The Red Cloud chief., 1906-08-03


day in March, 1891. He was stationed
then on the northeast coast and failed |
to remember any remarkable crcum-
stance connected with the date, so he
consulted the lighthouse diary for that
year. All! Here was possible ex-
PLANTATION. The chief keeper, stran-
ger 10 him, was something of n meteor
Ologist.
lie had written: AT 4:15 p. IN. the
barometer stood at 2716 degrees and
the thermometer at 1850 degrees.
There was II heavy sea and No. gale
blowing from the s. S.-W. About .
o'clock the wind increased to hurri-
cane and the sea became more violent
than I have seen it during five years
experience of this station. Judging
solely by the clouds and the fight of
birds, should imagine that the cy-
clonic center passed over the Scllly
isles and the Lands End"
Then next day:
"a steady northeast wind stilled the
sea most cffectually. Within twenty
four hours of the first signs Of the hur-
ricane the channel was practicable for
S1Ilnll CTUII. ~ 1SucTllluu TPIbOIlS tllht
the coast is strewn with wreckage."
Brand muscd 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
fully thirty-five miles distant, but it
! flung It's radiance over the waters from
a height of 1l3 feet, ana the Gulf Rock
lamp stood 130 feet above high water
mark. \ landsman would not have dis
/ tinguiShcd even the nearer revolutions
of the st. Agnes light. especially in the
/ prevalent gloom. and wisps of spndrift
were already striking the lantern and
! burring the glass.
! Nevertheless lie caught the quick
! flashes reflected from clouds low, but
unbroken. As yet there was a chance
of the incoming tide bringing better
weather, 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
warning of what was to come. AS
mere matter of noise the reef rOared
its loudest at half tide. He understood
now that a gale had swept across the
Atlantic in an irregular track. How
soever the winds may rage the tides
remain steadfast, and the great waves
now rushing up from the west were
actually harbingers of the fierce blast
which had created them.
OF course the threatened turmoil in
nowise disconnected him. 1t might be
that the rock would remain inaccessl-
bic during many days. In that event
the girls would take the watch after
the lamp was eXtinguished, and they
must learn to endure the monotony and
discomforts of existence in storm
bound lighthouse They would he nerv-
Gus unQuestionably 49, perhaps he had
forgotten how nervous-but Grand was
n philosopher and ut present he was
most taken uD with wOndermcnt at the
curious blend of circumstances which
resulted in their presence on the rock
that night.
Ha. A tremor shook the great pillar.
He heard without the frenzied shrek
of the first repulsed roller which flung
itself on the sleek and rounded wall.
, Would the girls sleep through the next
few hours? Possibly, If awake, they
, would attribute the vibration of the
column to the wind. He trusted 1t
3 might be so. Shut I'm as they were,
they could not distinguish sounds. Ev-
| erything to them would he q confused
hum. with an occasional shiver ms the
: granite braced its mighty heart to re-
sist the enemy.
n But what new note was this in the
outer chaos? An ordinary gale shud-
dered and whistled and chanted It's
I way past the lantern in varying tones
1t sang, it piped, it beloved, ii play
, ed on giant reeds and crashed Will
cymbalS. Now--he looked ut the clock
>. after midnight-there was Il sustained
y scrcech in the voice of the tempes
80 which he did not remember having
heard before. At last the explanation
: dawncd on him. The hurricane wa
- there, Il few feet away, Shut off from
. him by mere sheets of glass. Tn
y. lighthouse thrust its tall shaft int
~ this merciless tornado with grim stead
y fastness, and around its smooth con
y, tours poured volume of unearthl
- melody which seemed to surge up fror
the broad base and was flung off int
-, the darkness 10y the outer sweep Of til
,r cornice.
~ The wind was travelling seventy
4, eighty, mayhap Il hundred miles II
>, hour Not lurinp all his service no