Henryk Sienkiewicz's short story, which was first published in 1881. It tells the story of Skawiński, a Pole who comes to the Panama city of Aspinwall to take the position of a lighthouse keeper. The old man, tired of a very intense life, who wandered around the world for many years, took up various professions, fought in wars and uprisings, looks for a place where he could finally rest and remember his beloved homeland, to which he cannot return (through the participation in the November Uprising years ago). Sienkiewicz wrote The Lighthouse Keeper during his several-year trip to the United States, and the story is based on the fate of an authentic person.