy linger 'round on shore any longer than is necessary!" the cook cried warningly. "He's been off so much lately that I'm afraid he'll get it inter his head it must be done reg'lar, whether he's got any business or not."

"I'll look after him all right, so you needn't worry, Uncle Zenas," the keeper cried cheerily, and then the dory was pushed off from the shore, the cook and Sidney watching her until she had rounded the ledge, heading a straight course for the shore.

"Now I reckon we'll go inter the lantern," Uncle Zenas said when it was no longer possible to distinguish the faces of those in the boat, owing to the dim light. "Cap'n Eph will keep his eyes on the light, an' if it shouldn't happen to die away at the very minute when the sun ought'er rise 'cordin' to his watch, the chances are he'd make all hands come back to straighten us out."

Nothing so serious as that took place, however, for the light was extinguished at the proper moment, and then the work of making it ready for another night was begun.

"I declare for it, Sonny, you're as handy with this job as if you'd been at it all your life!" Uncle Zenas exclaimed while Sidney was working. "You're doin' it a heap better'n Sammy ever can, even if he sticks on this ledge to the day of his death."

"That is because I've been trying hard to find out just how it should be done," Sidney said laughingly, but decidedly pleased by the words of praise. "You've all been so good to me, that I'd be a pretty poor kind of a boy if I didn't do my best at the little jobs that come my way."

"It may seem as if you was gettin' the best end of the trade, Sonny; but you're way off mistaken. We old shell-backs are the ones who's havin' all the fat, 'cause it brightens us up wonderfully to have you 'round."

Sidney was at a loss for a reply to this remark, and changed the subject of the conversation by asking Uncle Zenas of what service a certain cylinder of thin brass, which entirely encircled the chimney of the lamp, could be in the general arrangement of the light.

"I reckon you've noticed that this 'ere light seems to die away once in every forty seconds, eh?" the old man asked as he raised and lowered the cylinder. "Well, this cover of brass is what does it, an' the clock keeps it movin'. You see the clock is made fast to the brass cylinder, an' as the wheels go 'round it is raised till the whole of the flame is uncovered, an' then lowered till it's nearly shut out. The whole thing is simple enough, but it took a mighty clear-headed man to think it up. When a vessel comes off this coast, an' the cap'n sees Carys' Ledge light growin' dim an' then brightenin' up, he counts the number of seconds that go by from one bright flash to another, an' says to himself, says he: 'That 'ere is a forty-second flash, an' she's about so an' so off the coast.' Then he dives inter the cabin, hunts up his list of lights, sees which one answers to the description he's got in mind, an' says to himself, says he: 'That's Carys' Ledge, an' I'll make the course a leetle more southerly.' If that 'ere clock should happen to break down on account of not bein' properly cared for, we'd have to take turns grindin' a crank to keep the brass cylinder movin' up an' down 'cordin' to the rules an' regerlations, else there'd soon be another ship piled up on the rocks alongside the Nautilus."

By the time Uncle Zenas had come to an end of his explanation, the necessary work had been performed, and he said with a sigh of satisfaction as he began to descend the stairs:

"Now I reckon we can be gettin' at the serious part of the business! It allers makes me feel lonesome to know that the kitchen hasn't been set to rights, for that's the first place a visitor gets into when he comes to the light, an' he's liable to judge everything by what he sees there."

"There isn't any great need to bother your head about visitors," Sidney said with a laugh. "People don't come out to this ledge every day."

"True for you, Sonny; but s'posen the kitchen was lookin' like all possessed on that pertic'lar day? I keep it put to rights as much of the time as I can, an' then I don't stand any chance of bein' caught nappin'."

Then Uncle Zenas went to work with a will, positively refusing all offers of assistance from Sidney, and, finally, the lad went into the watch-room, where he read about lenses and the refraction of light until he despaired of ever thoroughly understanding the subjects.

At noon there were no signs of the keepers' return, but Uncle Zenas declared the dory would "heave in sight" within the next two hours, and proposed that they "have a bite to stay their stomachs," deferring a regular dinner until all the crew were together once more.

"I don't want even a bite now," Sidney said decidedly. "Do you suppose Captain Eph would be displeased if I carried the glasses into the watch-room?"

"Not a bit of it, Sonny. Use 'em wherever you please, an' I'm allowin,' if you keep a sharp lookout, you'll see the dory inside of half an hour."

Then Sidney climbed the narrow stairs with the glasses held carefully under his arm, and twenty minutes had not elapsed before he could see, far away in the distance, what looked like a toy boat manned by a miniature crew.

"They're coming, Uncle Zenas! They're coming!" he shouted, and the cook replied:

"I reckoned it was about time they'd be showin' up, an' have jest put on the potatoes. Dinner'll be ready when they get here."

