the Sound of Mull; that he was never again to hear the surf break in
Clashcarnock; never again to see lighthouse after lighthouse (all
younger than himself, and the more, part of his own device) open in the
hour of dusk their flower of fire, or the topaz and ruby interchange on
the summit of Bell Rock."

Throughout the rank and file of his men he was adored. "I have spoken
with many who knew him; I was his grandson, and their words may very
well have been words of flattery; but there was one thing that could
not be affected, and that was the look that came over their faces at the
name of Robert Stevenson."

Of his family of thirteen children, three of his sons became engineers.
Thomas Stevenson, the father of Robert Louis, like the others of his
family, contributed largely to lighthouse building and harbor
improvement, serving under his older brother, Allen, in building the
Skerryvore, one of the most famous deep-sea lights erected on a
treacherous reef off the west coast where, for more than forty years,
one wreck after another had occurred.

"From the navigator's point of view, the danger of this spot lay chiefly
in the fact that it was so widely scattered. The ridge runs like a
broken backbone for a distance of some eight miles.... In rough weather
the whole of the rocks are covered, and the waves, beating heavily on
the mass, convert the scene into one of indescribable tumult....

"There was only one point where a tower could be placed, and this was
so exposed that the safe handling of men and material constituted a
grave responsibility."