Show ia OM IBa lighthouse adventures PAIIT 1 many many years ago said tho old lighthouse keeper to the two children at his knee when I 1 as as young as you are now I 1 had an ad venture that I 1 shall never forget it happened when I 1 lived with my father and mother and little sister in a light house built on a lonely rock a allo from shore yon don t see that kind nowadays all the family ih ed in the lower part ot the tower and the man of tho family tended tho lamp and rang the bell when a tog came up my elster jane and I 1 used to play on too rocks when the tide was low ow you know a lighthouse warns the passing ships of dangerous rocks or shallows Io wadas there are enormous lamps in their towers en cased in glass and shaped so as to send the powerful beams far beyond the horizon some of them are whirled about by machinery to make the light our lamp was fixed in one place there was a bell too that was used when the tog was too thick for the light to be seen from very far away it was rung by clockwork sometimes it would ring for days twice every minute until the fog lifted or the storm was over U the time of which I 1 am telling aou I 1 was eight years old and my als ter was three I 1 had never been al lowed to help with the lamp in fact I 1 had always been put to bed right after supper on one particular night I 1 remember I 1 had been put to bed even earlier than usual because my father and mother were busy it was very stormy from my bed in the room off the kitchen I 1 watched my father come in from making tho boat fast his oilskins oil skins glistening wet in the light of the lantern he carried the sound of the beating on the and swishing through thy iron ladder kept me awake the wind was whirling around the low er house boo m swish boo m sw ish the wa 03 pounded until it almost seemed a it the strong stone walls trembled finally I 1 could stand it no longer softly my bare feet struck the floor and I 1 padded to the window with my face pressed against the cold pane I 1 could see through the wash of raindrops the white crests of bacs rising to strike and the swirl of foam all this time the bell was clang clanging in the tower suddenly I 1 saw something looming darkly over by tho reef I 1 could make out dimly a long low shape with one end pointed towards the sky aoud it be a ship in les le s alian a minute bathrobe and slippers were on and I 1 was out in the kitchen and starting up the stairs BILL WILLEY GOES CANOEING he s making alve grave mistakes what are thet THE SKY PUZZLE guess these our sky bodies harvey peake there I 1 met cay father who was corn ing down lou are n big boy now son he said tour mother Is in alie boer diun up and help her you can strike the bell it la out of order and he ans off into the stormy night I 1 ran as fast 03 I 1 could around and around the iron staircase up to alie little room at alie top of the tower the light was burning brightly but no one was there then I 1 kemem bared sir mother must be out on the balcony with the bell I 1 poked my head out of the door into the cold wind sure enough there she was bundled up in nn oilskin coat with a hammer in her hand striking the bell father says I 1 may help I 1 shouted abbie the wind she bundled me up in her slicker and gae me the ham and a vatch to time myself by I 1 noticed that she seemed norr led while she waa showing me how to firlle the bell she kept leoung down into alie darkness I 1 looked too when I 1 could and saw the thing that was frightening her V ay down upon a slippery point of rock stood father a coll of rope on his arm and the waves dashing over him lie Is trying to save the men on the boat my mother said in answer to my mute question then she hurried back into the little to trim the blanp while I 1 struck the bell I 1 watched my father I 1 saw him coll the rope to throw the was not far away but its outlines were vague in the blurred light of the lantern just as he threw the rope a wave splashed over him and he missed his aim lie had to drag it in and try again this time it was caught and made fast A small black object clinging to the rope dropped into the water then two more to be continued |