Page:Bedford-Jones--Boy Scouts of the Air at Cape Peril.djvu/64

 back and sit a little, I'll hop up and give the signal to go."

Merrily joking and laughing, the four trudged along the sea beach, over the culvert that spanned the depression between the region of Seagulls' Nest and the domain of Cape Peril, and up the mound to the lighthouse. The lads viewed the weatherbeaten exterior with intense interest as Hardy recounted the services it rendered to vessels seeking to shun the dangerous shoals it faced.

Then the four passed through the open door into a bare circular basement. Here Hardy shouted for the keeper.

"I seen you ahoy," called back a hearty voice. "Climb the companion way up amidships. The skipper is within."

Up the ladderlike stair climbed the procession, emerging into a second circular room, evidently the living quarters of the keeper. A couch covered with a rusty crazy quilt, a cupboard, a great stove, a table littered with a rare collection of odds and ends, various chairs and boxes of all sizes, shelves supporting everything imaginable from a mousetrap to a cannonball, maps,