"I declare if that fat ain't boilin', an' I'm not half ready to use it."

Rising to his feet after his own clumsy fashion, he lifted the kettle of hot lard, intending to take it off the stove, when Captain Eph shouted from the head of the stairs in a voice somewhat resembling distant thunder:

"Glory be to G.o.d! Glory be to G.o.d! Sammy is sittin' up as pert as a chicken!"

Uncle Zenas started violently at the first outcry, but as the welcome tidings came to his ears he half-turned to replace the kettle on the stove, when his knee struck the open oven-door with such force that he lurched forward, uttering an exclamation of pain, and in a twinkling the old man was on the floor with the kettle of fat uppermost upon him.

Sidney heard a shrill cry of mingled fear and pain, and, turning quickly, saw that which terrified him, for he knew full well Uncle Zenas must be seriously burned.

Before there was time for the lad to speak, or even make the slightest move toward offering a.s.sistance, that portion of the boiling lard which had been spilled upon the stove burst into a flame, and instantly it was as if the entire kitchen was ablaze.

"Help! Captain Eph! Everything is on fire, and Uncle Zenas is burnin' to death!"

Fortunately Sidney remembered that water would be of no avail at such a time, and even while crying for help he caught up his coat which the cook had made for him, and threw it over Uncle Zenas.

At the same moment Captain Eph began to descend the iron stairs at the best possible speed, and, on arriving at the landing immediately over the kitchen, saw that which caused him to believe the disaster was fully as great as Sidney had announced. In his eagerness he leaped, his feet struck the stair midway from the bottom, and down he came like a log, lying motionless on the floor as if he had been killed.

"He's dead! He's dead!" Sidney screamed involuntarily in an agony of terror; but instinctively continuing his efforts to extinguish the flames which seemingly enveloped Uncle Zenas.

Then occurred that which at any other time would have frightened the lad, even more than the apparently fatal series of accidents; but which in his terror seemed no more than the natural sequence of events.

Mr. Peters, clad only in his under-clothes, came down the stairs so rapidly that it seemed as if he was sliding instead of running, and as he appeared Captain Eph staggered to his feet; but only to fall back upon the floor again with a shrill cry of pain.

Hanging on the wall of the kitchen were the outer garments which Captain Eph and Uncle Zenas had worn when they went in search of the raft, and, gathering these in his arms, Mr. Peters threw them over the prostrate cook, smothering the flames, after which he dragged him, with no little difficulty, away from the stove.

Sidney was doing all in his power to check the fire which rapidly crept out over the floor, and Mr. Peters shouted as he thus rescued Uncle Zenas:

"The flour! The flour, Sonny! Throw it over the fat!"

The pan in which Uncle Zenas had been mixing the dough was close at hand, and Sidney flung its contents upon the blaze, the sweet, sticky stuff acting like a blanket on the burning fat, but sending forth dense, stifling clouds of smoke.

Delaying only sufficiently long to make certain that the cook was no longer in danger of being burned to death, Mr. Peters ran swiftly to the head of the stairs, closed the door in the floor, and then darted back to open the windows lest all hands be suffocated.

In the meanwhile Captain Eph had made several vain efforts to rise, but each time his left leg bent under him, causing such agony of pain that he could not repress deep groans, which frightened Sidney almost as much as had the fire.

"What is the matter?" the lad cried tremulously, as he knelt by the side of the keeper, giving no further heed to the possibility that the tower might soon be in flames.

"I don't know whether my leg is broken or not," the old man replied as he strove to prevent any sign of suffering from escaping his lips.

"Don't spend your time on me, Sonny, but fight the fire, else we're all likely to be burned alive!"

Until this moment Uncle Zenas had not spoken; but continued to roll over and over on the floor as if suffering severely, and Mr. Peters devoted all his attention to him. Now when Captain Eph gave a decided command, the first a.s.sistant set about obeying it, and, with Sidney, labored feverishly to extinguish the flames which had already eaten into the floor and around the window.

Fresh water was a precious liquid on Carys' Ledge, where the entire supply must be brought from the mainland; but now it was used freely, and while the two injured men lay upon the floor unable to care for themselves, the kitchen was literally flooded before the last spark of fire had been extinguished.

Not until then did either Mr. Peters or Sidney give heed to the suffering keepers, but when the lad and the first a.s.sistant would have attended to Captain Eph, he said hoa.r.s.ely:

"Look after Zenas first; his hurts must be worse than mine."

