97
XI. A Masterful Old Maid 113
XII. A Record and a Presentment 122
XIII. The Distant Light 136
XIV. The Tower of Liverpool: Master and Man 144
XV. Under the Light 156
XVI. The Recluse and the Squire 174

PART III

"CAPTAIN JACK," THE GOLD SMUGGLER

XVII. Gold Smuggler and the Philosopher 191
XVIII. "Love Gilds the Scene and Woman Guides the Plot" 211
XIX. A Junior's Opinion 224
XX. The Quick and the Dead 244
XXI. The Dawn of an Eventful Day 252
XXII. The Day: Morning 262
XXIII. The Day: Noon 276
XXIV. The Night 294
XXV. The Fight for the Open 309
XXVI. The Three Colours 323
XXVII. Under the Light Again: The Lady and the Cargo 335
XXVIII. The End of the Thread 349
XXIX. The Light Goes Out 364
XXX. Husband and Wife 375
XXXI. In Lancaster Castle 382
XXXII. The One He Loved and the One Who Loved Him 393
XXXIII. Launched on the Great Wave 406
XXXIV. The Gibbet on the Sands 413
XXXV. The Light Rekindled 430

PART I

SIR ADRIAN LANDALE, LIGHT-KEEPER OF SCARTHEY

_We all were sea-swallowed, though some cast again;
And by that destiny to perform an act,
Whereof what's past is Prologue._

THE TEMPEST

THE LIGHT OF SCARTHEY

CHAPTER I

THE PEEL OF SCARTHEY

He makes a solitude and calls it peace.

BYRON.

Alone in the south and seaward corner of the great bight on the
Lancastrian coast--mournfully alone some say, gloriously alone to my
thinking--rises in singular unexpected fashion the islet of Scarthey;
a green oasis secure on its white rocky seat amidst the breezy
wilderness of sands and waters.

There is, in truth, mo