Sidney watched through the glasses until he could distinguish the features of both the keepers, and as he gazed Captain Eph waved his hand to show that he had seen the little lad in the window of the tower.

Then Sidney ran down-stairs and out on the ledge, standing at the head of the narrow cove as the dory rounded the rocks, while Mr. Peters shouted:

"I'll tell you what it is, Sonny, we must have our motor boat in runnin' order before next spring, for pullin' a pair of oars when a man can jest as well sit still an' let a screw do the work is all nonsense. I've found a fellow who claims he can put your machinery in prime order for us, an', what's more, he's comin' out here to get it, when the wind hauls 'round to suit him."

By the time Mr. Peters had thus imparted his news, the dory's bow was on the ways, and Captain Eph had leaped ashore to take the lad in his arms as if they had been parted many days.

"Been lonesome, Sonny?" the keeper asked anxiously, and Sidney replied laughingly:

"No sir, though I was glad when you came in sight. Have you had a good time?"

"I was wishin' every minute that I'd staid at home an' let Uncle Zenas go; but I don't reckon it would have done any good if I'd coaxed him all night to take my place. He's kind'er shy 'bout knockin' 'round in a boat since he's growed so fat. We'll haul the dory up, an' then you shall see what I've brought in the way of an outfit."

Captain Eph had no more than ceased speaking before the cook called them to dinner, and in such a peremptory tone that the old keeper said hurriedly:

"I reckon we'd best put off seein' the things till after we've pacified Uncle Zenas by eatin' what he's been cookin'. It does beat all how nervous that old man gets if all hands ain't ready to sit down at the table the minute he says the word, an' 'twixt you an' me, he's growin' worse every year of his life."

"Wa'al, Ephraim Downs, I hope this is the end of your gallivantin' for a good long spell," Uncle Zenas cried when the keeper and Sidney entered the kitchen. "It don't seem as if you'd been at home more'n one hour out of every ten for the past five days."

"I reckon you can count on my stickin' pretty close to the ledge till next spring," Captain Eph said in a soothing tone as he took his place at the table. "When this spell of weather breaks, we're likely to get it so heavy that there won't be a chance for an honest man to stick even the end of his nose outside the tower."

"That's jest the way I figger it," Mr. Peters added as he seated himself opposite Captain Eph, "an' so I've made up my mind to have a look at the wreck before sunset."

"Haven't you pulled a pair of oars long enough for one day?" the keeper asked in surprise, and Mr. Peters replied:

"I can't say that I ain't a bit tired; but it stands to reason the wreck won't stay on the shoal a great spell, an' I want to see her."

"What did you get for Sonny?" Uncle Zenas asked, interrupting Mr. Peters without the slightest compunction.

"We bought what Sammy an' me both allowed was the proper kind of an outfit for a boy who counted on spendin' the winter on Carys' Ledge, an' you'd seen the whole lot by this time, if you hadn't been in sich a pucker for us to come to dinner," Captain Eph replied, much as if he felt in some way injured because the meal had been served so promptly.

"The sooner you eat what's set before you, the sooner we'll see what you brought," Uncle Zenas said sharply, and, thus admonished, Captain Eph asked that the food be blessed to them.

The meal was not prolonged; as soon as his hunger had been satisfied the old keeper went out to the dory for the several packages which had been stowed in the bow of the boat, and Uncle Zenas stood in the doorway that he might have the first opportunity of examining the goods.

It did really seem to Sidney as if Captain Eph and Mr. Peters had purchased twice as many articles of wearing apparel as he needed; but Uncle Zenas talked as if he thought they had been niggardly in selecting the outfit.

There were two full suits of clothes, neither of them very expensive or stylish, but stout and serviceable; under garments, stockings, boots, oil-skins which were somewhere near small enough for him, and, what pleased the lad hugely, a sou'wester – meaning a waterproof hat – which fitted him to a nicety.

After the wardrobe had been examined critically by Uncle Zenas, who declared that he would be obliged to "sew up every seam, else they'd fall apart the first time Sonny looked at 'em hard," Captain Eph unwrapped a large paper box, saying as he removed the cover:

"I know that little shavers are powerful fond of candy, so I bought what I reckon will last Sonny quite a spell. Least-ways, here's all there was in the shop, so we couldn't have got any more, no matter how much he might have wanted it."

"You must have as much as ten pounds there, Ephraim Downs, an' it's a downright shame to give Sonny that kind of truck when, if he wanted sweets, I could have made him plenty of wholesome molasses candy," and Uncle Zenas helped himself liberally from the box.

"I reckon he'll soon be needin' the molasses candy if you're goin' in so steep," Captain Eph said with a laugh, as he covered the box and placed it on a shelf behind the stove.