"How badly off are you?" Mr. Peters asked as he bent over the suffering man, who was lying in a pool of water, and Uncle Zenas replied, striving in vain to prevent his voice from trembling:

"That's what I don't know, Sammy; but it seems as if my legs were on fire."

"Strip off his clothes, what there is left of 'em, Sammy, an' you set to work, Sonny, sc.r.a.pin' potatoes till you get enough to cover all the burned flesh," Captain Eph said in a tone of command. "Bring me somethin' to work with, an' I'll help you."

All this was done as speedily as possible, and when the partially burned clothing had been removed from the lower portion of Uncle Zenas' body, it was seen that both legs and feet were seriously injured, the blisters already beginning to appear.

As rapidly as the potatoes could be sc.r.a.ped into a thick paste, it was spread generously over the reddened flesh, and fastened in place by the old linen cloths which had been used for cleaning the lens.

Nearly an hour was spent in this work, and then the suffering man was left on the floor near the window where there was but little water, until the extent of Captain Eph's injuries could be ascertained.

"I didn't break any bones, that's certain, for I've been feelin' of my leg," the keeper said when Mr. Peters and Sidney knelt by his side; "but I came as near as a man could without splinterin' 'em, an' it looks as if I might be laid up quite a spell."

He had already taken off his shoe and stocking, exposing to view a limb swollen to fully twice its natural size, and Sidney was filled with wonder because the captain had been able to hide all evidences of the pain from which he was undoubtedly suffering.

"What shall I do for you, Captain Eph?" Mr. Peters asked helplessly.

"The only thing I know of is to tie it up in wet cloths, an' when that's been done you two had best get things dried out here, so's you'll have a chance to go into the lantern. I'm allowin' that the whole place is filled with smoke."

"We won't bother 'bout the light till we get you two fixed up in some kind of decent shape," Mr. Peters said decidedly, as if he considered himself in command. "I'll see to your leg while Sonny mops up the water."

Then Mr. Peters closed the windows on the easterly side of the tower, through which the moisture-laden snow was driving, and Sidney turned all his attention to making the room look more habitable.

"How are you gettin' on, Zenas?" Captain Eph asked as the second a.s.sistant beat his hands together to prevent a cry of pain from escaping his lips.

"I'm in misery, Ephraim, clear misery; but I know I've every reason to be thankful that I wasn't burned worse, an' am tryin' not to show myself a baby."

"Don't try, Uncle Zenas," the keeper said, himself striving to choke back a groan as Mr. Peters jarred the injured limb. "Yell all you want'er, an' we won't call it babyish, for when a man gets a kettle of hot fat poured over him he's like to be in a bad way."

It seemed to Sidney that he had never worked so slowly before, not even while he tried to light the lantern when Mr. Peters was brought home. He believed it in the highest degree necessary that the injured men be taken from the wet floor as speedily as possible, and yet he was making but little headway in mopping up the water.

Mr. Peters worked rapidly and dextrously, apparently in as good bodily condition as before he went adrift on the raft, and so great was the general excitement and suffering that no one appeared to consider his sudden recovery in any degree odd.

However clumsy Sidney may have thought himself, his work was finished within a reasonably short time. The floor was freed from water, the partially burned and saturated garments thrown out of the window, and the kitchen restored as nearly as possible to its former condition.

When this had been done Sidney brought from the sleeping rooms a plentiful supply of blankets and pillows, with which two beds could be made on the floor, and within three hours from the time the accidents occurred, the injured keepers had at least the appearance of being comfortable.

"There's nothin' else you two can turn your hands to here yet awhile, an' I _do_ wish you'd go into the lantern. It stands to reason that everything there is in bad shape, an' the sooner it is set to rights the better I'll feel," Captain Eph said in such a tone of entreaty that Mr.

Peters and Sidney made all haste to do as he desired.

As was to be supposed, the smoke had ascended to the very top of the tower; but the lantern was by no means in a bad condition, and the first a.s.sistant said cheerily as he set about wiping the lens:

"Cap'n Eph hasn't got any great call to worry 'bout this 'ere light. It won't take us half an hour to put things in as good shape as they were before; but what's worryin' me is how we're to get along while two of the crew are laid up for what's likely to be a long spell."

CHAPTER XIV.