“My, but that’s interesting,” said Jack. “I did notice that each block was marked, but I had no idea that building a stone lighthouse could be made as simple as all that.”
“Oh, it may sound simple,” said Mr. Warner, “but you just wait until we begin operations. Then it won’t seem so easy.”
“What gets me,” said Ray, “is how you are going to get all of those big chunks of stone over to the rock. Why, some of ’em look as if they weighed five or six tons. Also, how on earth did you get them up on top of this cliff?”
“I’ll answer both of those questions at once,” said Mr. Warner. “You are quite right, Ray; the blocks do weigh a great deal. In fact, some of the larger ones to be used in the base of the lighthouse weigh fully four tons. Under those circumstances it must look like a tremendous task to get them up to the top of the cliff and later take them over to the rock. You see, if Cobra Head had been larger and the water in the vicinity less treacherous, the lighters that brought the stone here from Portland would have landed it on the rock. Under the existing conditions, however, this could not be done and the next best thing was to land the material on Hood Island. To leave it at the beach, where we came ashore, would have been out of the question, for it would be necessary later on to reload it on lighters, section by section, and take it to the rock. Finally we decided that we would adopt the same methods as those used by the English engineers in building several famous lights; that is, we planned an aerial cableway between the top of the cliff and Cobra Head rock, thus providing a short and safe means of conveying men, supplies and materials to the reef’s head. That steel tower yonder, which the men are re-rigging, and that donkey engine on the cliff’s edge, were installed a month or so ago, and every time a lighter with stone and supplies of a cumbersome nature came in, a temporary cableway was rigged from the tower to the mast on board the boat and the supplies brought ashore in that way.
“Our trip to the rock to-morrow will be to carry a line out there with which to rig up a temporary breeches-buoy outfit such as coastguards use in case of a wreck. In this men will be sent to the reef to drill holes and make an anchorage for the aerial cableway which will be built immediately. Then everything will be ready for the real construction work.”
Mr. Warner paused again and sketched a map of the reef and the island showing how the cableway would be built between the island and the head of the reef.
“What sort of a foundation will you have for the light, Mr. Warner?” asked Ray.
“Oh, I was coming to that. Here’s how we will proceed with the work. To-morrow we will land on the rock, providing Neptune is willing. Then while some men are drilling holes in which to put the ringbolts to hold the reef end of the cableway, other men will start chipping away the humps and bumps on Cobra Head. That lump that looks like a head itself will have to be cut away and the top of the hood will be made as flat as possible. It will not be necessary to dig very deep into the rock because the constant erosion of the sea for centuries past has eaten away all the soft parts of the rock, if there ever were any, and all that you see above water now is as firm and as hard as flint. As I said before, we’ll pare it down somewhat in spots and we may be forced to use a little dynamite in the work, though I’ll avoid that if possible for explosives may shatter the entire boulder if they are not used carefully. Then where would we be?”
“I think if that should happen you would have a mighty hard job on your hands,” said Jack.
“You’re right, we would,” assured Mr. Warner. Then he continued, “When the chipping is all done and the cableway is in working order, things will proceed as smoothly as the elements will allow. The first blocks will be sent down and put in place. They will be imbedded in cement which will take hold of both the rock and the building block. After the cement is set a hole will be drilled through the granite block and deep into the boulder. A heavy steel bolt will be sunk through this hole and anchored to the reef with hydraulic cement which will be forced home under pressure. When this cement has set the first tier of stones will be as solid as man can make it.