“Did you reach here, Master Dunn, without capsizing?” were the officer’s first words.
“Yes, sir,” I replied.
“Then you did better than I,” he responded, and as he stepped ashore I saw he was as wet as a drowned rat. His men were also in the same condition.
“Our rudder broke just after we ran through the fleet,” he explained, “and before we could do anything to prevent it, the yawl broached to, and shipping a ton or more of water, went over. We lost one man, and the entire contents of the craft except some extra oars which were fastened inside. With much difficulty we righted her, bailed her out with our tarpaulins, and, crawling back into her, finally succeeded in reaching here, but in a sorry condition to carry out our assigned task. I am glad you arrived in better shape. How long have you been here?”
“Nearly an hour, sir. I was waiting out the allotted time before I went on to the Light.”
“That was right,” he said heartily, “for it gives me a chance to share in the work. Five minutes to one,” he added, glancing at his watch in the light of my dark lantern; “not so late as I had feared. There is still time to complete our job and get back to our ships.”
“We shall have the wind and tide with us, and can make our return much more rapidly,” I suggested.
“Yes, if the enemy does not prevent,” he admitted. “But the moment the beacon is in flames they will be on the alert for us, and having fresh men at the oars may run us down. We took that chance, however, when we decided to come here.”
We now took the powder and oil cans from my boat, and distributed them among our crews to carry. Then ten of us with our hands free to use our cutlasses placed ourselves at the head of the squad, and we began our march across the point to the light house.
This was a huge structure, built partly of stone and partly of hard pine logs. The door, fortunately for us, was on the rear side of the building, and towards this we made our way. Reaching it without discovery, we paused a moment to listen. The lantern at the top of the tower shone brightly, but all the rest of the building loomed up darkly above our heads. No sound came from within. The inmates, whatever their number, were evidently asleep, save perhaps the single watchman to care for the lantern.