Page:Silver Shoal Light.djvu/369

Rh So there had to be a great deal more excited conversation, during which every one talked at once, and the candles on the birthday cake guttered and spilled drops of pink wax on the icing.

"Blow them out quickly!" said Sinclair; "on account of the wishes!"

So Garth blew, and all the flames lurched and vanished and the black wicks sent up little spirals of smoke.

"The biggest piece for Joan," said Garth, wielding the knife, "because she saved the Light, and everything; and the next biggest ones for Mudder and Fogger, because they had such adventures; and then Uncle Brob, and then me."

"Mine is the nicest piece," said Jim. "It has G. P. on it in pink icing."

While Elspeth was clearing away what remained of the birthday feast, Joan and Sinclair slipped out and stood on the rocks. The sky in the west was like a curved, rosy shell, glinting with misted color. Into it melted the sea, undulating smoothly with the long swell, a great wondrous pattern of shifting lavender and pink, shot with gleams of saffron. In the