The Lighthouse by Robert Ballantyne

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Having thus secured the premises in front, he proceeded to fortify
the rear, and, when this was accomplished to his satisfaction, he
returned to the kitchen, sat down opposite the widow, and wiped his
shining pate.

"Why, uncle, are we going to stand out a siege that you take so much
pains to lock up?"

Ruby sat down on the floor at his mother's feet as he spoke, and
Minnie sat down on a low stool beside him.

"Maybe we are, lad," replied the captain; "anyhow, it's always well
to be ready--

'Ready, boys, ready,
We'll fight and we'll conquer again and again'."

"Come uncle, explain yourself."

"Explain myself, nephy? I can neither explain myself nor anybody
else. D'ye know, Ruby, that you're a burglar?"

"Am I, uncle? Well, I confess that that's news."

"Ay, but it's true though, at least the law in Arbroath says so, and
if it catches you, it'll hang you as sure as a gun."

Here Captain Ogilvy explained to his nephew the nature of the crime
that was committed on the night of his departure, the evidence of his
guilt in the finding part of the plate in the garden, coupled with
his sudden disappearance, and wound up by saying that he regarded
him, Ruby, as being in a "reg'lar fix".

"But surely," said Ruby, whose face became gradually graver as the
case was unfolded to him, "surely it must be easy to prove to the
satisfaction of everyone that I had nothing whatever to do with this
affair?"

"Easy to prove it!" said the captain in an excited tone; "wasn't you
seen, just about the hour of the robbery, going stealthily down the
street, by Big Swankie and Davy Spink, both of whom will swear to
it."

"Yes, but _you_ were with me, uncle."

"Ay, so I was, and hard enough work I had to convince them that I had
nothin' to do with it myself, but they saw that I couldn't jump a
stone wall eight foot high to save my life, much less break into a
house, and they got no further evidence to convict me, so they let me
off; but it'll go hard with you, nephy, for Major Stewart described
the men, and one o' them was a big strong feller, the description
bein' as like you as two peas, only their faces was blackened, and
the lantern threw the light all one way, so he didn't see them well.
Then, the things found in our garden,--and the villains will haul me
up as a witness against you, for, didn't I find them myself?"

"Very perplexing; what shall I do?" said Ruby.

"Clear out," cried the captain emphatically.

"What! fly like a real criminal, just as I have returned home? Never.
What say _you_, Minnie?"

"Stand your trial, Ruby. They cannot--they dare not--condemn the
innocent."

"And you, mother?"

"I'm sure I don't know what to say," replied Mrs. Brand, with a look
of deep anxiety, as she passed her fingers through her son's hair,
and kissed his brow. "I have seen the innocent condemned and the
guilty go free more than once in my life."

"Nevertheless, mother, I will give myself up, and take my chance. To
fly would be to give them reason to believe me guilty."

"Give yourself up!" exclaimed the captain, "you'll do nothing of the
sort. Come, lad, remember I'm an old man, and an uncle. I've got a
plan in my head, which I think will keep you out of harm's way for a
time. You see my old chronometer is but a poor one,--the worse of the
wear, like its master,--and I've never been able to make out the
exact time that we went aboard the _Termagant_ the night you went
away. Now, can _you_ tell me what o'clock it was?"

"I can."

'"Xactly?"

"Yes, exactly, for it happened that I was a little later than I
promised, and the skipper pointed to his watch, as I came up the
side, and jocularly shook his head at me. It was exactly eleven P.M."

"Sure and sartin o' that?" enquired the captain, earnestly.

"Quite, and his watch must have been right, for the town-clock rung
the hour at the same time."

"Is that skipper alive?"

"Yes."

"Would he swear to that?"

"I think he would."

"D'ye know where he is?"

"I do. He's on a voyage to the West Indies, and won't be home for
two months, I believe."

"Humph!" said the captain, with a disappointed look. "However, it
can't be helped; but I see my way now to get you out o' this fix. You
know, I suppose, that they're buildin' a lighthouse on the Bell Rock
just now; well, the workmen go off to it for a month at a time, I
believe, if not longer, and don't come ashore, and it's such a
dangerous place, and troublesome to get to, that nobody almost ever
goes out to it from this place, except those who have to do with it.
Now, lad, you'll go down to the workyard the first thing in the
mornin', before daylight, and engage to go off to work at the Bell
Rock. You'll keep all snug and quiet, and nobody'll be a bit the
wiser. You'll be earnin' good wages, and in the meantime I'll set
about gettin' things in trim to put you all square."

"But I see many difficulties ahead," objected Ruby.

