"We get the spray, and that is all," answered the P.K. "It's dirty
weather when that happens. But the water usually has spent its force
when it reaches this height."

The exterior windows of the lantern were diamond shaped and of plate
glass. In the middle of the lantern was the large concentric-ringed
glass of great magnifying power.

"You can turn it round with your little finger," said the P.K. "That's
because it floats in a mercury bath. And in turning that you are moving
four tons. When the lantern is lighted, it shows dark for seven and a
half seconds, then two sets of four flashes, making a complete
revolution every half-minute. They can see the light at sea on a clear
night for nineteen miles. The light is worked by vaporised oil. The
compressed air drives the oil to the lantern, up through that burner in
a hole hardly big enough to take a pin point. It is nearly half a
million candle-power. This type of light is considered even better than
electricity. In the old-style oil-lights they burned five quarts in the
same time that this one consumes a pint with better results."

The actual burner of the lantern is disappointing, as one expects to see
a giant burner. Really, it is only about twice the size of the average
household one.

Mr. Cutting observed that the light was carefully timed, and called
attention to the half-minute hand on the clock in the tower. Persons are
always asking the P.K. how he spends his time, and he wondered why. He
believed that anybody ought to see that there was plenty for a man to do
while he is on a four hours' watch in the tower. The turning of the
light, showing black outside and then flashing its warnings, after his
many years of experience of such things, is only taken for granted by
this P.K.

"And when I've finished lighting the lamp, trimming up things a bit,"
said the P.K., "I sit down like anybody else. Lots of people seem to
forget that the lighthouse-keeper is not the coast-guard or the head of
the crew of a life-saving station. They have their work to attend to,
but we watch for fogs night and day. When a man is stationed at a
lighthouse like the Longships, which is a little distance out on a rock,
he may be a couple of months without being relieved. But he has others
with him, and a good stock of food. If he wishes to communicate with the
land, he does so by signals; and that's the way men over there talk with
their wives who live in cottages on shore. The telepho