“No,” answered Mr. Dent. “In some the lamp is an electric one, and in others it burns gas. This is an old-fashioned light, and has been here many years. There is some talk of taking it away and putting a new electric light in its place. When they do, I suppose I shall lose my job,” he added, with a short laugh.
“That’s what Mr. Keller is afraid of,” remarked Janet.
“Who is Mr. Keller, and why is he afraid of losing his place?” asked Mr. Dent.
“It’s ’cause he lost Mr. Narr’s keys,” explained Ted, telling the story.
“Hum,” remarked Mr. Dent. “Lost in the sand, eh? Well, it’s pretty hard to find anything once it gets in the sand. You might pick it up right away quick, and, again, it might be years before you saw it again, and then it would only be by accident.”
“We’ll look again when we go back,” said Janet to her brother.
“Yes,” he agreed. “And I hope we’ll find the ring and the keys.”
Mr. Dent showed the children all about the lighthouse, and even turned on the machinery that revolved the light. It was this turning of the light that made it flash.
There were several kinds of lights in the beacons along the coast, the keeper explained. Some were fixed white or red lights, and some were revolving or flashing red or white lights. In these last there was an arrangement so the sailor saw first a flash of light, and then a patch of darkness would come.
“Every lighthouse has a different number of flashes,” explained Mr. Dent, “and the sailors, by counting them, can tell which house it is. Then they know on what part of the coast they are.”