“No, they let it stay. The cement oozed through the mesh of the cloth and gripped the block just the same,” said Mr. Warner.
“Hum, that’s a queer wrinkle,” said Jack.
“Well, we may do some of that work here the early part of the Fall when the tides run unusually high and the seas get to curling up on us. Yes, we’re mighty lucky in having the top of the Head so high above water. Also we have been fortunate so far as weather conditions are concerned. Goodness knows some lighthouse builders have had to fight storms almost all the time. Look at the crew that undertook to build the famous Tillemook light under Ballantyne. They fought the weather incessantly, and they even stuck to the rock during a blow that developed into a real tornado which smashed and carried away the storehouse in which their provisions were kept. It was several weeks before more provisions could be brought to them, and in the meantime all they had left was some hard bread and coffee and a little bacon. Those are conditions to work under, lads. Why, this is like dallying in the lap of luxury compared with Tillemook, Minot’s Ledge, Eddystone and the rest of the difficult marine engineering stunts that have been undertaken.”
“Lighthouses have to be mighty strong structures, don’t they?” said Ray, who had been examining the way the heavy stones were interlocked, cemented, and then double fastened with iron “dogs.”
“Strong? I should say so,” assured the engineer. “Why, some of them have to stand wind and waves that tear solid stone to pieces. I remember hearing once of a light over in England, or Ireland, rather, on the Fastnet Rock, the first light steamships sight on their way to England. In a storm a big section of the rock itself, three tons or more it weighed, was torn loose, but before it could fall into the sea, a second wave seized it and hurled it into the air squarely against the lighthouse tower on the top of the rock.”
“Did the tower stand up under that?” exclaimed Jack in wide-eyed amazement.
“Yes, it did, and many another beating almost as bad. Why, they say that storms are so heavy over there that the tower trembles and sways under the force of wind and water. Cups have been jarred from the table to the floor, glasses knocked down and broken, and many other disagreeable things have happened. Yet the tower stood up under it all and still stands, although there has been a new tower erected since. I think that one of the famous Stevensons had something to do with it.”
“Stevensons?” said Jack. “Oh, I’ve heard of them. They were related to the author, Robert Louis Stevenson, weren’t they?”
“Yes,” said Mr. Warner, “the author of Treasure Island came from a family of renowned lighthouse builders. There are many lights along the Scottish and English coast that stand as monuments to the skill of the author’s kinsmen. Among them are the Chicken Rock light on the Isle of Man and Skerryvore.”
“Tell us, Mr. Warner, have many lights been swept away into the sea by storms?” asked Jack, as he and Ray started to climb into the little cable-car that carried them over the aerial railway back to shore.