ad of
irritated the departed one. Then he remembered certain fragments of
their last conversation and wished the stove-lifter had been flung with
better aim.

Now, standing on the gallery of the south tower, he was conscious of
a desire for breakfast. Preparing that meal had been a part of his
assistant's duties. Now he must prepare it himself, and he was hungry
and sleepy. He mentally vowed that he would no longer delay notifying
the authorities of the desertion, and would urge them to hurry in
sending some one to fill the vacant place.

Grumbling aloud to himself, he moved around the circle of the gallery
toward the door. His hand was on the latch, when, turning, he cast
another glance over the rail, this time directly downward toward the
beach below. And there he saw something which caused him to forget
hunger and grievances of all kinds; something which, after one horrified
look to make sure, led him to dart into the light chamber, spring at a
reckless gait down the winding stair, out of the tower, rush to the edge
of the bluff, and plunge headlong down the zigzag path worn in the clay.

On the sand, at the foot of the bluff below the lights, just beyond
reach of the wash of the surf, lay a man, or the dead body of a man,
stretched at full length.

CHAPTER II

MR. JOHN BROWN

Once before, during his years of service as keeper of Eastboro
Twin-Lights, had Seth seen such a sight as that which now caused him to
make his dash for the shore. Once before, after the terrible storm of
1905, when the great steamer Bay Queen went down with all on board, the
exact spot of her sinking unknown even to this day. Then the whole ocean
side of the Cape, from Race Point to Orham, was strewn with ghastly
relics. But the Bay Queen met her fate in the winter season, amid a gale
such as even the oldest residents could not remember. Now it was early
summer; the night before had been a flat calm. There had been no wreck,
or the lifesavers would have told him of it. There would be no excuse
for a wreck, anyway.

All this, in disjointed fragments, passed through the lightkeeper's
mind as he descended the path in frantic bounds and plowed through
the ankle-deep white sand of the beach. As he approached the recumbent
figure he yelled a panted "Hi, there!" He did not expect the hail to be
answered or even noticed. Therefore, he was pleasantly disappointed when
the figure rolled over, raised itself on one elbow, looked at him in