The Pillar of Light

It had two occupants this bright January morning, and they were sufficiently diverse in appearance to attract the attention of the local

f a weather-beaten f

and strong; antiquated, perhaps, and greatly in want of a new coat; but shaped on lines to resist the elements together for years to come. Ben Pollard and his pilchard-dri

n his patched garments and old Daisy in her unkempt solidity supplied a fitti

derivable from the daringly trustful little plant which gave the boat its name. She wore a coat and skirt of green cloth, lightly hemmed and cuffed with dark red braid. Her large white hat was trimmed with velvet of a tone to match the braid, and her neatly fitting bro

s of the Daisy with certain stores of apples, oranges and vegetables-ranging from the lordly new potato (an aristocrat at that time of the year) to the plebeian

st was securely stepped and the tackle ran free. Whilst th

stooping to arrange some clusters of daffodils and narcissus so that they s

old fellow cheerily, "but wi' the wind backin' r

ill make the ro

ur best, M

t up s

er all our preparations we may have to turn ba

mahogany table breaking into mirth," was Enid's

as most," he said. "Further

lly, you and the Daisy look mo

ollard defended hi

er be a long run at this time o' year, but you'm get there all right, I 'xpect. Wi' a

on the spanking powers of his pilcha

ch me," she cried, "and as if anyone i

as mollified. He lo

"Miss Constance be a plaguey

? She had to go all the way to

n' she b'ain't runnin' neither

ck of any girl of nineteen like unto that

she cried, wavin

surprised stare. "When I look landward

when he gazes at the level horizon he knows so well. This is no pretence of unwilling age:

d's signals with their eyes, devoted themselves to a co

. To him, too, she owed the frank, self-reliant pose of head and clearly cut, refined features which conveyed to others that all-important first good impression. Blended with Stephen Brand's firm incisiveness, and softening the

een in America than in England. Her lively face, flushed with exercise, and, it may be, with some little excitement, conveyed the same Transatlantic ch

hope, R. N., was too familiar a figure in Penza

in the world, whether in love or war. True type of the British sailor, he had

the artistic proclivities suggested by his well-chiseled features and long, tapering fingers, proclaimed that Stanhope, notwithstanding his Saxon s

on such terms of easy familiarity with two girls, one of whom was the

among others, Lady Margaret Stanhope put it often and point

ety was justifiable, the smokers on the pier, as representin

at. "I manage to bamboozle the admiral out of three days' leave and I rush to Penzance to be

t winks exchanged among the hu

Trevillion, eh? What would her

with us?" The

jolly. Look here. Wait two minutes

arm the water-proof cloaks he was carrying for her. "You know Lady Margaret woul

ing out this aftern

ck, don't let us quarrel before we have met

er down the

romise to drive with me to Morvah in the mo

out to the rock with us to

in them that Stanhope laughed, and pipes were shifted to permit

id the other girl. "We are bringing him a p

be able

of the sea near the rock. Anyhow, we can have a

y tide if we'm stop here mu

e you? Mind you keep these

ones," growled Pollard. "They was a-sayin'

Father Ben. That

y anxiety. There was nothing

y echoed the inquiry. Both girls knew well what a serious

Got a bit of kudos out of it really. We fouled the V

tenciled his initials within a white square on five different parts of their sleek hulls, thus signifying to an indignant admiral and thre

"You must supply details tomorrow. Enid,

supply luncheon?

d on sandwiches and bottled beer

tensibly to light a cigar. He watched Constance shipping the rudder whilst Enid hoisted th

the end of the solid pier and vanished, whereupon Lieutenant Stanhope walked slowly to the Promenade, whe

ag, resting their tired arms on the r

acknowledged leader, a broken-down "captai

catching the gloom of the captain's gaze af

want, turning their pretty heads

rtic'lar stuck on 'i

ious," pronounced the ora

but, in the main, accurate account he gave of the rescue of an unknown child by one

ned a matter of ￡70 to ￡80 a year-not enough to maintain a daughter and an adopted child in slap-up style, was it? A small vi

