The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-12-08
TOLD BY A LIGHTHOUSE ASSISTANT.
Two Were Company, but the Other
That Came Made a Crowd.
From the Posfon Clohe

From the Boston Globe.
MY man do you want a berth?" said he.
AYE. aye. cappen." said 1. Il want one
4 badly. I'm half starved and half frozen.
| He made no answer but just a sign to
follow him, and he stalked away and
| pegged after him. He kept close along the
shore as we walked, and for awhile he
said nothing. At last however. he turned
and pointed seward.
"You see that?" said he.
He indicated a lighthouse on a lonely
rock.
I'm the keeper" said he. st want you
| to cook my meals and keep my bachelors
hall for me. Now and then shall want
you to row IN and buy provisions. The
| work won't be hard. ] think the pay will
| suit you. Do you know why chose your"
mo, cappen," said l.
Because L saw that hope was at an end
with YOU" he said. IT'S only a man who
| had come to that who could live with me
in lighthouse"
y was on desert island once" said I.
/ ''After that 1 shant be afraid of a light
house"
I'd been in a lighthouse before; it was no
new thing to me, but after I'd been there
| a few hours / wondered what my master
hired me for. 1t was like being pensioned
| off; there was nothing to do. But, mark
| We, when it came night, and the wind be-
gan to moan about the lighthouse, and the
/ lamps were lit and all outside was black as
/ pitch and all the sound we heard was the
/ swash, swash, swash of the waves, my
| master mixed some grog and called me 10
1 sit along with him. That looked sociable,
/ but l can't say he did. He sat glowering
/ over his glass for while, and opening
his mouth as if to speak, and shutting it
/ again. Then he said
| What's your name?"
ben Dare" said /.
"Would you mind calling yourself
/ Brace2' he asked.
i've no reason to be ashamed of my
name" said 1.
Look here" said he 'I am a gentle
man born and bred. 1 never came to earn
| ing my bread before I'm ashamed of it.
| This is what mean. If any strangers come
! out here and ask for William Brace, why,
you. can say you are the man. You claim
to be lighthouse keeper. It's easy. / don't
suppose much company will call, but
choose not to see them, If they do. That's
what I hired you for
"Oh,' said 1.
You see" said he. ct got this place
through a rich man who had influence.
Those who gave it to me never saw me.
| II die some day, why, here you are in
the place If go off, and may, here you
are still until then. I'll pay you well, and
you know your duties"
well, it's shamming," said I. but,
| after all, what does any one care what my
name is, and what shall / call you?"
Call me nothing" said he. call me
captain, as you did when l met you, but
never speak of me to any one"
Gentleman or no, he wasn't lazy. He
! didn't care how he worked. The lamps
| were as bright as jewels. There wasn't
! a speck of dirt in the whole tower. But
let any boat come nigh us, away he went
and hid himself, and came out with a
/ white, scared face and a shaking hand.
At night he was afraid to go up to the
lamps alone, and he'd look over his Shout
der and turn white as we stood there to-
gether At last he took a new turn. He
sat staring at a corner for a while. Then
he spoke to me in low voice:
Brace, do you believe in ghosts?''
II han't considered the question" an
swered
look into that corner" and he pointed
1 looked.
Don't you see anything?" he asked
mo" said 1. "No, cappen."
"Ah," he muttered, very well, very
well. I'm glad you don't"
But that wasn't nothing to what hap
pened the very next night. We slept in
two hunks nigh each other and naturally
when ne woke up with a yell l woke too
He was shrieking and shaking and wiring
ing his hands.
The womanl the womanW he said.
"She stood here just now, all red with
blood. 1t dripped down the white ruff
fles. 1t dripped on her hands Stop her!
Stop her! She has gone to call them. Stop
her! Stop herr
Where did she go?'' I asked.
He stared at me with his wide open
eyes all the white showing, below and
above.
She couldn't have been here" said he.
1T was a dream"
Lord love you-a nightmare" said I.
So we went asleep again. But heard of
the woman so often after that that grew
used to her. The cappen, as 1 called
him. got to be worse every day. I wanted
to go ashore and fetch the doctor, but he
, would not hear to it. He raved if l tried
to leave him.
At last there came a hot hot night in
| June. 1t was Burning hot all day and a
} dead calm at night. About dark the cap
pen went to sleep, and l went and sat
where l could see the water and the lights
2 ashore. 1t was so clear that l could hear
l the sailors at a Spanish ship moored not
5 far away singing in their foreign lingo.
= And l was sort of quiet and dreamy like
2 when something happened that walked me
5 mighty wide and sudden. Something was
3 standing on the steps below me, something
white. Something came toward me.
1t was little slender figure, with long
hair all about its shoulders. / couldn't
see its face. don't think / really saw IL
9 plainly at ALL But it went past me softly
4 while looked, and I knew that it was a
= woman in a white ruffied gown. and that
= that she had gone to the room where nv
: master lay. I shook too hard for a mo-
= ment to move; but as soon as 1 could I
= started up to go to him. Just then a voice
cried:
Light house. ahoyw
: answered, AYE, aye" and stopped a
Z bit. Duty first of all things to a sailor.
!, A boat lay at the foot of the steps. and
>, four men jumped out of it,
f We want William Brace, keeper of this
4 light house said one big man in a linen
!, overcoat.
I'm one that answers to the name.
. says l.
n he swung lantern over my heard
! Search the place. my men," said he.
a There was no use saying anything. but
; did try to stop them
o. I've got a sick friend aloft," saws I