As the lifter was about to be followed by the teakettle, Ezra took to his heels, bolted from the house and began his long tramp to the village.

When he reached the first clumps of bayberry bushes bordering the deeply rutted road, a joyful cloud of mosquitoes rose and settled about him like a fog.
So Seth Atkins was left alone to do double duty at Eastboro Twin-Lights, pending the appointment of another assistant.

The two days and nights following Ezra's departure had been strenuous and provoking.

Doing all the housework, preparation of meals included, tending both lights, rubbing brass work, sweeping and scouring, sleeping when he could and keeping awake when he must, nobody to talk to, nobody to help--the forty-eight hours of solitude had already convinced Mr.Atkins that the sooner a helper was provided the better.

At times he even wished the disrespectful Payne back again, wished that he had soothed instead of irritated the departed one.