"Something has happened out there, Nick!" Rex exclaimed. "They are in trouble, or they would never leave that lamp unlighted."
"The light-house may have been struck by lightning," Nick suggested; "you know it is made of iron."
"Yes, I've thought of that," Rex replied; "or lightning may have killed the men. There's no telling what it is, but it's sure to be serious. All we know is that there is no light, and our fathers are both out on the water depending on that light. It may cost both their lives, and hundreds of other lives, too. I feel as if we ought to do something, Nick."
"So do I," said Nick, "but I don't see what we can do. It's terrible to think of our fathers out there looking for the light, and of all those steamers that may be lost."
"And besides that," Rex broke in, "the light-house people may be in trouble. Perhaps the thing has been blown over. They may be clinging to the wreck, waiting for somebody to help them. Oh! I can't stand it, Nick. I'm going out there in the sharpie, to see whether I can be of any assistance."
"What! out to the light-house!" Nick exclaimed. "In that little sharpie, in this storm! Why, you'd never even find the light-house in the darkness."
"Oh yes, I will," Rex answered, confidently. "I'm enough of a sailor to handle a boat on a worse night than this. The wind has gone down a good deal, and the rain won't hurt anybody. Besides. Nick," he added, laying his hand tenderly on his friend's arm, "suppose you and I were out there in the schooner, and our fathers were here on shore, and the light failed like this, what would they do?"
"Right you are, old man!" and Nick seized Rex's hand and gave it a hearty squeeze. "They'd go out and have that light burning if there was as much as a wick left! And that's what we'll do, for, of course, I shall go along."
"We must leave Cudjoe here, in case the schooner gets in," Rex said, "and to keep a lantern burning to guide us back. And the fewer clothes we wear the better, Nick, for we may have to swim."
Cudjoe protested with all his might against the boys risking their lives in the storm and darkness, but it did no good. They sent him for the lantern and tied it to a corner post of the piazza, explaining to him the importance of keeping it burning at all hazards.