Chapter 22

ANGRY WATERS

As the five boys entered the lighthouse, Teddy happened to glance at the barometer that was fastened to the wall near the door.

"Say, fellows!" he exclaimed, "the glass is certainly mighty low this evening. Looks as though there might be some weather coming."

"Let's take a peep," responded Lester carelessly. "We're not due for any bad weather yet awhile, and I don't think--Whew! but it is low, isn't it?" he exclaimed as he examined the dial of the instrument. "There's something on the way, that's sure. I don't remember the barometer often getting quite as low as that."

"Oh, well, let it come!" exclaimed Fred. "What do we care? We won't be out in the _Ariel_ this time, and I guess it would take some storm to wash this old lighthouse away."

"Yes," assented Lester. "I guess no storm that ever blew or ever will blow can do us much damage. It is built on a ledge of solid bed rock, and it would take an earthquake to shake it loose. We'll be snug and safe enough, no matter how hard it blows."

"In that case, bring on your show," grinned Teddy. "I've always wanted to see a first-class, bang-up storm, so you can't pile on the scenic effects too strong. Let's have plenty of wind and waves and all the rest of the fixings. Do a good job, while you're about it, Lester."

"Judging from the looks of that barometer, I won't have to do a blessed thing," replied Lester in the same tone of banter. "My stage manager, old Father Neptune, is going to be right on the job, and when he gets going I don't feel called on to interfere. I've seen a few of his performances and I must confess that I haven't seen much room for improvement.

"Except," he went on in a graver tone, "that if I had my way, I'd leave some of the ships out of the production. After you've once seen some big craft go to pieces on the shoals, you rather lose your liking for the entertainment."

"Yes, I suppose that's so," acquiesced Teddy, his usually high spirits sobered for a moment by having this view of the case presented to him. "I hadn't thought of that part of it."

"Well," observed Fred, "if there's going to be a storm, as seems pretty likely now, we'll hope that nothing of the kind occurs. After that stormy time we had on the _Ariel_, I can imagine pretty well what it must feel like to be shipwrecked. When we were headed for those rocks, I expected to be swimming for dear life in about two minutes."

"It must have been rather bad, I suppose," said Lester with a smile. "It wasn't so bad for me, because I had done the stunt before and was sure I could do it again.

"But this is no time for talking," he added. "Either I've got to get something to eat pretty soon or else quietly give up the ghost. I'm as hungry as a bear in spring time, and I'm willing to bet something that you fellows feel the same way."

"You win," admitted Fred. "But luckily for us it's near dinner time so we still have a chance to live awhile."

"Let's hurry and clean up then before dad calls us to the table."

As Lester stopped speaking, a gust of wind tore past the lighthouse with a mournful wail. The sound died down for a few seconds and then rose again in a dismal, long-drawn-out note that caused the boys to give an involuntary shudder.

"That's the beginning," declared Lester. "It will keep getting worse and worse, and after a while we'll hardly be able to hear each other speak. We're in for a real blow this time I think."

"Let's go up into the light room and see what it looks like outside," suggested Fred. "It's getting dark fast and we'll not be able to see anything before long."

"All right, come ahead," agreed Lester.

He headed the group up the spiral stairs that led to the lamp room.

An early dusk had fallen over the heaving ocean, yet it was not so dark but that they could see that the seas were rising rapidly. Here and there the big waves were capped with white crests as they raced away before the spur of the merciless wind. Already they were breaking against the rocks on which the lighthouse stood with a heavy roar and a force that caused the building, stout as it was, to tremble.

"It sure is working up fast, isn't it?" asked Teddy in a subdued voice. "I'd hate to be out in it even now. And I suppose it hasn't really begun to get bad yet."

"You're right, it hasn't," assented Lester grimly. "But now while we are up here, I'd better light the lamps. Then I can go down and eat with an easy conscience."

Accordingly, he lit the wicks of the great lamps and, after assuring himself that everything was in perfect order, he and the other boys descended to the dining room. There they found everything in readiness and made one of the hearty and satisfactory meals that the lighthouse larder never failed to afford.

As they ate, they could feel the building shake to the furious blasts that smote against it, and Mr. Lee shook his head gravely.

"It will be a wild night on the ocean, I'm thinking," he remarked, "and we can thank our lucky stars that we're all in a snug shelter and well out of harm's way. I feel sorry for those who have to be abroad on the water to-night."

"So do I," echoed Fred. "Just listen to that wind roar, will you? It seems as though a million demons were yelling at once."

"And the ocean's a good second," chimed in Teddy. "Wow!" he cried, as a giant breaker thundered down on the reef, "that must have been the daddy of them all, I guess. Let's go up to the lookout room as soon as we're through and watch the storm."

