food for conversation at the time, and for frequent allusion
afterwards.

But it was not all sunshine and play, by any means.

Not long after Ruby joined, the fine weather broke up, and a
succession of stiff breezes, with occasional storms, more or less
violent, set in. Landing on the rock became a matter of extreme
difficulty, and the short period of work was often curtailed to
little more than an hour each tide.

The rolling of the _Pharos_ lightship, too, became so great that
sea-sickness prevailed to a large extent among the landsmen. One
good arose out of this evil, however. Landing on the Bell Rock
invariably cured the sickness for a time, and the sea-sick men had
such an intense longing to eat of the dulse that grew there, that
they were always ready and anxious to get into the boats when there
was the slightest possibility of landing.

Getting into the boats, by the way, in a heavy sea, when the
lightship was rolling violently, was no easy matter. When the fine
weather first broke up, it happened about midnight, and the change
commenced with a stiff breeze from the eastward. The sea rose at
once, and, long before daybreak, the Pharos was rolling heavily in
the swell, and straining violently at the strong cable which held her
to her moorings.

About dawn Mr. Stevenson came on deck. He could not sleep, because he
felt that on his shoulders rested not only the responsibility of
carrying this gigantic work to a satisfactory conclusion, but also,