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"Bound? Oh, you mean where was she going?" "Sartin." "I think I think she was going to to. . . . Humph! how strange this is!" "What?" "Why, that I should forget all these things." The lightkeeper regarded his guest with suspicion.
He forgot that he was a lightkeeper absent from duty, forgot that one of his passengers was the wife he had run away from, and the other his bugbear, the dreaded and formidable Bennie D. He forgot all this and was again the able seaman, the Tartar skipper who, in former days, made his crews fear, respect, and swear by him. And he reveled in his authority. Once Mrs.
Tapp, were you in a boating accident yesterday?" cried Miss Louder. "I was overboard yes," responded Lawford, but rather blankly, for he was startled by the lightkeeper's statement. "What do you mean, Jonas?" to the lightkeeper. "Didn't Betty Gallup haul me inboard?" "Bet Gallup nawthin'!" exploded Jonas with disgust. "She handled that sloop o' yourn all right. I give her credit for that.
The lightkeeper stood watch in the tower at night. During most of the day he slept; but, after the first week was over, and his trust in his helper became more firm, he developed the habit of rising at two in the afternoon, eating a breakfast or dinner, or whatever the meal might be called and wandering off along the crooked road leading south and in the direction of Pounddug Slough.
"Miss Graham!" he called. "Oh, Miss Graham!" She heard him, but did not stop. "Yes?" she called in answer, continuing to swim. "What is it?" "You mustn't " shouted Brown. Then he remembered that he must not shout. Shouting might awaken the lightkeeper, and the latter would misunderstand the situation, of course. So he cut his warning to one word. "Wait!" he called, and began swimming toward her.
How long must he stay there? For months at least. He should be thankful that he was there; thankful that there was such a place, where no one came and where he could remain until he was forgotten. He was thankful, of course he was. But what a life to live! He wondered what Atkins thought of him; how much the lightkeeper guessed concerning his identity and his story.
"Well by time!" said Seth again, and with even stronger emphasis. The substitute assistant raised himself to his knees, rubbed his back with one hand, and then, turning, sat in the sand and returned his superior's astonished gaze with one of equal bewilderment. "Hello!" he gasped. "Well, by George! it's you, isn't it! What are you doing here?" The lightkeeper put down the pail of paint.
A high ideal for the service appears in these expressions, and will be more amply illustrated further on. But even the Scottish lightkeeper was frail.
A woman was seated in the kitchen rocker; a stout woman, with her back toward him. The room, in contrast to the bright sunshine without, was shadowy, and Seth, for an instant, could see her but indistinctly. However, he knew who she must be the housekeeper at the bungalow "Basket" or "Biscuit" his helper had said was her name, as near as he could remember it. The lightkeeper ground his teeth.
"Me," whispered the lightkeeper, gruffly. "I'll go with you a ways." "No, of course you won't. I'm goin' alone." "It's too dark for you to go alone. You'll lose the way." "I'm goin' alone, I tell you! Go back. I don't want you." "I know you don't; but I'm goin'. You'll fetch up in the cove or somewheres if you try to navigate this path on your own hook." "I sha'n't.
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