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diff --git a/23677-8.txt b/23677-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0a6c094 --- /dev/null +++ b/23677-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6393 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Moving Picture Boys on the Coast, by +Victor Appleton + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: The Moving Picture Boys on the Coast + + +Author: Victor Appleton + + + +Release Date: December 2, 2007 [eBook #23677] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MOVING PICTURE BOYS ON THE +COAST*** + + +E-text prepared by Roger Frank and the Project Gutenberg Online +Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net) + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustration. + See 23677-h.htm or 23677-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/3/6/7/23677/23677-h/23677-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/3/6/7/23677/23677-h.zip) + + + + + +THE MOVING PICTURE BOYS ON THE COAST + +Or +Showing Up the Perils of the Deep + +by + +VICTOR APPLETON + +Author of "The Tom Swift Series," "The Moving Picture Boys," +"The Moving Picture Boys in the West," Etc. + +Illustrated + + + + + + + +[Illustration: Blake & Joe, leaving their automatic camera working, +aided in the work of rescue.--Page 193.] + + + +New York +Grosset & Dunlap Publishers + + * * * * * * + +BOOKS BY VICTOR APPLETON + +THE MOVING PICTURE BOYS SERIES +12mo. Illustrated. Price, per volume, 40 cents, postpaid + +THE MOVING PICTURE BOYS +THE MOVING PICTURE BOYS IN THE WEST +THE MOVING PICTURE BOYS ON THE COAST +THE MOVING PICTURE BOYS IN THE JUNGLE +THE MOVING PICTURE BOYS IN EARTHQUAKE LAND + +THE TOM SWIFT SERIES +12mo. Illustrated. Price, per volume, 40 cents, postpaid + +TOM SWIFT AND HIS MOTOR CYCLE +TOM SWIFT AND HIS MOTOR BOAT +TOM SWIFT AND HIS AIRSHIP +TOM SWIFT AND HIS SUBMARINE BOAT +TOM SWIFT AND HIS ELECTRIC RUNABOUT +TOM SWIFT AND HIS ELECTRIC RIFLE +TOM SWIFT AND HIS SKY RACER +TOM SWIFT IN THE CAVES OF ICE +TOM SWIFT AMONG THE DIAMOND MAKERS +TOM SWIFT AND HIS WIRELESS MESSAGE +TOM SWIFT IN THE CITY OF GOLD +TOM SWIFT AND HIS AIR GLIDER +TOM SWIFT IN CAPTIVITY +TOM SWIFT AND HIS WIZARD CAMERA +TOM SWIFT AND HIS GREAT SEARCHLIGHT +TOM SWIFT AND HIS GIANT CANNON + +GROSSET & DUNLAP +PUBLISHERS--NEW YORK + + * * * * * * + +Copyright, 1913, by Grosset & Dunlap + +THE MOVING PICTURE BOYS ON THE COAST + + + +CONTENTS + +CHAPTER PAGE + + I AN UNEXPECTED ATTACK 1 + II A DARING RAID 12 + III THE PURSUIT 23 + IV BACK TO BIG B 29 + V A NEW KIND OF DRAMA 40 + VI ON THE COAST 46 + VII AT THE LIGHTHOUSE 56 + VIII BLAKE LEARNS A SECRET 62 + IX AT PRACTICE 71 + X TO SAN FRANCISCO 79 + XI A STRANGE CHARGE 87 + XII ON A LONG VOYAGE 93 + XIII A MIMIC FIRE 101 + XIV ATTACKED BY A SWORDFISH 111 + XV SUSPICIOUS ACTIONS 119 + XVI JOE SUSPECTS SOMETHING 127 + XVII AFTER THE WRECKERS 134 +XVIII FAILURE 144 + XIX ON THE TRAIL 151 + XX THE DISCOVERY 158 + XXI THE CAPTURE 164 + XXII A LIFE GUARD'S ALARM 171 +XXIII THE DOOMED VESSEL 181 + XXIV OUT OF THE WRECK 187 + XXV A NEW QUEST 201 + + + + +THE MOVING PICTURE BOYS ON THE COAST + +CHAPTER I + +AN UNEXPECTED ATTACK + + +"Well, Blake, it doesn't seem possible that we have succeeded; does it?" +and the lad who asked the question threw one leg over the saddle of his +pony, to ride side fashion for a while, as a rest and change. + +"No, Joe, it doesn't," answered another youth. "But we sure have got +some dandy films in those boxes!" and he looked back on some laden +burros that were following the cow ponies across a stretch of Arizona +desert. + +"Well, all I've got to say," remarked the cowboy, the third member of +the trio; "is that taking moving pictures is about as strenuous work as +rounding up or branding cattle." + +"I guess you don't quite believe that, Hank; do you?" asked Blake +Stewart. "You haven't seen us work so very hard; have you?" + +"Work hard? I should say I have," answered Hank Selby. "Why, the time +those Indians charged our cave, and Joe and I, and Munson and his crowd +were getting ready to fire point-blank at them, there you stood, with +bullets whizzing near you more than once, grinding away at the handle of +your moving picture camera as hard as you could. Hard work--huh!" + +"But we got the films," declared Blake, not caring to go too deeply into +an argument. "And I'm anxious to see how they will develop." + +"So am I," declared Joe. "I wonder what will be next on the program?" + +"Why, you're going to look for your father; aren't you, Joe--your father +whom you haven't seen since you were a little chap--whom you can't even +remember?" and Blake looked sharply at his chum and partner, Joe Duncan. + +"That's what I am, Blake, just as soon as I can get to the coast. But I +mean, what will we do after that? Go back to New York?" + +"I suppose so, and take up our trade of making moving picture films for +whoever wants them. It will be a rather tame life after the excitement +we have had out here." + +"That's what. But maybe it will be good for a change." + +The two moving picture boys, I might explain briefly, were on their way +to Flagstaff, Arizona, after having gone out into the wilds, with a +cowboy guide, Hank Selby, to make moving picture films of some Moqui +Indians who had broken away from their reservation, to indulge in some +of their weird dances and ceremonies. + +While making these films, the boys and their companion, who were hidden +in a cave where the Indians could not see them, saw the redmen about to +torture, as they thought, four white prisoners. Joe and Blake recognized +these men as their business rivals, who were also trying to get some +moving picture films of the Indians, to secure a prize of a thousand +dollars, offered by a New York geographical and ethnological society. + +To fire on the Indians, and thus save the white captives, meant that +Joe, Blake and Hank would disclose their position in the cave, but there +was nothing