esented to him.
"I hadn't thought of that part of it."

"Well," observed Fred, "if there's going to be a storm, as seems pretty
likely now, we'll hope that nothing of the kind occurs. After that
stormy time we had on the _Ariel_, I can imagine pretty well what
it must feel like to be shipwrecked. When we were headed for those
rocks, I expected to be swimming for dear life in about two minutes."

"It must have been rather bad, I suppose," said Lester with a smile. "It
wasn't so bad for me, because I had done the stunt before and was sure I
could do it again.

"But this is no time for talking," he added. "Either I've got to get
something to eat pretty soon or else quietly give up the ghost. I'm as
hungry as a bear in spring time, and I'm willing to bet something that
you fellows feel the same way."

"You win," admitted Fred. "But luckily for us it's near dinner time so
we still have a chance to live awhile."

"Let's hurry and clean up then before dad calls us to the table."

As Lester stopped speaking, a gust of wind tore past the lighthouse with
a mournful wail. The sound died down for a few seconds and then rose
again in a dismal, long-drawn-out note that caused the boys to give an
involuntary shudder.

"That's the beginning," declared Lester. "It will keep getting worse and
worse, and after a while we'll hardly be able to hear each other speak.
We're in for a real blow this time I think."

"Let's go up into the light room and see what it looks like outside,"
suggested Fred. "It's getting dark fast and we'll not be able to see
anything before long."

"All right, come ahead," agreed Lester.

He headed the group up the spiral stairs that led to the lamp room.

An early dusk had fallen over the heaving ocean, yet it was not so dark
but that they could see that the seas were rising rapidly. Here and
there the big waves were capped with white crests as they raced away
before the spur of the merciless wind. Already they were breaking
against the rocks on which the lighthouse stood with a heavy roar and a
force that caused the building, stout as it was, to tremble.

"It sure is working up fast, isn't it?" asked Teddy in a subdued voice.
"I'd hate to be out in it even now. And I suppose it hasn't really begun
to get bad yet."

"You're right, it hasn't," assented Lester grimly. "But now while we are
up here, I'd better light the lamps. Then I can go down and eat with an
easy conscience."

Accordingly, he lit th