"Now you're talkin' queer, agin, Sammy," the old keeper said in a tone of real concern, and the first assistant replied as he struggled to restrain his mirth:
"Look here, Cap'n Eph, jest try to hold in till eight o'clock to-night, an' then you'll understand all about it. This 'ere is a little surprise of mine, an' I reckon there ain't anythin' in the rules an' regerlations to prevent me from springin' it."
Even Uncle Zenas was convinced by this time that Mr. Peters had not lost any portion of his mind, and Captain Eph returned to the kitchen, where he said, as if having solved some important problem:
"What Sammy bought when he was ashore has got somethin' to do with the surprise he's countin' on givin' us, an' I s'pose we may as well let him have his fling, for he always was a good deal of a boy."
As a matter of fact, so Uncle Zenas afterward told Sidney, Mr. Peters was two years older than Captain Eph, but one might have thought, from the way the others treated him, that the first assistant was a mere child as compared with them.
The cook was brimming over with curiosity as to the nature of the surprise which Mr. Peters had in store for them, and Captain Eph confessed that he was "all in the dark"; but, remembering the shape of some of the packages the first assistant brought with him, and his fear lest they should get wet, Sidney believed he could make a very good guess as to what was coming.
"He sha'n't be the only one on this 'ere ledge who can rig up a surprise," Uncle Zenas finally said. "You two are to get out of this kitchen, an' stay out until after the light is started; when I call you to supper, come runnin', or I'll make considerable trouble."
"This way, Sonny," Captain Eph said with a laugh. "I reckon our place is up-stairs whether they want us to go or not, for there's gettin' to be altogether too much mystery about this 'ere ledge to suit me."
Sidney followed the keeper, and when the two were climbing the stairs, the lad said:
"This must be one of the highest towers the Government ever built, Captain."