t of his garments.

Episodes of this kind were not unfrequent, and they usually furnished
food for conversation at the time, and for frequent allusion afterwards.

But it was not all sunshine and play, by any means.

Not long after Ruby joined, the fine weather broke up, and a succession
of stiff breezes, with occasional storms, more or lees violent, set in.
Landing on the rock became a matter of extreme difficulty, and the short
period of work was often curtailed to little more than an hour each
tide.

The rolling of the _Pharos_ lightship, too, became so great that
sea-sickness prevailed to a large extent among the landsmen. One good
arose out of this evil, however. Landing on the Bell Rock invariably
cured the sickness for a time, and the sea-sick men had such an intense
longing to eat of the dulse that grew there, that they were always ready
and anxious to get into the boats when there was the slightest
possibility of landing.

Getting into the boats, by the way, in a heavy sea, when the lightship
was rolling violently, was no easy matter. When the fine weather first
broke up, it happened about midnight, and the change commenced with a
stiff breeze from the eastward. The sea rose at once, and, long before
daybreak, the _Pharos_ was rolling heavily in the swell, and straining
violently at the strong cable which held her to her moorings.

About dawn Mr Stevenson came on deck. He could not sleep, because he
felt that on his shoulders rested not only the responsibility of
carrying this gigantic work to a satisfactory conclusion, but also, to a
large extent, the responsibility of watching over and guarding the lives
of the people employed in the service.

"Shall we be able to land to-day, Mr Wilson?" he said, accosting the
master of the _Pharos_, who has been already introduced as the
landing-master.

"I think so; the barometer has not fallen much; and even although the
wind should increase a little, we can effect a landing by the Fair Way,
at Hope's Wharf."

"Very well, I leave it entirely in your hands; you understand the
weather better than I do, but remember that I do not wish my men to run
unnecessary or foolish risk."

It may be as well to mention here that a small but exceedingly strong
tramway of iron-grating had been fixed to the Bell Rock at an elevation
varying from two to four feet above it, and encircling the site of the
building. This tramway or railroad was narrow, not quite three feet in