else to do, and they did it. + +The white captives, unexpectedly freed, came rushing toward the shelter, +with the savages after them, and it looked as if there would be a fierce +fight. In spite of this Blake held his ground, taking picture after +picture. + +And, in the nick of time, a troop of United States cavalry came dashing +up to capture the renegade Indians, who surrendered; Blake also getting +pictures of the dash of the troopers. + +Unexpectedly in the company was a Sergeant Duncan who proved to be a +half-uncle of Joe Duncan, and the sergeant was able to tell the lad +where his long-lost father was last heard from, since Joe had only +lately learned that his parent was living. + +And so, after their strenuous time in getting pictures of the Indians, +the boys were on their way to Big B ranch, where Hank Selby was +employed, and whence they had started to find the hidden savages. + +But Flagstaff was the real temporary headquarters of the lads, since +there was located a theatrical company, engaged in doing some moving +picture dramas based on Western life, and Joe and Blake had been hired +to "film" those plays. + +They had been given a little time off to make an attempt to get views of +the Indians at their ceremonies, and they expected to resume, for a +time, making films of more peaceful scenes among their theatrical +friends. + +"Yes, we sure did have a strenuous time," remarked Blake, as they rode +along at an easy pace. "And how those Indians threw down their guns, +and gave in, when the troopers charged against them!" + +"That's right," agreed Joe. "And those bugle notes, when they started to +gallop, telling us that help was on the way, was the sweetest music I +ever heard." + +"Same here," came from Hank. "But say, if it's all the same to you boys, +I think we might as well camp here and have grub. This looks like good +water and there's enough grazing for the critters to-night. Then we can +push on early in the morning, and in a couple of days more we ought to +make Big B ranch." + +"It seems to take us longer coming back than it did going," remarked +Blake, as he slid from his pony, and pulled the reins over the animal's +head as a signal for it not to wander. "I thought we'd sure come in +sight of the ranch to-day." + +"Oh, it's farther than that," said Hank, as he looked about for wood +with which to make a fire. "I guess you were so anxious to get on the +trail of the Indians on your way out that you didn't notice how much +ground you covered. And it was quite a few miles, believe me!" + +"I do!" said Joe, with half a groan. "I'm sore and stiff from so much +saddle riding. I'm not used to it." + +"Oh, you'll limber up soon," said Hank, cheerfully. "Now, if you boys +will get the water, and break out the grub, I'll get supper. It'll soon +be dark." + +The lads busied themselves, and soon a cheerful little blaze was going, +while the tired horses and burros, relieved of the burden of saddles and +packs, were rolling luxuriously around at the length of their tether +ropes. + +"I wonder if all the Moquis and Navajos who skipped off their +reservations have been driven back?" asked Joe, as they were about ready +to eat. + +"What makes you ask that?" inquired Blake quickly, and with a curious +look at his chum. + +"Oh, no special reason. But you know Captain Marsh, of the troop in +which my uncle, Sergeant Duncan, was enlisted, said he had rounded up +several bands of 'em, and I was just thinking that----" + +"That maybe there were some more running around loose that we could make +pictures of; is that it, Joe?" + +"Well, yes. You know that society offered a prize of a thousand dollars +for the best reel of ceremonial dances, but there were smaller prizes +for ordinary pictures of Indians in various activities. I thought maybe +we could get some of those." + +"I'm afraid not--not on this trip, at least," spoke Blake. "I don't +believe there is ten feet of unexposed film left, and that wouldn't make +much of a reel. We used up all we brought with us making those cowboy +pictures, the forest fire and the time the bear chased Hank, besides the +Indian views. Nothing more doing in the camera line until we get back to +Flagstaff." + +"Oh, well, I was just wondering," spoke Joe, and he gazed off across the +uneven stretch of country. But there was that in his voice and glance +which did not bear out his unconcerned words. + +However, Blake was too much occupied in getting supper just then to pay +much attention to his chum, for the lad was hungry--as, indeed, his +companions also seemed to be, for they attacked the simple provender +with eagerness when Hank announced that it was ready. + +The evening was setting in when they had finished, and, bringing up a +pail of fresh water, in case they should get thirsty during the hours of +darkness, and placing the saddles and packs in a compact mass, the three +proceeded to spend the night in the open. + +And yet not exactly without shelter, either, for they had with them +small dog-tents, as they are called, that afford considerable protection +against the night winds and dew. And, with a fire glowing at their +feet, the travelers were far from being uncomfortable. + +A pile of wood had been collected near the blaze, and while nothing was +said about standing watch, it was understood that if any of them roused +in the night he was to pile fuel on the embers, not only to keep up the +genial heat, but to drive off any prowling beasts that might try to raid +their stock of provisions. + +"Well, I'm going to turn in," finally announced Blake. "I'm dead tired." + +"And I'm with you," added Joe. + +Hank said nothing, but the boys watched him as he walked some little +distance from the camp, to a slight elevation. On this he stood, gazing +off into the distance. + +"I wonder what he's looking for?" queried Joe. + +"I--I hardly know," replied Blake. + +And yet, in his heart, each lad was aware of something that he hesitated +to put into words. Presently Hank