In the meanwhile Captain Eph had made several vain efforts to rise, but each time his left leg bent under him, causing such agony of pain that he could not repress deep groans, which frightened Sidney almost as much as had the fire. "What is the matter?" the lad cried tremulously, as he knelt by the side of the keeper, giving no further heed to the possibility that the tower might soon be in flames. "I don't know whether my leg is broken or not," the old man replied as he strove to prevent any sign of suffering from escaping his lips. "Don't spend your time on me, Sonny, but fight the fire, else we're all likely to be burned alive!" Until this moment Uncle Zenas had not spoken; but continued to roll over and over on the floor as if suffering severely, and Mr. Peters devoted all his attention to him. Now when Captain Eph gave a decided command, the first assistant set about obeying it, and, with Sidney, labored feverishly to extinguish the flames which had already eaten into the floor and around the window. Fresh water was a precious liquid on Carys' Ledge, where the entire supply must be brought from the mainland; but now it was used freely, and while the two injured men lay upon the floor unable to care for themselves, the kitchen was literally flooded before the last spark of fire had been extinguished. Not until then did either Mr. Peters or Sidney give heed to the suffering keepers, but when the lad and the first assistant would have attended to Captain Eph, he said hoarsely: "Look after Zenas first; his hurts must be worse than mine." "How badly off are you?" Mr. Peters asked as he bent over the suffering man, who was lying in a pool of water, and Uncle Zenas replied, striving in vain to prevent his voice from trembling: "That's what I don't know, Sammy; but it seems as if my legs were on fire." "Strip off his clothes, what there is left of 'em, Sammy, an' you set to work, Sonny, scrapin' potatoes till you get enough to cover all the burned flesh," Captain Eph said in a tone of command. "Bring me somethin' to work with, an' I'll help you." All this was done as speedily as possible, and when the partially burned clothing had been removed from the lower portion of Uncle Zenas' body, it was seen that both legs and feet were seriously injured, the blisters already beginning to appear. As rapidly as the potatoes could be scraped into a thick paste, it was spread generously over the reddened flesh, and fastened in place by the old linen cloths which had been used for cleaning the lens. Nearly an hour was spent in this work, and then the suffering man was left on the floor near the window where there was but little water, until the extent of Captain Eph's injuries could be ascertained.