The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1897-06-20

Rut if was o. nights that | loved best to
ioin the old man on his watch ana SUI Oh
tha balcony and gaze out at the great
ocean ilunrined at minute intervals py
the flood of white radiance that seemed
TO pour forth greeting to the silent
ships as they passed and repassed, or
came straight for the harbor mouth.
Harding was a square-built, gray
haired man. with a strong, determined
face, all brown and wrinkled by sun and
storm, and eyes that burned like i've
Goals under shaggy white brows.
At odd times, athwart the concentrat-
ed beams that seemed to hit the lar
horizon would sail ships, glorlted mo-
mentarily as they passed through, with
every spar and sail and rope sharply
outlined by the sudden brilliance; but
more often they slid along between light
and water, i'll defined phantasmu blobs
of smudge, out of which, when the fan
CIV took them to make their numbers,
would spout forth many-colored fires
all incomprehensible to the untutored
eve as the dim fabrics they proceeded
from.
But Harding and his assistant signal
men read off ships and numbers as cas-
lily, apparently, as if it was broad day
light and the telegraph would repeat at
intervals: Large square-rigged ship,
with painted ports, steering Il by n.
Made her number 49, 45." Or it might
be, Steamer, black funnel with white
band, brig-rigged, deep, bound south,
showed no number" But nothing large
or small ever escaped the eagle lookout
kept from that eyrie on the great cliff,
where the only sounds that broke the
long night silences were the wash of the
waves ON the rugged kelp-grown rocks,
400 sheer feet beneath, and the subdued
hum of the big dynamo in the basement.
This, you will see, was no isolated
light stuck forlornly hundreds of miles
from anywhere 1t was an establish
ment over which Harding presided
quite a little settlement of government
offices connected with the important de-
partment of harbors, rivers and trade.
His salary was high; so was the eff
cheney of the service he headed. And he
was not averse to a little judicious
praise now and again. On one of these
occasions | had said something respect
ing the speedy identification of a foreign
cruiser, and the prompt wiring of de-
tails to the capital whilst yet the war
ship crept quietly in as. If DESTROYS ~Of
escaping attention, and little guessing
that. long ere she reached the port, a
score of nine-inch guns, to say nothing
of submarine mines and Brennan tor
pedoes. would have blown her to atoms
had she disregarded the challenge of
the warned guardship at Inner point.
Well. / had complimented him on The
ceaseless vigilance maintained and he
chuckled, well pleased, and hemmed and
remarked, Now, that reminds me1'
Usually a taciturn man, and one en-
crossed in his business, he was difficult
to draw" Often enough he had said as
much before with no result; often mat
tiers had followed web worth the hear
ing. In any case / knew silence was
best.
1t was a wild night, with "souther-
~" blowing great guns, keeping the sea
hattaned into a vast milky white ex-
pense of foam, that kept up long
drawn, continuous roar at the foot OF the
cliffs in fitting accompaniment to the
shrieking blasts that wrestled and tore
around the great tower, as if striving to
shake it from its foundations deep down
In the solid rock.
"C0me along to my room" said Hard
ing at last, after good look around,
''and We'll have a pipe and a glass Of
grog whilst ] tell you about another
lighthouse / ran, and another man-o
war that / watched some % years ago
now"
Descending into his private snuggery
beside bright fire, / took one Of the
big arm-chairs whilst Harding operated
with hot water, case-bottle, lemons and
sugar, and after fixing matters to his
satisfaction, filed his pipe and said:
SAY, it must be about five-and-twenty
years now since the day / sat on the
steps of the sailors home in Singapore
stone broke. I'd been first mate of a
ship called, the Star of Africa, that the
skipper managed to run slap on to a
rock in the straits of Sunda. 1t wasn't
my fault, nor did lose my ticket, like
the captain All the same, I found it
precious hard to get another ship.
Owners as well as masters have fads
and prejudices in this respect-n0t per-
haps as regards first time But this
happened to be my second wreck rum
ming. So my luck, you see, was dead
ont. Actually, only for bananas | might
have starved. Bananas and water fill
up and satisfy right enough, only it
takes you all your time to keep the sup
ply going. Presently, as / sat there, di-
costing my second or third breakfast
out came the master intendant, and
said he: Harding, if you stay here till
the moon turns blue you'll never get a
ship. But a billet's turned up that per
haps is better than nothing. The Dutch,
he went on, have built lighthouse
somewhere down yonder on the Bornean
coast, and a second keeper is wanted,
wages so guilders a month and rations
It's the merest fiuke that / happened to
hear of it. Will you take it?
"'Would a duck swim?
"'All right, then, come along to Van
Veldt g. Co.'s office, they'll take you on
my recommendation The Dutch agents
did so without question. More, they paid
me months wages in advance, and sent
me i'm one of their steamers round tc
Batavia where l was to get fresh or
ders. Arrived there, was kept waiting
"a month. But as | had good quarters
and plenty to eat and drink, / didn't
mind a bit spending my dead horse il
this way. One day, however, / was told
to get my belongings on board a little