," cried Forsyth, seizing his friend's
hand, and wringing it heartily.

"Hallo! you two seem to be on good terms, anyhow," observed Jamie
Dove, whose head appeared at that moment through the hole in the
floor by which the lantern communicated with the room below. "I came
to see if anything had gone wrong, for your time of watch is up."

"So it is," exclaimed Forsyth, rising and crossing to the other side
of the apartment, where he applied his lips to a small tube in the
wall.

"What are you doing?" enquired Ruby.
"Whistling up Joe," said Forsyth. "This pipe runs down to the
sleepin' berths, where there's a whistle close to Joe's ear. He must
be asleep. I'll try again."

He blew down the tube a second time and listened for a reply, which
came up a moment or two after in a sharp whistle through a similar
tube reversed; that is, with the mouthpiece below and the whistle
above.

Soon after, Joe Dumsby made his appearance at the trapdoor, looking
very sleepy.

"I feels as 'eavy as a lump o' lead," said he. "Wot an 'orrible
thing it is to be woke out o' a comf'r'able sleep."

Just as he spoke the lighthouse received a blow so tremendous that
all the men started and looked at each other for a moment in
surprise.

"I say, is it warranted to stand _anything?_" enquired Ruby
seriously.

"I hope it is," replied the smith, "else it'll be a blue lookout for
_us_. But we don't often get such a rap as that. D'ye mind the first
we ever felt o' that sort, Forsyth? It happened last month. I was on
watch at the time, Forsyth was smokin' his pipe in the kitchen, and
Dumsby was in bed, when a sea struck us with such force that I
thought we was done for. In a moment Forsyth and Joe came tumblin' up
the ladder--Joe in his shirt. 'It must have been a ship sailed right
against us,' says Forsyth, and with that we all jumped on the rail
that runs round the lantern there and looked out, but no ship could
be seen, though it was a moonlight night. You see there's plenty o'
water at high tide to let a ship of two hundred tons, drawin' twelve
feet, run slap into us, and we've sometimes feared this in foggy
weather; but it was just a blow of the sea. We've had two or three
like it since, and are gettin' used to it now."

"Well, we can't get used to do without sleep," said Forsyth, stepping
down through the trapdoor, "so I'll bid ye all good night."

"'Old on! Tell Ruby about Junk before ye go," cried Dumsby. "Ah!
well, I'll tell 'im my