“Such a man was thought to be the best for such a difficult work as the building of a lighthouse on the Eddystone, so he was asked to undertake it, and agreed, and began it well.  He finished it, too, in four years, his chief difficulty being the distance of the rock from land, and the danger of goin’ backwards and forwards.  The light was first shown on the 14th November, 1698.  Before this the engineer had resolved to pass a night in the building, which he did with a party of men; but he was compelled to pass more than a night, for it came on to blow furiously, and they were kept prisoners for eleven days, drenched with spray all the time, and hard up for provisions.

“It was said the sprays rose a hundred feet above the lantern of this first Eddystone Lighthouse.  Well, it stood till the year 1703, when repairs became necessary, and Mr. Winstanley went down to Plymouth to superintend.  It had been prophesied that this lighthouse would certainly be carried away.  But dismal prophecies are always made about unusual things.  If men were to mind prophecies there would be precious little done in this world.  Howsever, the prophecies unfortunately came true.  Winstanley’s friends advised him not to go to stay in it, but he was so confident of the strength of his work that he said he only wished to have the chance o’ bein’ there in the greatest storm that ever blew, that he might see what effect it would have on the buildin’.  Poor man! he had his wish.  On the night of the 26th November a terrible storm arose, the worst that had been for many years, and swept the lighthouse entirely away.  Not a vestige of it or the people on it was ever seen afterwards.  Only a few bits of the iron fastenings were left fixed in the rocks.”

“That was terrible,” said Forsyth, whose uneasiness was evidently increasing with the rising storm.

“Ay, but the worst of it was,” continued Bremner, “that, owing to the absence of the light, a large East Indiaman went on the rocks immediately after, and became a total wreck.  This, however, set the Trinity House on putting up another which was begun in 1706, and the light shown in 1708.  This tower was ninety-two feet high, built partly of wood and partly of stone.  It was a strong building, and stood for forty-nine years.  Mayhap it would have been standin’ to this day but for an accident, which you shall hear of before I have done.  While this lighthouse was building, a French privateer carried off all the workmen prisoners to France, but they were set at liberty by the King, because their work was of such great use to all nations.

“The lighthouse, when finished, was put in charge of two keepers, with instructions to hoist a flag when anything was wanted from the shore.  One of these men became suddenly ill, and died.  Of course his comrade hoisted the signal, but the weather was so bad that it was found impossible to send a boat off for four weeks.  The poor keeper was so afraid that people might suppose he had murdered his companion that he kept the corpse beside him all that time.  What his feelin’s could have been I don’t know, but they must have been awful; for, besides the horror of such a position in such a lonesome place, the body decayed to an extent——­”