came back, and as the firelight shone +on his face his expression betrayed no anxiety--in fact, no emotion of +any kind. + +"Did--did you see anything, Hank?" asked Blake. + +"No--nothing. Snooze away. I think--I'll have a pipe before I go to +bed," and he sat down on a small box and looked into the glowing +embers. + +Soon afterward, Joe, looking from his small shelter tent, saw Hank +fingering his big revolver, spinning the cylinder, and testing the +mechanism. + +"Something's up!" whispered Joe to himself. "I wonder if it can be that +he saw----" + +He did not finish the sentence, for just then Hank put away the weapon +and soon the aromatic odor of burning tobacco filled the night air. + +"Oh, pshaw!" exclaimed the lad. "I'm foolish to worry about nothing; I'm +going to sleep!" and he turned over, and closed his eyes. But, somehow, +sleep would not come at once. Even with his eyes closed he could fancy +the figure of the cowboy guide sitting by the fire. + +Blake seemed to be less uneasy than did his chum. If he saw Hank by the +fire he made no mention of it, and from his tent came no movement that +showed he was awake. + +Presently Joe began to speculate on the new experience he felt would +come to him, if he succeeded in locating his father. + +"It really doesn't seem possible--that I'm going to have folks at last," +murmured Joe. "And maybe not only a father, but brothers and +sisters--Uncle Bill Duncan said he didn't know. I may have more than +Blake, if I keep on," and then, with more pleasurable thoughts than +worrying about an indefinable something, the lad finally lost himself in +slumber. + +The camp was still. Even Hank had crawled into his little tent, after a +final pipe. He did not get to sleep soon, and had either of the boys +been awake they would have seen him come out several times before +midnight, and stalk about, peering off into the darkness. + +Then, after looking to the tether ropes of the animals, he would go back +to the small shelters, throw some embers on the fire, and drop off into +a doze. For the cowboy was a light sleeper, and the least sound awakened +him. + +"I guess there'll be nothing doing," he whispered to himself after one +of these little observations. "I thought I saw some signs just about +dusk, but maybe it was some slinking coyote, or a big jack rabbit. +Anyhow, if--if anything does happen it won't come during darkness; that +is, unless it's some of them half-breed or Mexican rustlers, and I don't +believe they've been around these diggings lately. I'm going to snooze." + +Soon his heavy breathing told that he slept, and several hours passed +before he again awoke. If he had made one other observation, probably he +would have seen that which would have aroused his suspicions, for, about +an hour after midnight, there was an uneasy movement among the animals. + +And in the starlight, which in a measure made the night less black, +several shadowy, slinking forms might have been observed creeping toward +the camp and the pile of provisions and supplies, among the latter of +which were the boxes containing the valuable films of the moving +pictures. + +It was Hank, as might have been expected, who awakened. One of the +burros, always an excitable, nervous beast, capered about and uttered a +shrill whinny as if in fright. + +Hank was out of his tent in an instant. Leaping to his feet he blazed +away with his revolver. Its flash lit up the darkness, and was at once +answered by half a dozen other flashes. + +"Come on, boys!" yelled Hank. "They're after us! I wasn't mistaken, +after all! I did see some of 'em sneaking around! Lively, now!" and he +blazed away again. + +"What is it?" cried Blake. + +"Indians! They're after our horses!" yelled the cowboy, as the two lads +joined him. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +A DARING RAID + + +"Where are they?" + +"Which way shall we shoot?" + +Joe and Blake questioned thus by turn as they leaped to Hank's side. +They were in darkness now, for the cowboy had ceased shooting, and those +who had come to attack had likewise allowed their weapons to become +silent. As a matter of fact, Hank Selby had only fired in the air, if +possible to frighten off the Indians, and it seemed that the redmen had +done the same, since there was no whine of bullets over the head of the +guide. + +"What is it?" asked Blake, fingering the rifle he had caught up as he +rushed from the tent. + +"Indians," replied Hank, in a low voice. "It's probably some band of +Moquis or Navajos, who escaped being rounded up as the others were. +Probably they were chased so hard, or were so surprised at one of their +camps, that they had to leave without their ponies. And they do hate to +walk. They saw our animals and tried to get 'em, but I was suspicious +all along." + +"But where are they now?" asked Joe, peering out into the darkness. "I +can't see a thing, and our animals seem to be all there." + +"The beggars dropped down, and are hiding," said the cowboy. "They +didn't like the quick way I fired on 'em, I guess; though, land knows! I +don't want to hurt any of 'em if I can help it. They don't know just +what to do, and they're biding their time." + +"Did they get any of our horses--or things?" asked Blake, anxiously, his +thoughts on the valuable films. + +"Not as yet," replied Hank. "But this thing isn't over with. They'll +come back, once they decide it's worth while. We've got to get ready for +'em." + +"How?" asked Blake. + +"Well, we've got to pile our stuff up as a sort of shelter, and then +we've got to bring in the animals. It won't do to have the imps run off +with 'em, and that's what they're aiming to do." + +"But won't it be risky to go out there in the darkness to bring in the +ponies and burros?" asked Joe. "You say the Indians are concealed out +there." + +"So I believe they are," replied Hank. "But I fancy my shooting drove +'em back a bit, even though I did fire in the air, or so high over their +heads that they couldn't