Four seated about the tiny dining-room of Eli Whittaker’s spick-and-span cottage made the place seem crowded indeed. Eli was his own cook and housekeeper and he was a past-master at both, according to Jack’s way of thinking. That he was an excellent housekeeper was evident from a glance about the neat cottage and the neater light tower. And as for his cooking ability, well, great dishes full of steamed clams, three fat lobsters split in half, and generous portions of corned beef, boiled potatoes and canned corn, all provided eloquent testimony to this fact. The quartet fell to with a will, and Ray, despite his handicap, managed to consume as much as the rest.
After dinner the two lads helped Captain Eli wash dishes, though Ray was of little assistance because of his injured arm. And while they were thus occupied Mr. Warner came in from the camp with word that O’Brien had assured him that all work on the buildings would be completed by evening, and that the next morning everything would be ready for their first attempt to land on Cobra Head.
A little later the engineer took Jack and Ray over to a two-roomed shanty in which he intended to make his office and drafting-room. Here they were shown to the rear apartment where there were several high desks and a number of books. This portion of the building, Mr. Warner informed them, was to be their domain, Jack being given one desk and Ray another.
For half an hour Mr. Warner explained in detail the clerical work that the boys would have to attend to, and before he left he assured them that their daily routine would not keep them occupied more than a few hours each morning and that the rest of the time they would be at liberty to spend with the engineers, or the crew, or do whatever else they saw fit to occupy their time.
Their first duties, however, were enough to keep the lads occupied for some time and Eli Whittaker’s conch was sounding its evening warning almost before they realized it.
“Jiminy,” said Jack, looking up from his books, “it’s time to eat again. I’m hungrier than a bear too. My, what an appetite I’ve developed since I left Vermont.”
“I get sort of hungry myself now that I don’t have to worry about Uncle Vance and his disagreeable temper. If I only had the lifeboat model he tossed overboard I’d be as happy as any one could be. I’m going to get at a new model as soon as my arm gets better, by jiminy, and you can bet no one’s going to get a chance to heave it overboard again. The thing that is worrying me though is whether I’ll be able to remember just how I had the first one built,” said Ray, slipping down from his high stool and joining Jack.
“Tut, tut,” said Jack, “don’t worry about it now. Let’s go and get something to eat.”
When the two lads came out of the office door they noticed immediately that although it still lacked an hour or more of dusk Eli Whittaker had already lighted the lamp in the tower. Jack and Ray watched it shoot forth its single ray of white light periodically as the big lens revolved.
“I’m going up in the tower after supper and learn something about lighthouse lamps, that is if Captain Whittaker will let me,” said Jack, as they walked up the path to the top of the promontory.