The lad himself explained that he proposed to remain on the ledge, unless his father should send instructions to the contrary, and Mr. Sawyer said in a matter-of-fact tone: "I'll tell the captain how comfortably you are situated here, and even if he has made arrangements for you to go else-where, there's little doubt but that he'll change them." "Do you expect to see father very soon?" Sidney asked in surprise. "Ay, lad, if I can get ashore, and am lucky enough to find a vessel ready to sail for Porto Rico, I'm hopin' to get there before he leaves. I'd offer to take you with me; but in case my plan shouldn't work exactly as I've figgered, you would be in a bad fix." "Sonny had better stay where he is," Captain Eph said emphatically, and Uncle Zenas added: "We couldn't let him go while two of us are crippled, for we wouldn't be able to run the light without him." Before night came the wind and sea had so far subsided that there was no longer any question about its being possible for the tender to send a boat ashore in case she came out to the reef within the next twenty-four hours, and Mr. Peters and Sidney worked like beavers to put the interior of the tower in the best possible shape for the reception of visitors. When another day dawned the weather was all the veriest fresh-water sailor could have asked for, save that the sea still ran in long, heavy swells which might have caused any but seasoned sailors considerable discomfort, and from the time breakfast had been eaten all hands kept watch for the approach of the steamer. It was Captain Eph who first saw her in the distance, and he said, after making known the fact that she was heading for the ledge: "The inspector must have got it into his head that things have been goin' wrong in this 'ere tower, else he'd never come so soon again jest to bring a message from Sidney's father." There is no need of saying that all hands were considerably excited by the time the little steamer slowed down on the western side of the ledge that a boat might be lowered, and Mr. Peters said, as he and Sidney went to the cove that they might meet whosoever was coming ashore: "There's no sense of our gettin' into a stew before hand, Sonny. If so be we've done wrong without knowin' it, we'll hear about it soon enough, an' if it's a message from your father, there ain't any call to feel bad. Wa'al, I declare, if that ain't the inspector himself gettin' into the boat!" the first assistant added as he saw the officer. "This ain't the time for his reg'lar visit, an' I reckon we're goin' to be overhauled in great shape, though what it can be about beats me!" Five minutes later the small boat was entering the cove, and a kindly-faced gentleman in the stern-sheets cried out: "Well, Mr. Peters, I hear that the crew of this light have been distinguishing themselves. So that is the new assistant you have taken on?" and he nodded toward Sidney. "How are Captain Downs and Mr. Stubbs getting on?"