“Yes,” cried Billie impatiently.
“Why, Uncle Tom says,” Connie was very serious, “that if a ship were driven upon the shoal in a gale—and we have terrible storms around here—it would probably come with such force that its bottom would be pretty nearly crushed in and the people on board might die before any one could get out there to rescue them.”
“Oh, Connie, how dreadful!” cried Vi. Laura and Billie only stared at the lighthouse tower as though fascinated, while the little boat came steadily nearer to it.
“Has anything like that ever happened here, Connie?” asked Laura in an awed voice.
“No,” said Connie. “There was a terrible wreck here a long time ago—before they built the lighthouse. But Uncle Tom says no one will ever know just how many lives have been saved because of the good old light. To hear him talk to it you would think it was alive.”
“It is!” cried Billie, pointing excitedly as the great white globe that held the light swung slowly around toward them. “Didn’t you see that? It winked at us!”