be harmed. So I guess we can make a move out +there without getting hurt. Anyhow, it's got to be done, and, as I know +more about such business than you boys, having been at it longer, I'll +just attend to that. You'd better make the best sort of breastworks you +can. For, though I don't believe these beggars will actually shoot to +hurt, still it's best to be on the safe side. Be cautious, now." + +And, while Hank is thus preparing to secure the pack and saddle animals, +and the boys to gather the boxes and bales into a compact mass, I will +take just a few moments to tell you more about the moving picture lads +than I have yet done. + +In the first book of this series, entitled "The Moving Picture Boys; Or, +The Perils of a Great City Depicted," I introduced to you Joe Duncan and +Blake Stewart. At that time they lived in the village of Fayetteburg, in +the central part of New York State. Blake worked on the farm of his +uncle, Jonathan Haverstraw, while Joe was hired boy for Zachariah +Bradley. And it happened that they both lost their places at the same +time. + +Blake's uncle decided to retire to a Home for the Aged, and Mr. Bradley +said he could no longer afford to pay Joe any wages. The boys did not +know what to do until they made the acquaintance of Mr. Calvert Hadley, +a moving picture photographer. The latter had come to Fayetteburg with a +theatrical company to get some views in a country drama that was being +enacted, some of the scenes being laid in the nearby city of Syracuse. + +Blake and Joe watched a mimic rescue scene in the creek, thinking it +real, and later Mr. Hadley offered them work as his assistants in New +York. He was employed by the Film Theatrical Company, to make its moving +pictures. + +The boys jumped at the chance. Before the little country drama was over, +however, an accident occurred, in full view of the moving picture +camera. Mrs. Betty Randolph, a wealthy Southern lady, was run into, +while riding in her carriage, by a reckless autoist. Mrs. Randolph +offered a reward for the arrest of this man, who escaped in the +confusion, and urged the two boys to try to effect his capture. + +They said they would, and how they went to New York, learned the moving +picture business, and helped Mr. Hadley get films for his "moving +picture newspaper," is all set down in the first book. + +The perils of taking views in a great city, at fires, elevated railroad +accidents, burning vessels, of divers at work, in making educational +films--all this is told. + +Eventually, while making scenes at a thrilling balloon ascension, Joe +and Blake discovered the reckless autoist and gave chase in a car. They +caught him, too, and got the reward, with which they purchased some +moving picture cameras, and went into business on their own account. +They made films to order, and were often employed by Mr. Hadley or by +Mr. Ringold, head of the Film Theatrical Company. + +This company consisted of a number of actors and actresses who were +engaged to enact various sorts of plays and dramas before the camera. + +Among them was Henry Robertson, who did "juvenile leads"; Harris +Levinberg, the "villain"; Miss Nellie Shay, the leading lady, and Miss +Birdie Lee, who did girls' parts. Last, but not least, was Christopher +Cutler Piper--known variously as "C. C." or "Gloomy." He preferred to be +called just C. C., not liking his two first names, but he was so often +looking on the dark side of life, and predicting direful happenings that +never came to pass, that he was often dubbed "Gloomy." However, he was +the comedian of the troupe, and could utter the most unhappy expressions +while doing the most comical acting. + +It was not all easy sailing for the two lads. One man--James Munson, a +rival moving picture proprietor--often made trouble for them, and once +put them in no little danger. + +After having helped Mr. Hadley make a success of his moving picture +newspaper, by means of which current happenings, and accidents, were +nightly thrown on a screen in various theatres, Joe and Blake, as I +said, went into business for themselves. + +In the second volume of the series, entitled "The Moving Picture Boys in +the West; Or, Taking Scenes Among the Cowboys and Indians," our heroes +had an entirely different series of adventures. + +Mr. Ringold decided to take his theatrical troupe to Arizona, there to +make films for a number of Western dramas. He asked the boys if they +would like to join Mr. Hadley in doing this work. At the same time a New +York scientific society, engaged in preserving records, pictures and +photographic reproductions of the Indians, made a prize offer for the +best film showing the redmen in their ceremonial dances. The time was +particularly ripe for this, as a band of the Moquis, as well as several +tribes of Navajos, had broken from the government reservations to +indulge in their strange rites. + +As the boys found that they could do the two things--take the views of +the Indians, and make the theatrical pictures--they accepted the offer. + +Just before they left, however, Joe received a strange letter. It was +from a man signing himself Sam Houston Reed, who stated that he had met +a man who was looking for a Joe Duncan. Joe, who had known there was +some mystery about his early life, was overjoyed at the prospect of +finding some "folks," and wished very much to meet Mr. Reed. But the +latter had neglected to date, or put any heading on his letter. All +there was to go by was part of a postmark, which showed it came from +Arizona, and Mr. Reed also mentioned Big B ranch. + +However, the moving picture boys and the theatrical company started +West. On the way the boys had a glimpse of their rivals, also hastening +to get the Indian views. + +How they got to Flagstaff, made many views there, and then how Joe and +Blake started to find the place where the runaway Indians were hidden +away, doing their mysterious dances--all this is told in the second +volume. + +Eventually