The Lighthouse

The Lighthouse

The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Lighthouse, by Robert
Ballantyne This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and
with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away
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Title: The Lighthouse
Author: Robert Ballantyne
Release Date: February 21, 2005 [EBook #15124]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE
LIGHTHOUSE ***

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-coloured. 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