ft the five hundred dollars he promised
to give for the gal, he can have her. Give me the money, and I'll go my
ways."

"I ain't no go-between for a scoundrel such as you, Jack Crab,"
declared the lighthouse keeper. "There's no money here for ye."

"Then I'll have the gal if I tear the lighthouse down for it--stone
by stone!" roared the fellow.

"And it's your kind that always blows before they breeches," declared
Mother Purling, referring to the habit of the whale, which spouts before
it upends and dives out of sight. "Go away!"

"I won't go away!"

"Yes, ye will, an' quick, too!"

"Old woman, ye don't know me!" stormed the unreasonable man. "I want
that money, an' I'm bound to have it--one way or th' other!"

"You'll get nuthin', Jack Crab, but a broken head if ye keep on in
this fashion," returned the woman of the lighthouse, her honest wrath
growing greater every moment.

"We'll see about that!" howled the man. "Are ye goin' to let me in
or not?"

"No, I tell ye! Go away!"

"Then I'll bust my way in, see ef I don't!"

At that the fellow threw himself against the door, and the screws of
one hinge began to tear out of the woodwork. Mother Purling saw it, and
motioned the frightened girls and Tom toward the stairway which led to
the gallery around the lantern.

"Go up yon!" she commanded. "Shut and lock that door on ye. He'll
not durst set foot on government property, and that's what the light
is. Go up."

She shooed them all into the stairway and slammed the door. There she
stood with her back against it, while, at the next blow, Jack Crab forced
the outer door of her cottage inward and fell sprawling across its
wreck into the room.

CHAPTER XXV

WHAT JANE ANN WANTED

Ruth and her companions could not see what went on in the cottage;
but they did not mount the stairs. They could not leave the old
woman--plucky as she was--to fight Jack Crab alone.

But they need not have been so fearful for Mother Purling's safety. The
instant the man fell into the main room of the cottage, Mother Purling
darted to the stove, seized the heavy poker which lay upon the hearth,
and sprang for the rascal.

Jack Crab had got upon his knees, threatening her with dire vengeance.
The old lighthouse keeper never said a word in reply, but brought the
heavy poker down upon his head and shoulders with right good will, and
Jack Crab's tune changed on the instant.

Again and again Mother Purling struck him. He rol