und to
be the exasperating one--was actually a season of relief. But it was
always followed by a terrible squall of scraping wooden legs and
clanking human feet when the camp stools were set, and the men came
in and sat down to the meal.

The pouring out of the tea, however, was the point that would have
called forth the admiration of the world--had the world seen it. What
a contrast between the miserable, sickly, slow-dribbling silver and
other teapots of the land, and this great teapot of the sea! The Bell
Rock teapot had no sham, no humbug about it. It was a big,
bold-looking one, of true Britannia metal, with vast internal
capacity and a gaping mouth.

Dove seized it in his strong hand as he would have grasped his
biggest fore-hammer. Before you could wink, a sluice seemed to burst
open; a torrent of rich brown tea spouted at your cup, and it was
full--the saucer too, perhaps--in a moment.

But why dwell on these luxurious scenes? Reader, you can never know
them from experience unless you go to visit the Bell Bock; we will
therefore cease to tantalize you.

During breakfast it was discussed whether or not the signal-ball
should be hoisted.

The signal-ball was fixed to a short staff on the summit of the
lighthouse, and the rule was that it should be hoisted at a fixed
hour every morning _when all was well_, and kept up until an
answering signal should be made from a signal-tower in Arbroath
where the keepers' families dwelt, and where each keeper in
succession spent a fortnight with his family, after a spell of six
weeks on the rock. It was the duty of the keeper on shore to watch
for the hoisting of the ball (the "All's well" signal) each morning
on the lighthouse, and to reply to it with a similar ball on the
signal-tower.

If, on any occasion, the hour for signalling should pass without the
ball on the lighthouse being shown, then it was understood that
something was wrong, and the attending boat of the establishment was
sent off at once to ascertain the cause, and afford relief if
necessary. The keeping down of the ball was, however, an event of
rare occurrence, so that when it did take place the poor wives of the
men on the rock were usually thrown into a state of much perturbation
and anxiety, each naturally supposing that her husband must be
seriously ill, or have met with a bad accident.

It was therefore natural that there should be some hesitation about
keeping down the ball merely for the purpo