"Of course ye do," retorted the captain. "Did ye ever hear or see
anything on this earth that hadn't rocks ahead o' some sort? It's our
business to steer past 'em, lad, not to 'bout ship and steer away.
But state yer difficulties."

"Well, in the first place, I'm not a stonemason or a carpenter, and I
suppose masons and carpenters are the men most wanted there."

"Not at all, blacksmiths are wanted there," said the captain, "and I
know that you were trained to that work as a boy."

"True, I can do somewhat with the hammer, but mayhap they won't
engage me."

"But they _will_ engage you, lad, for they are hard up for an
assistant blacksmith just now, and I happen to be hand-and-glove with
some o' the chief men of the yard, who'll be happy to take anyone
recommended by me."

"Well, uncle, but suppose I do go off to the rock, what chance have
you of making things appear better than they are at present?"

"I'll explain that, lad. In the first place, Major Stewart is a
gentleman, out-and-out, and will listen to the truth. He swears that
the robbery took place at one o'clock in the mornin', for he looked
at his watch and at the clock of the house, and heard it ring in the
town, just as the thieves cleared off over the wall. Now, if I can
get your old skipper to take a run here on his return from the West
Indies, he'll swear that you was sailin' out to the North Sea _before
twelve_, and that'll prove that you _couldn't_ have had nothin' to do
with it, d'ye see?"

"It sounds well," said Ruby dubiously, "but do you think the lawyers
will see things in the light you do?"

"Hang the lawyers! d'ye think they will shut their eyes to _the
truth?_"

"Perhaps they may, in which case they will hang _me_, and so prevent
my taking your advice to hang _them_," said Ruby.

"Well, well, but you agree to my plan?" asked the captain.

"Shall I agree, Minnie? it will separate me from you again for some
time."

"Yet it is necessary," answered Minnie, sadly; "yes, I think you
should agree to go."

"Very well, then, that's settled," said Ruby, "and now let us drop
the subject, because I have other things to speak of; and if I must
start before daylight my time with you will be short----"

"Come here a bit, nephy, I want to have a private word with 'ee in my
cabin," said the captain, interrupting him, and going into his own
room. Ruby rose and followed.

"You haven't any----"

The captain stopped, stroked his bald head, and looked perplexed.

"Well, uncle?"

"Well, nephy, you haven't--in short, have ye got any money about you,
lad?"

"Money? yes, a _little_; but why do you ask?"

"Well, the fact is, that your poor mother is hard up just now," said
the captain earnestly, "an' I've given her the last penny I have o'
my own; but she's quite----"

Ruby interrupted his uncle at this point with a boisterous laugh. At
the same time he flung open the door and dragged the old man with
gentle violence back to the kitchen.

"Come here, uncle."

"But, avast! nephy, I haven't told ye all yet."

"Oh! don't bother me with such trifles just now," cried Ruby,
thrusting his uncle into a chair and resuming his own seat at his
mother's side; "we'll speak of that at some other time; meanwhile let
me talk to mother.

"Minnie, dear," he continued, "who keeps the cash here; you or
mother?"

"Well, we keep it between us," said Minnie, smiling; "your mother
keeps it in her drawer and gives me the key when I want any, and I
keep an account of it."

"Ah! well, mother, I have a favour to ask of you before I go."

"Well, Ruby?"

"It is that you will take care of my cash for me. I have got a
goodish lot of it, and find it rather heavy to carry in my
pockets--so, hold your apron steady and I'll give it to you."

Saying this he began to empty handful after handful of coppers into
the old woman's apron; then, remarking that "that was all the
browns", he began to place handful after handful of shillings and
sixpences on the top of the pile until the copper was hid by silver.

The old lady, as usual when surprised, became speechless; the captain
smiled and Minnie laughed, but when Ruby put his hand into another
pocket and began to draw forth golden sovereigns, and pour them into
his mother's lap, the captain became supremely amazed, the old woman
laughed, and,--so strangely contradictory and unaccountable is human
nature,--Minnie began to cry.

Poor girl! the tax upon her strength had been heavier than anyone
knew, heavier than she could bear, and the sorrow of knowing, as she
had come to know, that it was all in vain, and that her utmost
efforts had failed to "keep the wolf from the door", had almost
broken her down. Little wonder, then, that the sight of sudden and
ample relief upset her altogether.

But her tears, being tears of joy, were soon and easily dried--all
the more easily that it was Ruby who undertook to dry them.

