



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, he said, that "it would be
a' the better for landin' on the rock."

This was said in the broadest vernacular dialect, as, indeed, was
everything that dropped from the fishermen's lips. We take the
liberty of modifying it a little, believing that strict fidelity here
would entail inevitable loss of sense to many of our readers.

The remark, such as it was, called forth a rejoinder from the short
comrade, who stated his belief that "they would be likely to find
somethin' there that day."

They then relapsed into silence.

Under the regular stroke of the oars the boat advanced steadily,
straight out to sea. At first the mirror over which they skimmed was
grey, and the foam at the cutwater leaden-. By degrees they
rowed, as it were, into a brighter region. The sea ahead lightened
up, became pale yellow, then warmed into saffron, and, when the sun
rose, blazed into liquid gold.

The words spoken by the boatmen, though few, were significant. The
"rock" alluded to was the celebrated and much dreaded Inch Cape--more
familiarly known as the Bell Rock--which being at that time unmarked
by lighthouse or beacon of any kind, was the terror of mariners who
were making for the firths of Forth and Tay. The "something" that was
expected to be found there may be guessed at, when we say that one of
the fiercest storms that ever swept our eastern shores had just
exhausted itself after strewing the coast with wrecks. The breast of
ocean, though calm on the surface, as has been said, was still
heaving with a mighty swell, from the effects of the recent elemental
conflict.

"D'ye see the breakers noo, Davy?" enquired the ill-favoured man, who
pulled the aft oar.

"Ay, and hear them, too," said Davy Spink, ceasing to row, and
looking over his shoulder towards the seaward horizon.

"Yer een and lugs are better than mine, then," returned the
ill-favoured comrade, who answered, when among his friends, to the
name of Big Swankie, otherwise, and more correctly, Jock Swankie.
"Od! I believe ye're right," he added, shading his heavy red brows
with his heavier and redder hand, "that _is_ the rock, but a man wad
need the een o' an eagle to see onything in the face o' sik a
bleezin' sun. Pull awa', Davy, we'll hae time to catch a bit cod or a
haddy afore the rock's bare."

Influenced by these encouraging hopes, the stout pair urged their
boat in the direction of a thin line of snow-white foam that lay
apparently many miles away, but which was in reality not very far
distant.

By degrees the white line expanded in size and became massive, as
though a huge breaker were rolling towards them; ever and anon jets
of foam flew high into the air from various parts of the mass, like
smoke from a cannon's mouth. Presently, a low continuous roar became
audible above the noise of the oars; as the boat advanced, the swells
from the southeast could be seen towering upwards as they neared the
foaming spot, gradually changing their broad-backed form, and coming
on in majestic walls of green water, which fell