The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1871-03-02

night SO that 1 might have a good rest after
my journey. l was too tired to gainsay this
and in spite of an uneasy feeling, which l
could not account for even to myself, soon fell
into troubled sleep. Whether it was the nov
city of my situation or not, l hardly know,
but during the first portion of the night |
scarcely slept half an hour consecutlvely; aud
when l awoke hearing the never-ceasing roar
of the waves, contrasting with the deep
silence within the building always, in spite
of myself began wondering why the last
keeper had left, what sort of woman his
wife was. and whether he had really stolen
the missing thingsH These speculations
seemed so absurd, that l tried hard TO dis
miss them, but without success; and it was
Only as the dawn was breaking that l fell into
q deep unbroken slumber, from which did
not wake till the morning was far advanced.
When l arose / found it was bright fresh
morning, the gale having died away to soft
southwest wind. As l stood by one of the open
windows, how different the scene appeared to
the gloom of yesterday! Where the sun
light fell upon the still beaving bitlows it
turned them, now to masses OF sheeny opal,
now into cascades and diamonds, rs the spray
was thrown high into the air. In the distance,
like snowy sea-birds, appeared the white
sails of the fishing craft; and as the fresh
wind cooled my fevered cheek, my spirits
rose wonderfully, and / anticipated almost
with delight the calm hours l might spend
here with ny books, surrounded by the ever
changing beauty of the ocean. Morgan now
came down from the 'lantern, and pointed
to the breakfast he had got for me; his
own, he said, had been finished long
since, and as soon as l was ready he
would go on shore. Although / could not
help being surprised at the almost nervous
kaste the man displayed to be off, now had
nothing TO urge against it. therefore fin
isbed my repast as expeditiously as | could;
and having lowered the boat attached to the
lighthouse, we pulled on shore almost in
silence. When within half mile of the land,
Morgan, who had been thinking deeply, sud
denly stopped pulling, and very abruptly
asked me If l had any arms in the lighthouse
Somewhat startled at the question, l replied
that l had a revolver, but it was
uuloaded, as didn't see how 1
could require it, ''Better load it,"
was the hurried answer; ''its lonesome at
times out yonder, aud you'll feel more CON-
Portable If you've something by you as you
can trust to-" We were close to the land
now, aud in a minute or two my companion
spraDg ashore, and hurriedly wishing
goodbye, strobe away through the trees, and
was soon lost to sight. | knew no one in the
little village; so thought I would go up TO
the coast guard station, as l had been de-
sired to put myself under the orders of
there, at the time arrived but an old man.
of-war's man, to whom, however, L duly
reported myself, and got him to give me
some information as to where to get my pro-
visions, etc. This he very good-naturedly
| did; and while going down to the village, |
questioned him about the late keepers de-
! sertion, which somehow or other always
seemed strangely to interest me. Ny new
friends however, could tell me no more than
| had viz hot tha
his wife were supposed to have stolen
the articles that were missing, and
| decamped. L spent a good bit of the
afternoon in making my little purchases, aud
returned to the lighthouse about o'clock
i'll order to be in time to light the lamps
before the approach of dusk After the
boat was securely fastened up, and the door
! locked and barred | must confess that a
dull sense of loneliness fell upon me.
shook it off, however, and busted myself
with my work; and preparing and discussing
my evening meal, l got through the time
| pretty well till s O'Clock, when / went up into
the lantern to see that all was working
correctly, and then sat down to commence
my first nights watch alone in the midst of
the waters
All anticipated evils seem smaller when
really near. had all along so much dreaded
the dullness of my night watchings, that now
J, had really commenced one of them, [ was
agreeably disappointed at finding it much
more endurable than had expected. There
was certainly an oppressive silence reigning
! through the building, and the monotonous
boom of the waves dashing against the rock
WAS not inspiritipg; but had letters to write
home, plenty of books to read, and my lights
to visit every hour; that altogether the
night passed quickly enough away; and when
| the dawn broke, l went to bed with the hope
full exclamation that 'it wasn't so bad, after
ALL" The following day was Saturday, and
determined to devote it to putting my room in
order. / did not rise till nearly o'clock,
and spent the remainder of the afternoon in
arranging my books, clothes, etc. As the
evening drew on L trimmed and lighted my
lamps, and then read till nearly .. About this
time l began to linda difficulty in confning
my attention to my book. In spite of myself
my thoughts kept wandering to their old
theme-the late keepers desertion of his
post and what sort of a life he had led
in the room in which was sitting, to in
duce him to disappear SO mysteriously.
reused myself by a strong effort of will
from these profitless speculations, and went
to the window to see what sort of night
it was. There was no moon, and as far
as the eye could reach, nothing was visible but
the black heaving waves purposelessly sway
ing to and fro, sometimes tinged by faint
streak of phosphorescent light; as the white
ridge in which they eliminated rippled slowly
away. 1t seemed very lonely to be built up
there in that waste OF waters, and q sort OF
cold chill seemed to settle on my heart as
began to reVolve all sorts of improbable con.
tingencies, such as having fit, or the light
house taking fire. Altogether felt myself
gradually getting into such state of nervous
eXcitement that / could hardly bea1