



Produced by Roy Brown, Wiltshire, England





THE LIGHTHOUSE

By R.M.BALLANTYNE
Author of "The Coral Island" &c.

BLACKIE AND SON LIMITED
LONDON  GLASGOW BOMBAY

E-Test prepared by Roy Brown



CONTENTS

CHAPTER

I.          THE ROCK.
II.         THE LOVERS AND THE PRESS-GANG.
III.        OUR HERO OBLIGED TO GO TO SEA.
IV.         THE BURGLARY.
V.          THE BELL ROCK INVADED.
VI.         THE CAPTAIN CHANGES HIS QUARTERS.
VII.        RUBY IN DIFFICULTIES.
VIII        THE SCENE CHANGES--RUBY IS VULCANIZED.
IX.         STORMS AND TROUBLES.
X.          THE RISING OF THE TIDE--A NARROW ESCAPE.
XI.         A STORM, AND A DISMAL STATE OF THINGS ON BOARD THE
            PHAROS.
XII.        BELL ROCK BILLOWS--AN UNEXPECTED VISIT--A DISASTER AND A
            RESCUE.
XIII.       A SLEEPLESS BUT A PLEASANT NIGHT.
XIV.        SOMEWHAT STATISTICAL.
XV.         RUBY HAS A RISE IN LIFE, AND A FALL.
XVI.        NEW ARRANGEMENTS--THE CAPTAIN'S PHILOSOPHY IN REGARD TO
            PIPEOLOGY.
XVII.       A MEETING WITH OLD FRIENDS, AND AN EXCURSION.
XVIII.      THE BATTLE OF ARBROATH, AND OTHER WARLIKE MATTERS.
XIX.        AN ADVENTURE--SECRETS REVEALED, AND A PRIZE.
XX.         THE SMUGGLERS ARE "TREATED" TO GIN AND ASTONISHMENT.
XXI.        THE BELL ROCK AGAIN--A DREARY NIGHT IN A STRANGE
            HABITATION.
XXII.       LIFE IN THE BEACON--STORY OF THE EDDYSTONE LIGHTHOUSE.
XXIII.      THE STORM.
XXIV.       A CHAPTER OF ACCIDENTS.
XXV.        THE BELL ROOK IN A FOG--NARROW ESCAPE OF THE SMEATON.
XXVI.       A SUDDEN AND TREMENDOUS CHANGE IN FORTUNES.
XXVII.      OTHER THINGS BESIDES MURDER "WILL OUT".
XXVIII.     THE LIGHTHOUSE COMPLETED--RUBY'S ESCAPE FROM TROUBLE BY A
            DESPERATE VENTURE.
XXIX.       THE WRECK.
XXX.        OLD FRIENDS IN NEW CIRCUMSTANCES.
XXXI.       MIDNIGHT CHAT IN A LANTERN.
XXXII.      EVERYDAY LIFE ON THE BELL ROOK, AND OLD MEMORIES
            RECALLED.
XXXIII.     CONCLUSION.



THE LIGHTHOUSE


CHAPTER I

THE ROCK

Early on a summer morning, about the beginning of the nineteenth
century, two fishermen of Forfarshire wended their way to the shore,
launched their boat, and put off to sea.

One of the men was tall and ill-favoured, the other, short and
well-favoured. Both were square-built, powerful fellows, like most
men of the class to which they belonged.

It was about that calm hour of the morning which precedes sunrise,
when most living creatures are still asleep, and inanimate nature
wears, more than at other times, the semblance of repose. The sea was
like a sheet of undulating glass. A breeze had been expected, but,
in defiance of expectation, it had not come, so the boatmen were
obliged to use their oars. They used them well, however, insomuch
that the land ere long appeared like a blue line on the horizon, then
became tremulous and indistinct, and finally vanished in the mists of
morning.

The men pulled "with a will,"--as seamen pithily express in silence.
Only once during the first hour did the ill-favoured man venture a
remark. Referring to the absence of wind,