"What's to hinder Sonny from comin' with me to see the wreck, now that you've showed up all the assortment?" Mr. Peters asked, and the old keeper looked inquiringly at the lad.

"I'd like to go, sir," Sidney said in reply to the mute question. "I have never seen a wrecked vessel."

"All right, Sonny; but I'm goin' along too, for I couldn't trust you alone with Sammy," Captain Eph cried cheerily, and Uncle Zenas grumbled:

"I knew it would turn out this way, when you went ashore with Sonny. You're gettin' a bad habit of roamin', Cap'n Eph, an' I'll count myself lucky if I find you at meal time."

"You'll reach me then, Uncle Zenas, so long as you have your tongue left," Captain Eph replied with a hearty laugh at his own wit as he went hurriedly out of the tower, beckoning Sidney to follow. Not until the lad had put on the coat made from the keeper's uniform would the cook allow him to leave the kitchen, and by the time he gained the head of the little cove, Mr. Peters had the dory ready for the voyage.

With each of the men using a pair of oars, and Sidney in the stern-sheets steering, it was not a long journey to an outlying spur of Carys' Ledge on which the Nautilus foundered. The stern of the vessel had been carried away, and the timbers completely shattered forward of the main-mast; but from that point toward the bow she remained comparatively intact.

"There won't be much to take away, Sammy," Captain Eph said grimly as Sidney steered the dory around the hulk that they might get a good view. "The cargo has been washed out clean as a whistle, an' the decks swept till there's not so much as a belayin' pin to be seen. I don't reckon you count on strippin' off the forward riggin' single-handed, eh?"

"I had an idee we might pick up somethin' in the way of small timbers," Mr. Peters replied ruefully. "We'll be needin' considerable of that kind of stuff for our motor boat, when we get at her."

"I thought you had decided to put the motor in a dory?" Sidney said in surprise.

"That was what I had in mind till I talked with the machinist ashore, an' now I think we may as well build a craft with a cabin, seem's we'll have plenty of time," and Mr. Peters searched the wreck with his eyes for such lumber as he believed might be needed in order to carry out his newly formed plan.

"All the light stuff would have been in the cabin, an' I'm allowin' that a good bit of it will be washed up on the ledge," Captain Eph said as he looked with a weatherly eye at the sky. "We're goin' to have the wind from the east'ard mighty soon, if signs count for anything, an' then's when you'll get all the lumber needed for half a dozen boats, though where it can be stored for the winter beats me."

"There's plenty of room in the boat-house on either side of the dory. It won't do any harm to fill up that space, an' she'll lay more quiet when it's flooded," Mr. Peters suggested.

"We'll allow you're right, so far as that goes, Sammy, an' now if there's anythin' on the wreck that you believe is worth savin', shin aboard, for it's gettin' time we was back to the ledge."

Then Captain Eph pulled the dory in toward the wreck until it was possible for Mr. Peters to clamber on board at the expense of a thorough wetting, and while the keeper and Sidney waited in the dory, after she had been backed off at a safe distance, the lad said with more of decision in his tones than he ordinarily used when speaking to the old sailor:

"I was thinking while you were ashore this forenoon, sir, that if I am to stay at the light until father gets back, it's time I made a change of sleeping quarters."

"Is there anything the matter with the bed you've got now, Sonny?" Captain Eph asked anxiously.

"Nothing, except that it is yours, and I'm not willing to have you turned out any longer. I don't need a room all to myself, and you do, so there must be a change."

"I couldn't be any more comfortable than I am the way we've already fixed things, Sonny, an' it would do me a world of good to know I was givin' you somethin' nigh as fine as you'd get ashore."

"Neither you nor I know how little I might have ashore, sir, and I sha'n't feel contented so long as you are kept out of your own room."

"How would it do if Uncle Zenas could fix up another bed there? It seems to me we'd be snug an' cosy then," and Captain Eph's tone was much the same as if he had been asking a great favor.

"Then it would be all right, sir. What I want is, to know that you have the same chance for sleeping as before I came."

"I'll get Uncle Zenas to see what can be done this very night. You shall have half the shelves for your own things, an' we'll make it look mighty homelike, unless I'm way off my reckonin'. Hello, you Sammy!" the old man cried, raising his voice. "How much longer are you goin' to fiddle 'round there?"

"I ain't much more'n got aboard; but if you're in sich a pucker to get back to the reef, I'll wind up business for the night, an' come alone to-morrow mornin', when I can do somewhere nigh what I want'er."

"That'll be the ticket, Sammy. Come out here an' stop all day, if you like; but jest now I'd rather be where I'm paid for stayin'."

The dory was backed in as Captain Eph spoke, and Mr. Peters succeeded in boarding her without serious mishap.

