“Here she comes now,” interrupted Belle, catching part of what Cora and Eline were saying. Walking along the strand, with the chubby little boy who had been pulled from the water, was Rosalie.
“How do you do?” she called pleasantly to Cora. “Are you all settled? I think it must be lovely to live as you girls do, going about as you please.”
“And I think it must be so romantic to live in a lighthouse,” interposed Belle. “Do you ever tend the light?”
“Once in a while, when father is busy–that is, early in the evening. Father and the assistant, Harry Small, stand the night watches.”
“Do you ever have storms here?” asked Bess.
“Oh, often, yes; and bad ones too.”
“And are ships wrecked?” Eline queried.
“Occasionally.”
“Did your light ever save any?” asked Cora.
“Oh, yes, it must have, for the light can be seen for a long distance. Of course, we can’t say how many vessels have come in too close to the black rocks, and have veered off. But I know once or twice father has seen the lights too close in, and then, as the sailors saw the lantern flash, they would steer out. So you see they were warned in time.”