The Lighthouse
Page 33
CHAPTER THIRTY THREE.
CONCLUSION.
Facts are facts; there is no denying that. They cannot be controverted;nothing can overturn them, or modify them, or set them aside. Therethey stand in naked simplicity; mildly contemptuous alike of sophistsand theorists.
Immortal facts! Bacon founded on you; Newton found you out; DugaldStewart and all his fraternity reasoned on you, and followed in yourwake. What _would_ this world be without facts? Rest assured, reader,that those who ignore facts and prefer fancies are fools. We say itrespectfully. We have no intention of being personal, whoever you maybe.
On the morning after Ruby was cast on the Bell Rock, our old friend NedO'Connor (having been appointed one of the lighthouse-keepers, andhaving gone for his fortnight ashore in the order of his course) sat onthe top of the signal-tower at Arbroath with a telescope at his eyedirected towards the lighthouse, and became aware of a fact,--a factwhich seemed to be contradicted by those who ought to have known better.
Ned soliloquised that morning. His soliloquy will explain thecircumstances to which we refer; we therefore record it here. "What'sthat? Sure there's something wrong wid me eye intirely this mornin'.Howld on," (he wiped it here, and applying it again to the telescope,proceeded); "wan, tshoo, three, _four_! No mistake about it. Try agin.Wan, tshoo, three, FOUR! An' yet the ball's up there as cool as acookumber, tellin' a big lie; ye know ye are," continued Ned,apostrophising the ball, and readjusting the glass. "There ye are, asbold as brass--av ye're not copper--tellin' me that everythin's goin' onas usual, whin I can see with me two eyes (one after the other) thatthere's _four_ men on the rock, whin there should be only _three_!Well, well," continued Ned, after a pause, and a careful examination ofthe Bell Rock, which being twelve miles out at sea could not be seenvery distinctly in its lower parts, even through a good glass, "the dayafther to-morrow'll settle the question, Misther Ball, for then theRelief goes off, and faix, if I don't guv' ye the lie direct I'm not anIrishman."
With this consolatory remark, Ned O'Connor descended to the rooms below,and told his wife, who immediately told all the other wives and theneighbours, so that ere long the whole town of Arbroath became awarethat there was a mysterious stranger, a _fourth_ party, on the BellRock!
Thus it came to pass that, when the relieving boat went off, numbers offishermen and sailors and others watched it depart in the morning, andincreased numbers of people of all sorts, among whom were many of theold hands who had wrought at the building of the lighthouse, crowded thepier to watch its return in the afternoon.
As soon as the boat left the rock, those who had "glasses" announcedthat there was an "extra man in her."
Speculation remained on tiptoe for nearly three hours, at the end ofwhich time the boat drew near.
"It's a man, anyhow," observed Captain Ogilvy, who was one of those nearthe outer end of the pier.
"I say," observed his friend the "leftenant", who was looking through atelescope, "if--that's--not--Ruby--Brand--I'll eat my hat withoutsauce!"
"You don't mean--let me see," cried the captain, snatching the glass outof his friend's hand, and applying it to his eye. "I do believe!--yes!it is Ruby, or his ghost!"
By this time the boat was near enough for many of his old friends torecognise him, and Ruby, seeing that some of the faces were familiar tohim, rose in the stern of the boat, took off his hat and waved it.
This was the signal for a tremendous cheer from those who knew our hero;and those who did not know him, but knew that there was somethingpeculiar and romantic in his case, and in the manner of his arrival,began to cheer from sheer sympathy; while the little boys, who werenumerous, and who love to cheer for cheering's sake alone, yelled at thefull pitch of their lungs, and waved their ragged caps as joyfully as ifthe King of England were about to land upon their shores!
The boat soon swept into the harbour, and Ruby's friends, headed byCaptain Ogilvy, pressed forward to receive and greet him. The captainembraced him, the friends surrounded him, and almost pulled him topieces; finally, they lifted him on their shoulders, and bore him intriumphal procession to his mother's cottage.
