fied. Twelve
years of blood had not sufficed to quench the fire of hate that
consumed his heart.

All those whose bodies lay scattered among the rocks beneath him were
men quite unknown to him. He never even learnt their names, nor was he
present when they were struck down.

But one thing he still yearned for--of one thing he was ever dreaming.
His sole remaining wish was to hold in his destroying power those who
had made him so miserable; to meet them for a moment face to face;
then to drink in the curses of their despair as they were thrust down
into their graves. That, indeed, would be the very crown of his
life-work!

During summer the work was discontinued. In northern regions
lighthouses are of little service in the short and light summer
nights. During these months of inactivity the Master, as became a
dutiful father, instructed his son in all those arts whereby the
mighty powers of Nature are made serviceable to man. He exercised him
also in the use of arms--not in true knightly fashion, but with all
the tricks approved of bandits and corsairs. He took the boy with him
in his boat among the reefs along the shore, so that he should learn
early to be reckless and defiant of all danger. Many a time he would
throw the lad from the boat right out into the eddy. At first he was
unable to get out without help, and then the father would leap in
after him and bring him back by the hair of the head. In a little
time, however, the lad was expert enough to dispense with all help,
and would swim in and out of the most dangerous positions alone.

About the end of autumn in the twelfth year an imperial Russian
gunboat was wrecked upon the rocks of Dago. Among the papers found in
the cabin by the plunderers was an Admiralty order addressed to all
the commanders of war vessels. This document stated that during the
past twelve years a vast number of maritime disasters had occurred in
the Baltic, and particularly (so, at least, it was believed) in the
passage between Faro and Gustavsvarn. As not a single soul was known
to have survived, the general voice of terror and exasperation had at
length decided the ruling powers to move in the matter. The order went
on to express the opinion that these seas must be the haunt of some
piratical vessel which captured ships in stormy nights, and sent them
to the bottom after slaughtering their crews. For, strangely enough,
no one had ever found a single fragment of any of the missing vess