they reached Big B ranch, only to find that Mr. Reed, like a +rolling stone, had gone. However, some of the cowboys remembered him, +and had heard him talk of having met a certain Bill Duncan, whose +half-brother, Nate, was looking for a lost son. It was supposed that +this Nate Duncan was Joe's father. + +As nothing toward finding Mr. Duncan could then be done, Joe and Blake +kept on toward the Indian country. A cowboy, Hank Selby, offered to +accompany them, and they were glad he did. + +They had many adventures before getting on the track of the Indians, and +when they found them in a secret valley, and, concealed in a cave, began +taking moving pictures, they discovered, as I have said, four white men +in danger of torture. + +How they rescued them, how the troopers came, and how one turned out to +be Bill Duncan, Joe's half-uncle, I have mentioned in this book as well +as in the second volume. And, on their way back to Big B ranch and to +Flagstaff, the night attack had taken place. + +"How are you making out, Blake?" asked Joe, as he worked at stacking up +the boxes and bales into a sort of rude breastwork near the shelter +tents. + +"All right, Joe," was the answer. "I hope Hank makes the animals safe." + +"He doesn't seem to be having much trouble. I can't see any of the +Indians now." + +"No, they're probably hiding down in the grass, waiting for a chance to +make a raid. I wonder how many there are?" + +"Quite a bunch, I should say, from the shooting. Here comes Hank now." + +As he spoke, the cowboy appeared, leading by their long tether ropes the +riding ponies and the pack animals. The steeds showed signs of their +recent excitement. Had it not been for the alarm they gave they might +have been stolen without our friends being any the wiser. + +"See any of 'em, Hank?" questioned Joe. + +"No, but they're there, all right. Boys, there may be some hot work +ahead of us. You want to get ready for it." + +"Do--do you think they'll shoot?" asked Blake. + +"Well, they'll do their best to get our things away from us," was the +answer. "They're desperate, I'm afraid." + +Hank busied himself tethering the steeds nearer the temporary camp, +while Joe and Blake finished their labors in building a defense against +the possible rush of the redmen. + +This was hardly finished, and they had scarcely collected a pile of +brush to make a bright fire, if necessary, when there arose all around +fierce shouts. At the same time there was a fusillade of shots; but, as +far as could be seen, all the Indians were firing in the air. + +"Look out!" yelled Hank. "They're going to rush us!" + +Before he ceased speaking there was the sound of many feet running +forward. The shooting and shouting redoubled in volume, and the restless +animals tried to break loose. + +"The imps!" cried Hank. "They're trying to stampede our animals, just as +they did the cattle that time. Look out, boys!" + +But nothing could be done against such numbers. The camp was overwhelmed +in a daring raid, and though the boys and Hank did all they could, +firing wildly in the air, they could not stand off the attack. Strangely +enough, no effort was made to mistreat the boys or their companion. The +Indians simply rushed over them and made for the pile of goods in the +rear of the tents. They did not even seem to be after the horses. + +"Stop 'em!" cried Blake. "They'll take all our things!" + +"Our cameras!" yelled Joe. "They may break 'em!" + +Hank had all he could do to restrain the wild steeds, which sought to +break loose. + +The rush was over almost as quickly as it had started. Off into the +darkness disappeared the Indians, their shooting and yelling growing +fainter and fainter. + +"I saved the horses!" cried Hank. + +"Yes, but they got a lot of our stuff!" exclaimed Blake. "Joe, throw +some wood on the fire, so we can see what is missing!" + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE PURSUIT + + +Blazing up brightly, after Joe had thrown some light sticks on the +embers, the fire revealed a much disordered camp. The Indians had rushed +over it as a squad of football players might tear through a rival +eleven, leaving devastation in their wake. The only consolation was that +Hank had managed to prevent the animals from stampeding, and the +possession of their ponies, in a country where foot travel is almost out +of the question, was a big factor. + +"But they got almost everything else," said Blake, as he looked about +the temporary camp. + +"They made for the grub, that's sure," spoke Joe. "I guess they were +hungry." + +"But why they didn't try harder to make off with the horses is what I +can't understand," spoke Blake, as he continued to make an examination +of the damage done. "I thought that was what they were after." + +"They were," declared Hank; "but I guess they realized that taking +horses is a pretty serious crime out here. They knew that all sorts of +efforts would be made to recapture 'em, and by men who would not be as +gentle with 'em as Uncle Sam's soldiers. So I guess they decided to pass +up the horses and only take some grub. That isn't so serious, especially +as the poor beggars are probably well-nigh starving, having been away +from their regular rations so long. Well, it might be worse, I suppose. +They will hardly come back to-night, and I guess we can get a little +rest when I picket these animals out again. We got off pretty lucky, I +take it, for there was sure a big bunch of them." + +"Lucky?" cried Blake. "I should say not. Look here!" and he pointed to +the upset pile of boxes and bales, only a few of which were now left. +"We have had the worst kind of bad luck!" + +"How's that?" demanded Joe, hurrying to the side of his chum. The fire +was brighter now. "What did they take?" + +"Our reels of exposed film, for one thing!" cried Blake. + +"What! Not our prize Indian pictures?" gasped Joe. + +"That's what they did, Joe! Every one of those films we worked so hard +to get is gone!" + +"But what could the