And where was Minnie all this time? She had indeed heard the rumourthat something had occurred at the Bell Rock; but, satisfied from whatshe heard that it would be nothing very serious, she was content toremain at home and wait for the news. To say truth, she was too muchtaken up with her own sorrows and anxieties to care as much for publicmatters as she had been wont to do.
When the uproarious procession drew near, she was sitting at WidowBrand's feet, "comforting her" in her usual way.
Before the procession turned the corner of the street leading to hismother's cottage, Ruby made a desperate effort to address the crowd, andsucceeded in arresting their attention.
"Friends, friends!" he cried, "it's very good of you, very kind; but mymother is old and feeble; she might be hurt if we were to come on her inthis fashion. We must go in quietly."
"True, true," said those who bore him, letting him down, "so, good day,lad; good day. A shake o' your flipper; give us your hand; glad you'reback, Ruby; good luck to 'ee, boy!"
Such were the words, followed by three cheers, with which his friendsparted from him, and left him alone with the captain.
"We must break it to her, nephy," said the captain, as they movedtowards the cottage.
"`Still so gently o'er me stealin', Memory will bring back the feelin'.'
"It won't do to go slap into her, as a British frigate does into aFrench line-o'-battle ship. I'll go in an' do the breakin' business,and send out Minnie to you."
Ruby was quite satisfied with the captain's arrangement, so, when thelatter went in to perform his part of this delicate business, the formerremained at the door-post, expectant.
"Minnie, lass, I want to speak to my sister," said the captain, "leaveus a bit--and there's somebody wants to see _you_ outside."
"Me, uncle!"
"Ay, _you_; look alive now."
Minnie went out in some surprise, and had barely crossed the thresholdwhen she found herself pinioned in a strong man's arms! A cry escapedher as she struggled, for one instant, to free herself; but a glance wassufficient to tell who it was that held her. Dropping her head onRuby's breast, the load of sorrow fell from her heart. Ruby pressed hislips upon her forehead, and they both _rested_ there.
It was one of those pre-eminently sweet resting-places which arevouchsafed to some, though not to all, of the pilgrims of earth, intheir toilsome journey through the wilderness towards that eternal rest,in the blessedness of which all minor resting-places shall be forgotten,whether missed or enjoyed by the way.
Their rest, however, was not of long duration, for in a few minutes thecaptain rushed out, and exclaiming "she's swounded, lad," grasped Rubyby the coat and dragged him into the cottage, where he found his motherlying in a state of insensibility on the floor.
Seating himself by her side on the floor, he raised her gently, andplacing her in a half-sitting, half-reclining position in his lap, laidher head tenderly on his breast. While in this position Minnieadministered restoratives, and the widow, ere long opened her eyes andlooked up. She did not speak at first, but, twining her arms roundRuby's neck, gazed steadfastly into his face; then, drawing him closerto her heart, she fervently exclaimed "Thank God!" and laid her headdown again with a deep sigh.
She too had found a resting-place by the way on that day of herpilgrimage.
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Now, reader, we feel bound to tell you in confidence that there are fewthings more difficult than drawing a story to a close! Our tale isdone, for Ruby is married to Minnie, and the Bell Rock Lighthouse isfinished, and most of those who built it are scattered beyond thepossibility of reunion. Yet we are loath to shake hands with them andto bid _you_ farewell.
Nevertheless, so it must be, for if we were to continue the narrative ofthe after-careers of our friends of the Bell Rock
, the books that shouldbe written would certainly suffice to build a new lighthouse.
But we cannot make our bow without a parting word or two.
Ruby and Minnie, as we have said, were married. They lived in thecottage with their mother, and managed to make it sufficiently large tohold them all by banishing the captain into the scullery.
