The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1906-11-16

"It is high water about half past I,
I think?"
He nodded, pretending to treat the
question as of no special import.
From all appearances there will be
heavy sea-" she went on.
"Just an ordinary bad night" he said
coolly.
'Do the waves reach far up the light
house in gale?" she persisted.
Then Brand grasped the situation
firmly.
peaceful" he said, II will call your
kind attention to the fact that the
Gulf Rock light has appeared every
night during the past twenty-five
years, or since a date some four years
before you were born, Constance. 1t
contains 1000 tons Of granite and is
practically monolithic, as if 1t were
carved out of a quarry. Indeed,
think its builder went one better than
nature. Here are no cracks or assures
or undetected flaws. The lowest course
Is bolted to the rock with wrought
iron clamps. Every stone Is dove
tailed to its neighbors and clasped to
them with iron, above, below and at
the sides. If you understand comic Sec
tons l could make clearer the scien-
tific aspect Of the structure, but you
can take 1t from me you are far safer
here than on a natural rock many
times the dimensions of this column"
'"That sounds very satisfactory"
murmured Enid, sleepiIy.
II am overwhelmed" said Constance,
who grasped the essential fact that he
had not answered her question.
Soon after 8 o'clock he kissed them
good night. They promised not to sit
up talking. AS guarantee of good be-
havior, Enid said she would ring the
electric bell just before she climbed
into her bunk
The signal came soon and he was
glad. He trusted to the fatigue, the
fresh air, tie confidence of the knowl-
edge that he was on guard, to lull
them into the security of unconscious
ness.
The behavior of the mercury puzzled
him. In the barometer it fell, in the
thermometer it rose. Increasing tenn
perature combined with low pressure
was not a healthy weather combina-
ton in January. Looking back through
the records of several years, he dis
covered a similar set Of conditions one
day in March, 1891. He was stationed
then on the northeast coast and failed
to remember any remarkable circum-
stance connected with the date, so he
consulted the lighthouse diary for that
year. All! Here was a possible ex-
PLANTATION. The chief keeper, a stran-
ger to him, was something of meteor
ologist.
He had written cat Ais d. m. the
barometer stood at 27.16 degrees and
the thermometer at $3.50 degrees
There was a heavy sea and No. 7 gale
blowing from the s. S.-W. About 3
o'clock the wind increased to hurri-
cane and the sea became more violent
than 1 have seen it during five years
experience of this station. Judging
solely by the clouds and the fight of
birds, l should imagine that the cy-
clonic center passed over the Sicily
isles and the Lands End"
Then next day:
"a steady northeast wind stilled the
sea most effectually. Within twenty
four hours of. the first signs Of the hur-
ricane the channel was practicable for
small craft. A fisherman reports that
the coast is strewn with wreckage."
Brand unused over the entries for
awhile. With his night glasses he
peered long into the teeth Of the grow
ing storm to see If he could find the
double flash Of the magnificent light on
the Bishop Rock, one of the Atlantic
breakwaters of the Scilly isles. 1t was
flung its radiance over the waters from
a height Of 143 feet, and the Gulf Rock
lamp stood 100 feet above high water
mark. A landsman would not have dis
even the nearer revolutions
Of the st. Agnes light, especially in the
prevalent gloom, and wisps Of spindrift
were already striking the lantern and
the glass.
Nevertheless he caught the quick |
flashes reflected from clouds low, but |
AS yet there was chance |
Of the incoming tide bringing better |
and he bent again over the |
record Of the equinoctial gale In 1891. |
Soon he abandoned this hope. The |
growing thunder of the reef as the tide |
advanced gave the first unmistakable |
Of what was to come. AS
mere matter Of noise the reef roared
is loudest at half tide. He understood
now that gale had swept across the
in an irregular track. How
'oever the winds may rage the tides
'emain steadfast, and the great waves
low rushing up from the west were
actually harbingers Of the fierce blast
which had created them.
OF course the threatened turmoil in
lowise disconnected him. 1t might be
hat the rock would remain inaccessi-
de during many days. In that event
he girls would take the watch after
he lamp was extinguished, and they
must learn to endure the monotony and
liscomforts Of existence in storm
POUND lighthouse. They would be nerv-
'us unquestionably perhaps he had