The Pillar of Light

stream, gathers unto itself speed, rushes swiftly onward past familiar landmarks of custom and convention, boils furiously over res

nts is pleasant and exhilarating. Even the last wild plunge over the cascade is neither resented nor feared. Some frail craft are shattered in transit, some wholly sunken, so

ely to the fact that their father had announced the serious accidents which had befallen his assistants. No secret monitor whispered that

incapacitated for duty on the same day. The thing was so bewilderingly sudden, the arrival of Constance and Enid on the scene so timely and unexpected, tha

h lighthouse is a facsimile of that carried by every sea-going steamship. It contained the ordinary remedi

to the store-room from the foot of the stairs, placing a pillow beneath his head, and appealing b

dgment. Was is better to await the coming of the

were already climbing the steep stairs to

low harder, Ben, when t

d, to him, some such query and its consideration provided the chief problem of ea

anything afore nig

d. Today he was nervous, distraught, w

doctor being unable to land when he r

caught its note and droppe

er, an' mebbe sn

I will retain the young ladies. Of course you

rinned re

ht in wi' thiccy

d it that way,

messages across the void. The multitude gapes at first, but soon accepts the

ni station was invisible. There was no expert in telepathic sensation present to

some slight strength by a stiff dose of brandy, was carried, with infinite care, down three flights of steep and narrow stairs, and slung to the crane in

ie," said Brand

e!" murmu

ry day at the hospital

seared nerves of his hands throbbed excruciatingly. Speak aloud he co

r case is worse'n mine.

his body, yet had a glimpse of

old her, mate, while

as if she were glad to escape the cascades of green water swirling over the rock, sprang into instant animation. The watchers from the lighthouse saw

erged on to the cornice balcony after Brand had stoppe

en blue gray. The land was nearer and higher. The Daisy had shrunk to a splash of dull brown on th

is binoculars, scr

we have adopted the wiser course. They

End signal station. A line of flags f

he read aloud. "That is all ri

e lantern for shelter

nd, to his daughter. "I will draw the curtain

the stone gallery. Constance balancing a telescope, Enid peering through the field-glasses, followed the progress of the Daisy in silence, but Brand's eyes wandered uneasily from the barometer, which had fallen rapidly during the past hour, to the cyclonic nimbus spreading its dark mass beyond the Seven Stones Lightship

h the lighthouse at the earliest possible moment. When the men joined him the girls could embark. As it was, the affair was spiced with adventure. Were it not for the mishap to the assistant-keepers the young people would have enjoyed themselves thoroughly. T

e ought to muster a good appetite. Come with me to the store-room. I

me!" chime

nted upper house-maid. An

lost my situation

ow

hope and asked hi

, you mean," s

him, I mean

ng as you didn't bring him," said Brand, "though, i

building. It gave them great joy to discover in the living room a code of signals which co

soon he shouted down the stairs to tell them that the Daisy had rounded Carn du. He could not tell them, not knowing it, that at that precise moment old Ben Pollard was frantically signali

snowstorm to use rockets. All the information they possesse

ace became very strenuous, i

to the two girls and their escort, he rushed to the mooring-place of the 10-ton steam-yacht Lapwing, impounded a couple of lounging sailors, fired up, sto

stantly came round and ranged up to speaking distance. When he learnt what had occurred he readily agreed to return

of bringing her back that evening, when the real skipper of the Lapwing w

as the Daisy raced towards Penzance side by side with the Lapwing, was not so sure of this. But the arrangement he had suggested was the best p

erned knew nothing o

nded the cleanliness of the cook, Jackson, when they had washed the dishes and discovered the whereabouts of the "

n a gale, but just look at that tiny ventilator, no bigger than a ship's port-hole, with a d

ook thought

never does reach th

mark. Sixty feet higher, the cornice of the gallery was given its graceful outer slope to shoot the climbing wave-crests of an Atlantic gale away from the lantern. The girls could not realize this stupendous fact. Brand h

voices and footsteps sounded hollow. It wa

in a lighthouse," cried Eni

re," said Constance. "It is modern, scientific,

the steep stairs. Once she stopped a

ame to the rock," she whispered. "It used to

science hung somewhat loosely, placed her arm around

n appearance since t

chip I must have look

oon will be if yo

self in a small mirror on the wall. Trust

ill ask me to mar

t will y

one for an instant. Then she buried

e to leave you and dad. Why hasn't Ja

tance laughed

f a happy solution of the domestic difficulty

r Jack and invite all the nice men to dinner. Good gracious! I wil

region of light. Brand was writing

ou," he said. "I have heard weird

o splice the admir

admi

ld adm

take an old admiral,

ake him when he is a l

good an opening

lieutenant," she murmured, wit

ked up qu

"if my congratulati

gain. She threw her

r, dad," she said

he Lighthouse Service." She opened it. Brand stroked Enid's

spered Constance. "Do the

ds?" added the

elvet cloaks an

nd

uted Brand. "Be off, both of you. Keep a lookout for the next ten minutes. If y

rn du. Save a scudding sail or two beating in from the Lizard and a couple of big steamers hurrying from the East-one a Transatlantic Transport liner from London-there was nothing visible. In

f!" said Enid, sudd

ier. Some giant force seemed to be wrestling there, raging against its bonds, striving feverishly to tear, rend, utterly destroy its invisible fetters. Sometimes, after an unusually impetuous surge, a dark sh

power, the grandeur, the untamed energy of the spectacle. The

wrote, with s

in the boat in which my daughter-" he paused an instant and added an "s" to the word-"fortunately happened to vis

ther-glass in front o

lling. Temper

olumn headed "Wind direction and force," caused h

t you term a gale at sea he joyfully hails as a fresh breeze. No. 6 is a point above this limit, when a well-conditioned clippe

nearly deserted. No sturdy tug-boat was pouring smoke from her funnel and stagge

o him. Its definite bellow or muttered threat was part of the prevailing influen

ngratulate both of y

n unison, shrill with u

night on a rock lighthouse. Yo

apped h

ghted," sh

storm, father?"

enable the tug to reach us before tomorrow, an

omment, with great seriousnes

smiled. "Now I am fifty