Do not suppose that this was done heartlessly, and without the captain'sconsent. By no means. That worthy son of Neptune assisted at his ownbanishment. In fact, he was himself the chief cause of it, for when aconsultation was held after the honeymoon, as to "what was to be donenow," he waved his hand, commanded silence, and delivered himself asfollows:--
"Now, shipmates all, give ear to me, an' don't ventur' to interrupt.It's nat'ral an' proper, Ruby, that you an' Minnie and your mothershould wish to live together; as the old song says, `Birds of a featherflock together,' an' the old song's right; and as the thing ought to be,an' you all want it to be, so it _shall_ be. There's only one littledifficulty in the way, which is, that the ship's too small to hold us,by reason of the after-cabin bein' occupied by an old seaman of the nameof Ogilvy. Now, then, not bein' pigs, the question is, what's to bedone? I will answer that question: the seaman of the name of Ogilvyshall change his quarters."
Observing at this point that both Ruby and his bride opened their mouthsto speak, the captain held up a threatening finger, and sternly said,"Silence!" Then he proceeded--
"I speak authoritatively on this point, havin' conversed with the seamanOgilvy, and diskivered his sentiments. That seaman intends to resignthe cabin to the young couple, and to hoist his flag for the futur' inthe fogs'l."
He pointed, in explanation, to the scullery; a small, dirty-lookingapartment off the kitchen, which was full of pots and pans andmiscellaneous articles of household, chiefly kitchen, furniture.
Ruby and Minnie laughed at this, and the widow looked perplexed, butperfectly happy and at her ease, for she knew that whatever arrangementthe captain should make, it would be agreeable in the end to allparties.
"The seaman Ogilvy and I," continued the captain, "have gone over thefogs'l" (meaning the forecastle) "together, and we find that, by the useof mops, buckets, water, and swabs, the place can be made clean. By theuse of paper, paint, and whitewash, it can be made respectable; and, bythe use of furniture, pictures, books, and 'baccy, it can be madecomfortable. Now, the question that I've got to propound this day tothe judge and jury is--Why not?"
Upon mature consideration, the judge and jury could not answer "whynot?" therefore the thing was fixed and carried out and the captainthereafter dwelt for years in the scullery, and the inmates of thecottage spent so much of their time in the scullery that it became, asit were, the parlour, or boudoir, or drawing-room of the place. When,in course of time, a number of small Brands came to howl and tumbleabout the cottage, they naturally gravitated towards the scullery, whichthen virtually became the nursery, with a stout old seaman, of the nameof Ogilvy, usually acting the part of head nurse. His duties wereonerous, by reason of the strength of constitution, lungs, and musclesof the young Brands, whose ungovernable desire to play with thatdangerous element from which heat is evolved, undoubtedly qualified themfor the honorary title of Fire-Brands.
With the proceeds of the jewel-case Ruby bought a little coastingvessel, with which he made frequent and successful voyages. "Absencemakes the heart grow fonder," no doubt, for Minnie grew fonder of Rubyevery time he went away, and every time he came back. Things prosperedwith our hero, and you may be sure that he did not forget his oldfriends of the lighthouse. On the contrary, he and his wife becamefrequent visitors at the signal-tower, and the families of thelighthouse-keepers felt almost as much at home in "the cottage" as theydid in their own houses. And each keeper, on returning from his sixweeks' spell on the rock to take his two weeks' spell at thesignal-tower, invariably made it his first business, _after_ kissing hiswife and children, to go up to the Brands and smoke a pipe in thescullery with that eccentric old seafaring nursery-maid of the name ofOgilvy.
In time Ruby found it convenient to build a top flat on the cottage, andabove this a small turret, which overlooked the opposite houses, andcommanded a view of the sea. This tower the captain converted into apoint of lookout, and a summer smoking-room,--and many a time and oft,in the years that followed, did he and Ruby climb up there aboutnightfall, to smoke the pipe of peace, with Minnie beside them, and towatch the bright flashing of the red and white light on the Bell Rock,as it shone over the waters far and wide, like a star of the firstmagnitude, a star of hope and safety, guiding sailors to their desiredhaven; perchance reminding them of that star of Bethlehem which guidedthe shepherds to Him who is the Light of the World and the Rock of Ages.