damage that it was
supposed must certainly have been done.

To the credit of the able engineer who planned and carried out the
whole works, the beacon was found to have resisted winds and waves
successfully.

It was on a bitterly cold morning about the end of March that the
first visit of the season was paid to the Bell Rock. Mr. Stevenson
and his party of engineers and artificers sailed in the lighthouse
yacht; and, on coming within a proper distance of the rock, two boats
were lowered and pushed off. The sea ran with such force upon the
rock that it seemed doubtful whether a landing could be effected.
About half-past eight, when the rock was fairly above water, several
attempts were made to land, but the breach of the sea was still so
great that they were driven back.

On the eastern side the sea separated into two distinct waves, which
came with a sweep round the western side, where they met, and rose
in a burst of spray to a considerable height. Watching, however, for
what the sailors termed a smooth, and catching a favourable
opportunity, they rowed between the two seas dexterously, and made a
successful landing at the western creek.

The sturdy beacon was then closely examined. It had been painted
white at the end of the previous season, but the lower parts of the
posts were found to have become green--the sea having clothed them
with a soft garment of weed. The sea-birds had evidently imagined
that it was put up expressly for their benefit; for a number of
cormorants and large herring-gulls had taken up their quarters on
it--finding it, no doubt, conveniently near to their fishing-grounds.

A critical inspection of all its parts showed that everything about
it was in a most satisfactory state. There was not the slightest
indication of working or shifting in the great iron stanchions with
which the beams were fixed, nor of any of the joints or places of
connexion; and, excepting some of the bracing-chains which had been
loosened, everything was found in the same entire state in which it
had been left the previous season.

Only those who know what that beacon had been subjected to can form a
correct estimate of the importance of this discovery, and the amount
of satisfaction it afforded to those most interested in the works at
the Bell Rock. To say that the party congratulated themselves would
be far short of the reality. They hailed the event with cheers, and
their looks seemed to indicate that some piece