Indians want with them?" asked Joe. "They don't +know how to develop 'em, and, even if they did, they would be of no use. +They can't know what they are, but if the least ray of light gets into +the boxes it means that the films are ruined!" + +"That's right," assented Blake, hopelessly. "What can we do?" + +"They probably didn't know they were taking your films, boys," spoke +Hank, who had finished making fast the horses. "They very likely thought +the boxes held some new kind of food, and they just grabbed up anything +they could get their hands on. I reckon the beggars are nearly starving, +and that's what made 'em so bold. You'll notice they didn't once fire at +us--only up in the air. They just wanted to scare us." + +"And they took our films, thinking they were something good to eat," +murmured Blake. + +"Yes. I'm not saying, though, that they didn't hope to stampede the +animals; but they went wrong on that calculation, if they had it in +mind." + +"They have our films," continued Joe, in a sort of daze, so suddenly had +the events of the last half-hour occurred. "What can we do?" + +"Chase after 'em and get our stuff back!" exclaimed Blake, quickly. "I'm +not going to stand that loss. They can have the grub if they want it, +but I'm going to get back those films that we went to such trouble, and +so much danger, to snap." + +"But how are you going to do it?" asked Joe. + +"Start in pursuit!" cried his chum with energy. "Come on, Hank, you can +follow an Indian trail; can't you?" + +"I sure can, when it's as broad as the one they'll be likely to leave. +But not now." + +"Why not?" asked Blake. + +For answer the cowboy guide waved his hand toward the darkness all +about. There seemed to be a haze over the sky, obscuring the stars. + +"It would be worse than useless to start out on the chase now," said +Hank. "We can't do anything until morning." + +"But they'll be too far away then," objected Blake. "And, while it might +do little harm if they opened those film boxes in the darkness, it sure +would spoil every picture we took to have them exposed in daylight. +Let's go now!" and he started toward the animals. + +"No," and Hank shook his head. "I don't think you need worry about not +catching those fellers in daylight," he went on. "They won't go far +before stopping to eat the stuff they took from us. Then they'll have a +sleep and start on the trail by daylight. We can do the same, and I +think we can catch up with them. It would be risky to start out at +night in a country we know so little about. We'll have to wait." + +Blake sighed, but there was no help for it. The upset camp was put in +some kind of shape, the horses were again looked to, and the fire once +more replenished. The travelers carried an unusually large supply of +provisions, and though most of these had been taken, there was still +enough food left for a day or two. In that time they might be able to +get more, if they could not recapture their own from the Indians. + +"We'll start the first thing in the morning, as soon as it is light +enough to see," decided Hank. "And now, if it's all the same to you +boys, I'm going to have a bite to eat. That excitement made me hungry." + +"Same here," confessed Joe, and soon they were all satisfying their +appetites. + +"Oh, but I do hope we can catch up with them and take those films away +from 'em," murmured Blake, as he again sought his tent. + +"We will," declared Joe, with conviction. "If we have to, I'll get word +to my soldier uncle and have the troops chase 'em." + +"The only trouble is that it might be too late," spoke Blake. "I'm +afraid of the films getting light-struck. But I guess all we can do is +to wait and trust to luck." + +There was no further alarm that night, and after a hasty breakfast, +eaten when it was hardly light enough to see, the remaining supplies and +provisions were packed and the ponies saddled. + +"I guess we can start now," exclaimed Hank, as he leaped to his steed. +"It will soon be lighter. Forward, march!" + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +BACK TO "BIG B." + + +"Well, we haven't caught up to 'em yet," remarked Joe Duncan, about noon +the next day, when they stopped for a little lunch and to allow the +horses to drink at a water hole and rest. + +"No, the beggars keep well ahead of us," agreed Blake, shading his eyes +with his hand and gazing off across the hot, sunlit stretch that lay +before them. "Oh, if they have opened those film boxes!" he exclaimed +hopelessly. + +"They have ponies, and that's more than I calculated on," remarked Hank. +"I thought when they raided our camp that they were after our animals, +and when they didn't take 'em I thought it was because they were afraid +of being chased as horse-thieves by a sheriff's posse. Now I see they +didn't want our mounts, as they had plenty of their own. It was grub +they were after, and they got it." + +"And our picture films," added Blake. "Don't forget that." + +"That was only a mistake, I tell you," insisted Hank, "though, for that +matter, the Indians wouldn't hesitate to take 'em just for fun, if they +thought they could make trouble that way." + +"And they will make a heap of trouble, too, I'm afraid," spoke Blake. + +"Here now!" called Joe, in jollier tones. "Don't come any of that C. C. +Piper business, Blake. Look on the bright side." + +"Well, I suppose I ought to, but it's hard work." + +They had traveled all that morning, hoping to come up with the roving +band of Indians. But they had had no success. + +Hank did pick up the trail of the raiders soon after starting out. The +Indians had left their horses tethered some distance from the camp, and +had crept up afoot, probably having spied Blake, Joe and Hank from afar +the previous evening. And though the moccasined feet of the savages left +little trace on the hard and sun-baked earth, there was enough "sign" +for so experienced a trailer as was Hank to pick up. + +Thus he had been led to where the horses had been