Mrs. Brand sat up late that night, for there was much to tell and
much to hear. After she had retired to rest the other three continued
to hold converse together until grey dawn began to appear through the
chinks in the window-shutters. Then the two men rose and went out,
while Minnie laid her pretty little head on the pillow beside Mrs.
Brand, and sought, and found, repose.

CHAPTER VIII

THE SCENE CHANGES--RUBY IS VULCANIZED

As Captain Ogilvy had predicted, Ruby was at once engaged as an
assistant blacksmith on the Bell Rock. In fact, they were only too
glad to get such a powerful, active young fellow into their service;
and he was shipped off with all speed in the sloop _Smeaton_, with a
few others who were going to replace some men who had become ill and
were obliged to leave.

A light westerly breeze was blowing when they cast off the moorings
of the sloop.

"Goodbye, Ruby," said the captain, as he was about to step on the
pier. "Remember your promise, lad, to keep quiet, and don't try to
get ashore, or be hold communication with anyone till you hear from
me."

"All right, uncle, I won't forget, and I'll make my mind easy, for I
know that my case is left in good hands."

Three hours elapsed ere the _Smeaton_ drew near to the Bell Rock.
During this time, Ruby kept aloof from his fellow-workmen, feeling
disposed to indulge the sad thoughts which filled his mind. He sat
down on the bulwarks, close to the main shrouds, and gazed back at
the town as it became gradually less and less visible in the faint
light of morning. Then he began to ponder his unfortunate
circumstances, and tried to imagine how his uncle would set about
clearing up his character and establishing his innocence; but, do
what he would, Ruby could not keep his mind fixed for any length of
time on any subject or line of thought, because of a vision of
sweetness which it is useless to attempt to describe, and which was
always accompanied by, and surrounded with, a golden halo.

At last the youth gave up the attempt to fix his thoughts, and
allowed them to wander as they chose, seeing that they were resolved
to do so whether he would or no. The moment these thoughts had the
reins flung on their necks, and were allowed to go where they
pleased, they refused, owing to some unaccountable species of
perversity, to wander at all, but at once settled themselves
comfortably down beside the vision with golden hair, and remained
there.

This agreeable state of things was rudely broken in upon by the
hoarse voice of the mate shouting--

"Stand by to let go the anchor."

Then Ruby sprang on the deck and shook himself like a great mastiff,
and resolved to devote himself, heart and soul, from that moment, to
the work in which he was about to engage.

The scene that presented itself to our hero when he woke up from his
dreams would have interested and excited a much less enthusiastic
temperament than his.

The breeze had died away altogether, just as if, having wafted the
_Smeaton_ to her anchorage, there were no further occasion for its
services. The sea was therefore quite calm, and as there had only
been light westerly winds for some time past, there was little or
none of the swell that usually undulates the sea. One result of this
was, that, being high water when the Smeaton arrived, there was no
sign whatever of the presence of the famous Bell Rock. It lay
sleeping nearly two fathoms below the sea, like a grim giant in
repose, and not a ripple was there to tell of the presence of the
mariner's enemy.

The sun was rising, and its slanting beams fell on the hulls of the
vessels engaged in the service, which lay at anchor at a short
distance from each other. These vessels, as we have said, were four
in number, including the Smeaton. The others were the _Sir Joseph
Banks_, a small schooner-rigged vessel; the _Patriot_, a little
sloop; and the _Pharos_ lightship, a large clumsy-looking Dutch-built
ship, fitted with three masts, at the top of which were the lanterns.
It was intended that this vessel should do duty as a lightship until
the lighthouse should be completed.

Besides these there were two large boats, used for landing stones and
building materials on the rock.

These vessels lay floating almost motionless on the calm sea, and at
first there was scarcely any noise aboard of them to indicate that
they were tenanted by human beings, but when the sound of the
_Smeaton's_ cable was heard there was a bustle aboard of each, and
soon faces were seen looking inquisitively over the sides of the
ships.

The _Smeaton's_ boat was lowered after the anchor was let go, and the
new hands were transferred to the _Pharos_, which was destined to be
their home for some time to come.

Just as they reached her the bell rang for breakfast, and when Ruby
stepped upon the deck he found himself involved in all the bustle
that ensues when men break off from work and make preparation for the
morning meal.

There were upwards of thirty artificers on board the lightship at
this time. Some of these, as they hurried to and fro, gave the new
arrivals a hearty greeting, and asked, "What news from the shore?"
Others were apparently too much taken up with their own affairs to
take notice of them.

While Ruby was observing the busy scene with absorbing interest, and
utterly forgetful of the fact that he was in any way connected with
it, an elderly gentleman, whose kind countenance and hearty manner
gave indication of a genial spirit within, came up and accosted him:

"You are our assistant blacksmith, I believe?"

