"Oh, Tobias!" she gasped, "it is dreadful! I never imagined the power of the wind was so great."
"I cal'late this is some gale," he agreed. "And if the wind don't shift before the tide turns, the sea's going to roll in here clean across the flats. She'll pour over the reefs in a reg'lar flood."
"Oh, never, Tobias!"
"I believe 'twill," he repeated. "We're likely to have such another high tide as we had in ninety-eight. Our cellar was full then, and no mistake."
"Why, Tobias Bassett, there isn't any cellar to this lighthouse."
"Oh, sugar! So there ain't. Ne'r mind. It would have been full if we'd had a cellar," he chuckled. "And this comin' tide may be like it. It'll maybe wash out the shell road. It did that time."
"Then I would better hurry home. I may be marooned here all night if I don't."
"Wal, maybe so. But you're welcome to stay, and I guess Miss Ida won't worry none about ye."
When Lorna ran downstairs she felt, after all, that she could not leave Tobias alone to fumble with the housekeeping. He had all he could do unassisted to attend to the light.
"And poor Miss Heppy in bed," the girl murmured. "I'll get dinner for them anyway before I go. An invalid would fare poorly in this tower to-day with only Tobias about."