Page:The Strand Magazine (Volume 3).djvu/218



HAT can be the matter with Master Andrea?"

"Ah! he has not lighted the lamp!"

"Perhaps he has gone to sleep."

"Or been taken ill."

"Good heavens! What if he were to die out there all alone!"

"Oh, no! he can't be dead!"

"Let us hope not. It does not do to be always thinking of misfortune."

"True; but the light does not appear. We must go and find out what's the matter."

"It would be impossible to venture out now."

"We must go to-morrow. It is only right that some one should go."

This conversation was taking place between a group of fishermen on the coast of Roccamarina, their voices rendered almost inaudible by the roar of the tempest-tossed sea.

It was winter, and the night pitch dark. All eyes were turned from the seashore to the spot where rises the majestic lighthouse of Isolotto: for on that late hour of night not a gleam of light had been seen shining.

The lighthouse of Isolotto was not only a beacon to warn the mariner of certain dangerous rocks which lie beneath the waters around that spot; but it was almost a friend, a kind of star of hope to the residents of Roccamarina. Hence on that night their thoughts were of Master Andrea, the keeper of the lighthouse.

On the following morning although the sea was calmer and the sky less threatening, yet not a sail could be seen on the horizon, nor did a single fisherman venture out from the shore.

Two stalwart sailors silently unfastened a boat from the port of Roccamarina, launched it into the sea and pulled at the oars with might and main across the waves towards the rock of Isolotto. The distance was considerable, and they laboured hard, for the waves rose high, and the cold was intense. But these difficulties were not thought of; for their whole mind was centred on that man who, alone in the midst of the sea and perhaps in some dire trouble, might be wanting help and even wrestling with death.

A strange and uecxpected reception awaited them.

"Who are you? What do you want? Where have you come from?"

Such were the questions, uttered in no gentle tones, with which the keeper of the lighthouse greeted the brave seamen.

"We have come for news of you," they