"Yes, sir, I am," replied Ruby, doffing his cap, as if he felt
instinctively that he was in the presence of someone of note.

"You have had considerable practice, I suppose, in your trade?"

"A good deal, sir, but not much latterly, for I have been at sea for
some time."

"At sea? Well, that won't be against you here," returned the
gentleman, with a meaning smile. "It would be well if some of my men
were a little more accustomed to the sea, for they suffer much from
sea-sickness. You can go below, my man, and get breakfast. You'll
find your future messmate busy at his, I doubt not. Here, steward,"
(turning to one of the men who chanced to pass at the moment,) "take
Ruby Brand--that is your name, I think?"

"It is, sir."

"Take Brand below, and introduce him to James Dove as his assistant."

The steward escorted Ruby down the ladder that conducted to those
dark and littered depths of the ship's hull that were assigned to the
artificers as their place of abode. But amidst a good deal of
unavoidable confusion, Ruby's practised eye discerned order and
arrangement everywhere.

"This is your messmate, Jamie Dove," said the steward, pointing to a
massive dark man, whose outward appearance was in keeping with his
position as the Vulcan of such an undertaking as he was then engaged
in. "You'll find him not a bad feller if you only don't cross him."
He added, with a wink, "His only fault is that he's given to spoilin'
good victuals, being raither floored by sea-sickness if it comes on
to blow ever so little."

"Hold your clapper, lad," said the smith, who was at the moment
busily engaged with a mess of salt pork, and potatoes to match.
"Who's your friend?"

"No friend of mine, though I hope he'll be one soon," answered the
steward. "Mr. Stevenson told me to introduce him to you as your
assistant."

The smith looked up quickly, and scanned our hero with some interest;
then, extending his great hard hand across the table, he said,
"Welcome, messmate; sit down, I've only just begun."

Ruby grasped the hand with his own, which, if not so large, was quite
as powerful, and shook the smith's right arm in a way that called
forth from that rough-looking individual a smile of approbation.

"You've not had breakfast, lad?"

"No, not yet," said Ruby, sitting down opposite his comrade.

"An' the smell here don't upset your stummick, I hope?"

The smith said this rather anxiously.

"Not in the least," said Ruby with a laugh, and beginning to eat in a
way that proved the truth of his words; "for the matter o' that,
there's little smell and no motion just now."

"Well, there isn't much," replied the smith, "but, woe's me! you'll
get enough of it before long. All the new landsmen like you suffer
horribly from sea-sickness when they first come off."

"But I'm not a landsman," said Ruby.

"Not a landsman!" echoed the other. "You're a blacksmith, aren't
you?"

"Ay, but not a landsman. I learned the trade as a boy and lad; but
I've been at sea for some time past."

"Then you won't get sick when it blows?"

"Certainly not; will _you_?"

The smith groaned and shook his head, by which answer he evidently
meant to assure his friend that he would, most emphatically.

"But come, it's of no use groanin' over what can't be helped. I get
as sick as a dog every time the wind rises, and the worst of it is I
don't never seem to improve. Howsever, I'm all right when I get on
the rock, and that's the main thing."

Ruby and his friend now entered upon a long and earnest conversation
as to their peculiar duties at the Bell Rock, with which we will not
trouble the reader.

After breakfast they went on deck, and here Ruby had sufficient to
occupy his attention and to amuse him for some hours.

As the tide that day did not fall low enough to admit of landing on
the rock till noon, the men were allowed to spend the time as they
pleased. Some therefore took to fishing, others to reading, while a
few employed themselves in drying their clothes, which had got wet
the previous day, and one or two entertained themselves and their
comrades with the music of the violin and flute. All were busy with
one thing or another, until the rock began to show its black crest
above the smooth sea. Then a bell was rung to summon the artificers
to land.

This being the signal for Ruby to commence work, he joined his friend
Dove, and assisted him to lower the bellows of the forge into the
boat. The men were soon in their places, with their various tools,
and the boats pushed off--Mr. Stevenson, the engineer of the
building, steering one boat, and the master of the _Pharos_, who was
also appointed to the post of landing-master, steering the other.

They landed with ease on this occasion on the western side of the
rock, and then each man addressed himself to his special duty with
energy. The time during which they could work being short, they had
to make the most of it.

"Now, lad," said the smith, "bring along the bellows and follow me.
Mind yer footin', for it's slippery walkin' on them tangle-covered
rocks. I've seen some ugly falls here already."

