By this time the meal had come to an end, and when Uncle Zenas refused all offers of assistance in stowing away the goods which had been brought from the mainland, Captain Eph went into the watch-room, followed by Sidney, for Mr. Peters had slipped out of the tower as if afraid some one might take note of his movements. "Well, Sonny," the keeper said when he was alone with the lad, "what do you reckon you an' I had better do jest now?" "I was watching the buoys as we went into the harbor, and wondered how it was you knew so well on which side of them the channel was to be found." "I've been expectin' you'd ask that same question jest as soon as you'd got well inter this 'ere light-house business, an' it strikes me you'll know more about it by readin' somethin' I've put by here, than if I spent the whole day tryin' to tell it in my clumsy way," the keeper said as he gave to Sidney an open book, from which the lad read that which follows: "The buoy is to the seaman by day what the light is at night, and what the fog signal is in thick weather. It tells him by its size, form, color, and number how to avoid rocks and shoals, and shows the way in and out of harbor. "The buoy service has its own code of laws, State and national, a fleet of small steamers for its maintenance, and a corps of contractors to attend to the buoyage of coves and inlets impracticable to the steamers. It has its depots for the storage of iron buoys, where they are painted and numbered, or repaired, and also where wooden buoys are made ready for service. It has its own directory printed yearly, in thirteen volumes, distributed gratuitously for the benefit of commerce, in which each one is mentioned by name, located by station, and described by size, color, number, and vicinity. "Congress prescribed, by act of September 28, 1850, that red buoys, with even numbers, be placed on the right-hand side, and black buoys, with odd numbers, on the left-hand side of channels approached from seaward; that buoys placed on wrecks and other obstructions, having a channel on each side, be painted with red and black horizontal stripes; that those buoys placed in mid-channel, and which indicate that they must be passed close-to to avoid danger, be painted with white and black perpendicular stripes; and, finally, that perches, with balls, cages, etc., when placed on buoys, will indicate a turning-point, the color and number of the buoy showing the side on which they are to be passed.