nd the whistle above.

Soon after, Joe Dumsby made his appearance at the trap-door, looking
very sleepy.

"I feels as 'eavy as a lump o' lead," said he. "Wot an 'orrible thing
it is to be woke out o' a comf'r'able sleep."

Just as he spoke the lighthouse received a blow so tremendous that all
the men started and looked at each other for a moment in surprise.

"I say, is it warranted to stand _anything_?" enquired Ruby seriously.

"I hope it is," replied the smith, "else it'll be a blue lookout for
_us_. But we don't often get such a rap as that. D'ye mind the first
we ever felt o' that sort, Forsyth? It happened last month. I was on
watch at the time, Forsyth was smokin' his pipe in the kitchen, and
Dumsby was in bed, when a sea struck us with such force that I thought
we was done for. In a moment Forsyth and Joe came tumblin' up the
ladder--Joe in his shirt. `It must have been a ship sailed right
against us,' says Forsyth, and with that we all jumped on the rail that
runs round the lantern there and looked out, but no ship could be seen,
though it was a moonlight night. You see there's plenty o' water at
high tide to let a ship of two hundred tons, drawin' twelve feet, run
slap into us, and we've sometimes feared this in foggy weather; but it
was just a blow of the sea. We've had two or three like it since, and
are gettin' used to it now."

"Well, we can't get used to do without sleep," said Forsyth, stepping
down through the trap-door, "so I'll bid ye all good night."

"'Old on! Tell Ruby about Junk before ye go," cried Dumsby. "Ah! well,
I'll tell 'im myself. You must know, Ruby, that we've got what they
calls an hoccasional light-keeper ashore, who larns the work out 'ere in
case any of us reg'lar keepers are took ill, so as 'e can supply our
place on short notice. Well, 'e was out 'ere larnin' the dooties one
tremendous stormy night, an' the poor fellow was in a mortial fright for
fear the lantern would be blowed right hoff the top o' the stone column,
and 'imself along with it. You see, the door that covers the manhole
there is usually shut when we're on watch, but Junk (we called 'im Junk
'cause 'e wos so like a lump o' fat pork), 'e kep the door open all the
time an' sat close beside it, so as to be ready for a dive. Well, it
was my turn to watch, so I went up, an' just as I puts my fut on the
first step o' the lantern-ladder there comes a sea like wot we had a
minit ago; the wind at the sa