The other boys were quite as eager as Teddy, and when they had finished their meal they went up the stairs to what might be called the observation room. This was situated just below the room in which the lamps were placed, and had windows of thick glass facing the sea. A door led out from it on to a balcony that ran completely around the structure. This door also faced the ocean, and Teddy, always enterprising, thought that he would like to go out on the balcony to feel the force of the wind.

He attempted to push the door open, but without success. He tried again, with the same result.

"Guess the old thing must be locked," he remarked, "but I don't see the key anywhere. Have you got it with you, Lester?"

"No," replied Lester, who had been watching Teddy's ineffectual efforts with a smile, "but that door isn't locked. The reason you couldn't open it was because the wind was blowing so fiercely against it. I doubt if the four of us put together could do it."

"It's no wonder that I had trouble then. But never mind. The wind can't keep me from _looking_ out, anyway."

He shaded his eyes with his hands and peered through the thick plate glass windows. The others followed his example, and saw a sight that they never forgot.

The wind had piled the waves up higher and higher, until they looked like an endless succession of undulating, constantly advancing hills and valleys. From the ragged crests the spray was torn and blown in solid sheets before the raging wind so that at times it was impossible to see the heaving waters beneath. As the breakers came up against the lighthouse ledge, their tops would curve over and come crashing down with mighty blows that it seemed must pulverize the solid granite. The rebounding spray was snatched up by the gale and hurled against the lighthouse, as though the elements were furious at this one obstacle that prevented them from wreaking their full rage on some unfortunate ship and were resolved to sweep it from their path once and for all.

The boys gazed spellbound at the awe-inspiring spectacle, and for a time none of them uttered a word. Lester was the first to break the long silence.

"I've never seen anything better--or worse--than this," he said. "I guess the barometer knew what it was doing to-day."

"It surely is a tremendous thing to watch," assented Fred, and again applied himself to the window, where the others kept their faces glued, too fascinated with the elemental turmoil to think of anything else.

They tore themselves away at last and went up into the lamp room where Mr. Lee was on duty.

He had just finished trimming the wicks when the boys entered.

"What do you think of this for a storm?" he quizzed. "Is it blowing hard enough to suit you?"

"It's tremendous!" ejaculated Ross. "I never knew that wind could blow so hard or waves get so big. It's something to remember for a lifetime."

Mr. Lee smiled at his earnestness and nodded his head.

"You may well say so," he observed. "Of course, I've seen worse winds in the tropics, when they developed into hurricanes or typhoons. But for this coast, it doesn't often blow harder. There's more than one fine ship will lay her bones down on some reef or beach this night."

While Mr. Lee was speaking, the boys had noticed several dull blows against the outside lens of the light, and Teddy took the first opportunity to inquire the cause.

"That's caused by sea-gulls and other water birds dashing themselves against the light," explained Lester. "They're driven by the wind, and are so confused and terrified that I don't suppose they know what they're doing. Or perhaps the bright light has an attraction for them. At any rate, they always do it in a big storm, and in large numbers too. Why, in the morning we can go out and find hundreds of dead birds where they've dropped at the base of the tower."

"What a shame!" exclaimed Teddy, who always had a tender place in his heart for dumb creatures. "I suppose they don't see the glass at all, and think they can keep right on going."

"That's about the way of it, I guess," affirmed Mr. Lee. "They come against the glass with such force sometimes that I'm almost afraid they'll break it. It's too bad, but there's no help for it yet, though men are at work trying to find some device to prevent it."

"How long do you think the storm will last?" inquired Fred.

"Chances are that it'll last out all to-morrow," answered their host, "though it's blowing so hard that it may blow itself out before that. There's no telling."

"We'll have a good chance to mend up our fishing tackle then," remarked Fred, "because it doesn't look as though there'd be much chance doing anything outdoors."

"If you find time hanging heavy on your hands," observed Mr. Lee with a sly twinkle in his eye, "you might get busy and clean out the lamps. They're about due for a good scouring, and it might help you to pass away a long day indoors."

"That's certainly a great idea," said Lester reflectively, "but there's nothing in it for me. I've done it before and there's no novelty in it. But I'm sure that Teddy and Fred would enjoy it immensely."

"Nothing doing," replied Teddy hastily. "Fred and I aren't going to come to see you, Lester, and then butt in on all your simple pleasures. You just go ahead and enjoy yourself cleaning out the lamps, just as though we weren't around. We'll manage to plug along some way in the meantime."

They all laughed at this sally and shortly afterwards the boys took leave of Mr. Lee and returned to the observation room. The wind roared and the ocean boomed on the rocks with undiminished force, and they spent the rest of the evening gazing out through the streaming windows and wondering at the mighty spectacle spread out before them.

At last Lester, to whom the fury of a storm was a more common thing than to his companions, proposed that they go to bed, and they reluctantly tore themselves away. The last thing the lads heard as they sank into dreamless slumber was the crash of tumbling waves and the maddened shrieks of the wind as it hurtled past the lighthouse.