left, and after that +it was easy enough to follow the marks of the hoofs. + +"There are about twenty-five in this band, as near as I can make out," +said Hank, "and every one of 'em has a horse of some sort. Pretty good +travelers, too, I take it, since our animals were fresh and we haven't +been able to come up to 'em yet, though we've kept up a pretty fair +gait. But we'll get 'em yet." + +"If only it isn't too late," spoke Blake, whose one fear was that the +valuable picture films would be spoiled. "Let's hurry on." + +"Another little rest will do the horses good," said the cowboy guide. +"Then we can push on so much the faster. Our horses are our best +friends, and we've got to treat 'em right if we want the best service +out of them. Another half-hour and we'll push on." + +And, though Blake fretted and fumed at the delay, he knew it would not +be best to insist on having his way. Soon, however, they were in the +saddle again and once more in pursuit. + +"The trail is getting fresher," declared Hank, about four o'clock that +afternoon. "Their horses are tiring, I guess, and ours seem to be +holding out pretty well." + +"Which means----" began Joe. + +"That we may get up to them before dark," went on the cowboy. "And then +we'll see what happens." + +"Will they run, do you think?" inquired Blake. + +"They will as long as their horses hold out, for they must know that +this ghost-dance business is about over and that most of their friends +are back on the reservations. But when we come up to them----" and the +cowboy paused and significantly examined his revolver. + +"Does it mean a fight?" went on Blake, and he could not restrain a catch +in his breath. It was one thing to have an Indian fight with some +shelter, but different out in the open. + +"Well, I hardly think it will be what you might call regular and +up-to-date fighting," replied Hank. "They may fire their guns and +revolvers at us to try and frighten us back, but I don't actually +believe that they'll make trouble. They know the punishment would be too +serious. And I believe a lot of those Indians have only blank cartridges +that they had when they were in some Wild West show. I know there was +mighty little whining of bullets, for all the shooting they did last +night. But, at the same time," he went on, "it's best to be prepared for +emergencies." + +They continued on, and the boys had now become so used to the signs of +the Indian trail that they could note the changes almost as well as +could Hank. + +Here they could see where a rest was made, and again where some animal +went out of the beaten path. Bits of the Indians' finery, too, were +noted every once in a while--a bit of gaudy bead trimming, a discarded +moccasin or some dyed feathers. + +"I do hope we come up with them before dark," said Joe. "If we have to +stay out on the trail all night, and part of next day, we may find +nothing left of our things and the pack burros when we reach camp +again." + +In order to make better time our friends had left behind, at the place +where the Indians had raided them, the pack animals, their cameras, a +few films not taken by the Indians, and as much of their provisions as +they thought would not be needed on the trail. + +"I think this evening will end it," declared Hank. "We might push on a +little faster, as the going is good right here." + +The horses were urged to greater speed, and they responded gamely. They +seemed to realize the necessity for haste, and took advantage of the +momentary betterment in the surface over which they were traveling. + +The sun was sinking lower and lower in the west and the shadows were +lengthening. Eagerly the boys and the cowboy scout peered ahead, +straining their eyes for a glimpse of those whom they were pursuing. +Then there came a bit of rough ground, and the pace was slower. Next +followed a little rise, and, as this was topped, Blake, who had taken +the lead for a short distance, uttered a cry and pointed forward with +eager hand. + +"What is it?" cried Joe and Hank together. + +"There they are!" yelled Blake. "The Indians! Right below us! Come on!" + +Riding to his side, the others saw a sharp descent, then a level plain +stretching away for many miles. And moving slowly over this plain was a +band of about twenty-five Indians, mounted on ponies that seemed +scarcely able to move. + +"That's them!" cried Hank, as he dug his heels into the sides of his +horse. "At 'em, boys! A short, swift gallop will bring us up to 'em now, +and then--well, we'll see what will happen!" + +"Come on!" yelled Blake, and side by side the trio rode down into the +valley, their animals seeming to take on new strength as they saw their +quarry before them. + +"They've noticed us!" exclaimed Blake. + +"That's right!" agreed Hank. "Well, now to see if we can catch 'em!" + +A movement amid the stragglers of the band told that they had glimpsed +the approach of the whites. There was a distant shout, and at once the +whole party was galloping off. + +"They'll distance us!" cried Blake. "They're going to get away!" + +"Not very far," was Hank's opinion. "Their horses are about done up. +This is a last spurt." + +His trained eye had shown him that the Indians were using quirts and +their heels to spur the tired animals to a last burst of speed. True, +the ponies did leap ahead for a few minutes; but not even the wild +shouting of the redmen, the frantic beating of their steeds, and the +firing of their guns could make the wearied muscles of the ponies +respond for long. + +The spurt lasted only a few seconds, and then came a noticeable slowing +down. On the contrary, the horses of our friends, though they had +traveled far and hard, were in better condition and much fresher. + +"Come on!" cried Hank, rising in his stirrups and swinging his hat +around his head, while he sent forth yells of defiance. "Come on, boys! +We have 'em!" + +He, too, began to shoot, but in the air as before, and the boys followed +his example. Their