agreed t

gh Jones, a Trinity pensioner, who kept the "Pilchard and Seine" now, wouldn't hear a wrong word about him, and always called him "cap'n." A prett

essed baby-that very girl, Enid, they had just seen. Was it true? How could he say? There was a lot about it at the time in the local papers, but just t

og-signal fad-Brand was always a man of fads: he once told the speaker that all the Polwena Mine wanted was work-and the Gulf Rock was the best place for try

as the only obvious remark of an

she was broad in beam and staunch from thwart to keel it was no li

ary to turn the boat's head seawards. Even then, by steering close to the Runnelstone, they need not, during two-thirds of the time, be

of six miles to the rock, behind which lay the Scilly Is

n to be made, Pollard cast an anxious eye at a

cipated might turn to snow, and snow is own brother to fog at sea,

description of a new disciple who had joined the ar

edly at the white battalions sweepi

like snaw,"

t does tha

a trifle. The Daisy was now fairly headed for the rock.

t risky," g

e before there can be any serious d

and again no matter how t

n after life he would never admit that

just couldn't. An' how often do us zee snaw in Carnwall? Not once in a

ke another as two Liliputians to the eye of Gulliver. In a w

her occupants, he was suddenly called by telephone from the oil-room to the kitchen. When next he ran aloft in a wild hurry to signal for assistance, he found, to his despair, that t

tfully through the pelting snow-flakes to the ears of the two girls and old Ben. The latter,

, emphatically. "I be sorry, ladies both, but 'ee knaw how the tide runs over the reef, an' 'tes easy to

din. Pollard had his hand on the sail to swing it to starboard when Constance put the tiller over to bring the boat's head up against the wind. For an i

us," pronounced Ben. "That's

reat silence, otherwise unbroken save by the quiet plash of the se

or us," said Constance. "We were jus

near the rock," cried Enid,

nough. Before he could answer, a third r

question now of going back. We must keep our present course for twent

wrong on the rock itself. I am quite sure there w

eady it is, Miss Brand. Ef we'm in trouble I'd as soon

ed unheeded. The situation was bewildering, alarming. There were three keepers in the

face and shining eyes, Enid, flushed and on the verge of te

she was dependent on his bounty. Only the other day, when she hinted at the adoption of an art career

nest without worrying as to the manner of your leaving it. Work at your drawing, by all means. Avoid co

home was idyllic in its happiness: their only sorrow that Brand should be away two months out

d not trust themselves even to speak. There w

rd, kneeling in the bows, peered into the gloom of the swirling snow. He listened eagerly to the bell. With right hand o

t the first hint of danger, consulted

minute

ar her own voice. The tens

ff yet. 'Tes clearin' a bit. We'm heave

Soon they could see fifty, a hundred, two hundred yards ahead. On the starboard quarter they caug

ared Ben, sudden

ranite walls, with dark little casements showing black in the weird light. The boat

with a sharp rattle that showed how thoroug

de curve, and Ben got out the oars to kee

ed towards the galler

screamed in a voice hig

Not often had the girls visited the rock, but they knew that this was the first sign they

e heard a mile away in the prevailing stillness. A window half w

Stephen

!" murmure

issing rush of the boat through the waves, had cast a spel

the three uplifted faces. But this w

uted. "Providence must hav

anis

e, outwardly calm now in the as

means 'Bring a doctor.' An' there ain't a blesse

mean delay,

hours at le

to the stones swung back, and Brand leaned out. He

tug reach here,

ld him the opini

hen, and Bates was hurrying to the store-room for oil and whitening when he slipped o

ay,

tight and stand in the skip. Your

to work the windlass. Constance, cool as

the parcels and

all about them," said Enid, s

basket with its iron hoops, and, having arranged some of the pl

id, though a lift of forty odd feet whilst standing in a s

o, was swung into the lighthouse

o longer needed. The sky above was clearing. A luminous haze spreading over the waters heralded the return of the sun. But the wind was bitterly cold

rrard. This sort o' thing's a weather-

to the Gulf Rock to enter upon t

l. Would it shield her again-rescue her from the graver danger whose shadow ev

ed. Just then she had oth