"Have any bones been broken yet?" enquired Ruby, as he shouldered the
large pair of bellows, and followed the smith cautiously over the
rocks.

"Not yet; but there's been an awful lot o' pipes smashed. If it goes
on as it has been, we'll have to take to metal ones. Here we are,
Ruby, this is the forge, and I'll be bound you never worked at such a
queer one before. Hallo! Bremner!" he shouted to one of the men.

"That's me," answered Bremner.

"Bring your irons as soon as you like! I'm about ready for you."

"Ay, ay, here they are," said the man, advancing with an armful of
picks, chisels, and other tools, which required sharpening.

He slipped and fell as he spoke, sending all the tools into the
bottom of a pool of water; but, being used to such mishaps, he arose,
joined in the laugh raised against him, and soon fished up the tools.

"What's wrong!" asked Ruby, pausing in the work of fixing the
bellows, on observing that the smith's face grew pale, and his
general expression became one of horror. "Not sea-sick, I hope?"

"Sea-sick," gasped the smith, slapping all his pockets hurriedly,
"it's worse than that; I've forgot the matches!"

Ruby looked perplexed, but had no consolation to offer.

"That's like you," cried Bremner, who, being one of the principal
masons, had to attend chiefly to the digging out of the
foundation-pit of the building, and knew that his tools could not be
sharpened unless the forge fire could be lighted.

"Suppose you hammer a nail red-hot," suggested one of the men, who
was disposed to make game of the smith.

"I'll hammer your nose red-hot," replied Dove, with a most undovelike
scowl, "I could swear that I put them matches in my pocket before I
started."

"No, you didn't," said George Forsyth, one of the carpenters--a tall
loose-jointed man, who was chiefly noted for his dislike to getting
into and out of boats, and climbing up the sides of ships, because of
his lengthy and unwieldy figure--"No, you didn't, you turtle-dove,
you forgot to take them; but I remembered to do it for you; so there,
get up your fire, and confess yourself indebted to me for life."

"I'm indebted to 'ee for fire," said the smith, grasping the matches
eagerly. "Thank'ee, lad, you're a true Briton."

"A tall 'un, rather," suggested Bremner.

"Wot never, never, never will be a slave," sang another of the men.

"Come, laddies, git up the fire. Time an' tide waits for naebody,"
said John Watt, one of the quarriers. "We'll want thae tools before
lang."

The men were proceeding with their work actively while those remarks
were passing, and ere long the smoke of the forge fire arose in the
still air, and the clang of the anvil was added to the other noises
with which the busy spot resounded.

The foundation of the Bell Rock Lighthouse had been carefully
selected by Mr. Stevenson; the exact spot being chosen not only with
a view to elevation, but to the serrated ridges of rock, that might
afford some protection to the building, by breaking the force of the
easterly seas before they should reach it; but as the space available
for the purpose of building was scarcely fifty yards in diameter,
there was not much choice in the matter.

The foundation-pit was forty-two feet in diameter, and sunk five feet
into the solid rock. At the time when Ruby landed, it was being hewn
out by a large party of the men. Others were boring holes in the rock
near to it, for the purpose of fixing the great beams of a beacon,
while others were cutting away the seaweed from the rock, and making
preparations for the laying down of temporary rails to facilitate the
conveying of the heavy stones from the boats to their ultimate
destination. All were busy as bees. Each man appeared to work as if
for a wager, or to find out how much he could do within a given space
of time.

To the men on the rock itself the aspect of the spot was sufficiently
striking and peculiar, but to those who viewed it from a boat at a
short distance off it was singularly interesting, for the whole scene
of operations appeared like a small black spot, scarcely above the
level of the waves, on which a crowd of living creatures were moving
about with great and incessant activity, while all around and beyond
lay the mighty sea, sleeping in the grand tranquillity of a calm
summer day, with nothing to bound it but the blue sky, save to the
northward, where the distant cliffs of Forfar rested like a faint
cloud on the horizon.

The sounds, too, which on the rock itself were harsh and loud and
varied, came over the water to the distant observer in a united tone,
which sounded almost as sweet as soft music.

The smith's forge stood on a ledge of rock close to the
foundation-pit, a little to the north of it. Here Vulcan Dove had
fixed a strong iron framework, which formed the hearth. The four legs
which supported it were let into holes bored from six to twelve
inches into the rock, according to the inequalities of the site.
These were wedged first with wood and then with iron, for as this
part of the forge and the anvil was doomed to be drowned every tide,
or twice every day, besides being exposed to the fury of all the
storms that might chance to blow, it behoved them to fix things down
with unusual firmness.

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