"There's a good bit of stuff aboard that's worth savin'," the first assistant said as he pulled at the oars. "I reckon I'll make a raft of it, so's to get it ashore in one trip."

"Take what you like, Sammy; but don't forget that you've got a mighty small place in which to stow it."

Mr. Peters was so busily engaged in planning how he could care for the material which might be taken from the wreck at the expense of considerable hard work, that he was not inclined for further conversation, and no word was spoken during the return trip.

When, the dory having been hauled up on the ways and properly housed for the night, Sidney went into the tower, he found Uncle Zenas sewing on the clothing which Captain Eph had brought from the mainland, and he asked in surprise:

"Do you have to make new things over, sir?"

"Yes, Sonny, when they're sich slop-shop things as these. A stitch here an' there now will save a world of trouble later, an' I'm lookin' to the future. Where are you to keep all this stuff?"

Sidney repeated the substance of the conversation he had so lately had with Captain Eph regarding sleeping quarters, and without awaiting orders from the keeper, Uncle Zenas set about making preparations at once.

"I reckon you're both right about the bed, an' I know jest how we'll fix the thing to suit you; there's plenty of time before I begin to get supper."

"But perhaps Captain Eph would rather hear about it first," Sidney said timidly, as the cook began to ascend the staircase, and the old man halted suddenly as he cried:

"Why, Sonny? What does he know 'bout sich things? He's helpless as a baby when it comes to the livin' part of keepin' a light-house, an' the more he'd say 'bout it the less we'd know what ought'er be done. I'll 'tend to this part of the business myself!"

Then the old man went up-stairs, and a moment later, when Captain Eph entered the kitchen, his first question was as to the cook's whereabouts.

Sidney explained how it had happened that he spoke to Uncle Zenas regarding the bed, and expressed sorrow because possibly he had interfered with some plan which the keeper might have had in mind.

"Not a bit of it, Sonny," Captain Eph cried with a hearty laugh. "You've saved me a world of trouble, perhaps, for if I'd said anything of the kind to Uncle Zenas he'd been certain to want it this way or that, an' we'd had a heap of tongue-waggin' before gettin' the matter settled. Now he'll go ahead in his own way, as he thinks, an' the job is done."

Half an hour later Uncle Zenas came into the kitchen to cook supper, when he announced that everything had been done in what he considered a proper manner, and, curious to see how it was arranged, Sidney at once went to the keeper's chamber.

On the floor, in that part of the room where it would be sheltered from the draft of the stairway, was a rest-inviting bed with an ample supply of coverings, and the lad said to himself that now he could lie down to sleep knowing he was not depriving Captain Eph of the comforts which he absolutely needed.

"Got it fixed, eh?" Mr. Peters asked when Sidney came into the kitchen again, and the lad replied:

"It's as snug as possible. Uncle Zenas has done the thing up brown."

"That's 'cause I didn't have anybody standin' 'round sayin' it ought'er be done this way or that," the cook said emphatically, and Captain Eph winked slowly at Sidney and Mr. Peters.

"Well, Sammy, what time do you count on startin' for the wreck to-morrow?" the keeper asked when they were eating supper, after lighting the lamp in the lantern.

"Jest as soon as we get cleaned up. I reckon I'll make a good long day of it, for the chances are she'll go to pieces mighty soon, if your prediction about an easterly blow comes out true."

"I'll do your share of work in the morning," Sidney cried eagerly. "Then you can start as soon as it's light."

"There's no reason why he shouldn't," Captain Eph said in answer to the look Mr. Peters gave him. "Sonny could take care of the light all by himself, if so be there was any need for it; he's the quickest little shaver to learn I ever saw."

"Then I'll take up with his offer, an' be glad of the chance," the first assistant replied, and by this time Uncle Zenas insisted on knowing what it was Sammy proposed to do.

When Mr. Peters explained that it was his intention to save what he could from the wreck, with the idea that the material thus obtained might be useful in the future, Uncle Zenas made most vigorous protest to the surprise of all. He declared that it was not safe for the first assistant to go alone, and insisted that if the work must be done, Captain Eph should accompany him.

It was useless for the others to argue the matter with the cook; he would not allow that any one person was warranted in venturing alone on the wreck, and begged that the keeper would refuse permission for Mr. Peters to leave the ledge.

"I sha'n't do anything of the kind," Captain Eph replied bluntly. "Sammy has got it inter his head that he'll get a lot of stuff from the wreck, an' if he's willin' to do all the work, I can't see that I've got any right to stop him."

Sidney believed Uncle Zenas was making a "mountain out of a mole-hill," but before four and twenty hours had passed he wished most fervently that the cook had prevailed in the argument.