a which had been left
in the teapot. He had come to his senses, and had tried to crawl to
the ladder, when he heard her voice singing softly right up in the
lantern. He contrived to drag himself along the floor of the room,
and could just see a gleam from one of the lamps coming through the
chinks of the wood-work. The child, when she found her father did
not return, had grown afraid; but her great fear was that the lamps
would not be lighted, and as the place grew dark she made up her
mind to try to light them herself. She had seen her father clean the
lamps, and had been with him up the ladder, holding his strong hand;
and she knew too where the match was kept, for she had been shown
everything about the place while she was there on those long days
alone with her father till the other man came on duty in the
evening. So up she went, softly singing a hymn to herself, and after
steadying herself by one of the iron rods that supported the
lantern, put the lighted match to the wick, and was so startled to
see the great yellow glare that shone from the reflector that she
nearly lost her balance. When she reached the bottom of the ladder
she found her friend looking at her quite wide awake; but he could
do nothing to help her, except by telling her how to manage the
light, and also how to move up there in the great glass lantern of
the lighthouse, so that she might reach each lamp in turn.

When her father came up the steep stair, followed by a dozen of his
comrades, she gave a cry of delight and was in his arms in a
moment; and she was soon made such a pet of by the men there that
they all wanted her to accept knives, and rings, and pocket combs,
and even tobacco-boxes, because they had nothing else to offer her;
but she had her father and that was quite enough for her, and as he
held her to his breast she could feel his tears fall upon her head,
and yet he was as brave as any man who lived upon that coast.

"However could she do it?" said Bunny, who had earnestly listened to
this story.

"She forgot all about herself, Bunny, and thought only of other
people and of the duty that was straight before her," said Frank
gently.

Bunny remained very serious all the rest of the evening; perhaps the
story of the child lighting the lamps reminded her of the trick she
had played poor old Ashton when she poured water into his
wine-glasses.

But as we have seen already, Bunny was improving, and her mama was
indeed delighted to