horses were shortening the distance between the two +parties. + +Suddenly one of the Indians was observed to toss something from him. It +fell to the ground and rolled to one side of the trail. + +"What's that?" cried Joe. + +"One of the boxes of exposed film!" cried Blake. "They know what we're +after. Oh, if only it isn't damaged!" + +"We can soon tell!" cried Hank, taking the lead. Then he yelled, between +reports of his revolver: + +"Hi there! you red beggars, give up! Drop that stuff you took from our +camp! You haven't any of the grub left, I suppose, but we want those +pictures! Drop 'em!" + +Whether his talk was understood, or not, was not known; but others of +the Indians began tossing away either boxes of film or other +things--aside from food--which they had taken from the camp. They never +stopped their horses, though, but ever urged on the tired beasts. + +"Here's the first reel!" cried Blake, as he came up to where it lay. +Quickly dismounting, he picked it up. + +"Not hurt a bit!" he cried exultantly; "and the seals haven't been +broken, showing that it hasn't been opened." + +"Good!" cried Hank. "You go slow and pick up what you can, and Joe and I +will chase after the Indians. Evidently they're going to run for it." + +And it did seem so. The Indians never paused, but continued to toss +away article after article. They seemed afraid of the consequences +should they be caught with anything belonging to the whites in their +possession. They may have taken Hank and the boys for the advance-guard +of a sheriff's posse, and, knowing they had been doing wrong, were +afraid. At any rate they made no stand. + +"I've got 'em all!" finally yelled Blake. + +"Then there's no use chasing after 'em any farther," said Hank. "Hold +on, Joe," for the boy was pushing on. + +The horses of the pursuers were pulled down to a walk. The Indians +noticed this at once, and, seeming to realize that the chase was over, +they halted, and, turning, gazed in a body at the moving picture boys +and their cowboy guide. + +"Had enough, I reckon," murmured Hank. "I guess you can't go on much +farther. Well, we'll turn back a ways and put some miles between us, so +you won't try any of your tricks again, and then we'll go into camp +ourselves. Got everything, Blake?" + +"Yes, every reel of film, and not one has been opened, by good luck. +Maybe they thought it was powerful 'medicine,' and didn't want to run +any chances." + +"We don't care, as long as we have 'em back," remarked Joe, gleefully. +"And now for a good rest." + +They turned back, and as they did so the Indians gave a last shout of +defiance and began to make camp for themselves. It was as if a lot of +schoolboys, playing truant, had been rounded up, and as a last +indication of defiance had given their class yell. + +"Good riddance to you," remarked Hank. "I don't want to see you again +for a good many years." + +Collecting the things the Indians had thrown away, our friends rode on +until dark, and then, out of sight of the roving redmen, they made a +simple camp. They stood guard by turns, but there was no night alarm. +The next day they reached the place where they had picketed the pack +animals. Nothing had been disturbed. + +"And now for Big B ranch!" exclaimed Blake, when once more the little +cavalcade was under way. + +"And glad enough I'll be to see it!" said Hank; "though I sure will miss +you fellows." + +"The same here," echoed Joe, and Blake nodded in accord. + +They traveled on for another day, finding good water and plenty of +grazing for the steeds. Their provisions ran a bit low, for the Indians +had helped themselves liberally, but they managed to shoot some small +game. + +And, on the second day after parting from the Indians, they topped a +rise, from the height of which Hank cried: + +"There she is, boys!" + +"What?" asked Blake. + +"Big B ranch! We're back in civilization again!" + + + + +CHAPTER V + +A NEW KIND OF DRAMA + + +"And so you really got what you went for; eh, boys?" asked Mr. Alden, +proprietor of Big B ranch, as the trio rode in. "Well, you had luck." + +"Both kinds--good and bad," remarked Hank, as he told how, after getting +the rare films, they had nearly been lost again. + +"And you rescued your enemies, too? What became of Munson?" + +"Oh, he and his crowd went off by themselves," explained Blake. "They +felt badly about us beating them." + +"I've got a surprise for you, Joe," went on the proprietor. + +"What sort?" asked the lad, eagerly; "is my father----?" + +"No, not that; but Sam Reed is back here again, and he can tell you what +you want to know. He came the day after you left." + +"But I did better than that!" exclaimed Joe. "I met my uncle, and I'm +soon going to find my father, I hope," and he related his meeting with +the trooper. + +"Good!" cried Mr. Alden. "Here comes Sam now. I told him you might be +along soon," and he turned to introduce a rather shiftless-looking +cowboy who sauntered up. + +"Pleased to meet you," said Sam Reed. "I never cal'lated when I writ +that there letter that I'd ever see you in flesh and blood. I've got +your pictures, though," and he showed those that had appeared in a +magazine, giving an account of the work of Joe and Blake. + +As might have been expected, Sam knew nothing of Joe's father. The best +the cowboy had hoped to do was to put the boy on the track of Mr. +William Duncan, and, considering that Joe's uncle, as I shall call +him--though he was really only a half-uncle--had enlisted in the army, +Mr. Reed would probably have had hard work to carry out his plans. + +"Well, I'm glad you met your relative, anyhow," said Sam to Joe; "and I +wish you luck in looking for your father. So he's somewhere on the +southern California coast?" + +"Yes, in one of the lighthouses," explained Joe. "My uncle didn't know +exactly where, but I can easily find out from the government office when +I get on the coast." + +The boys were made welcome again at Big B ranch, and talked over once +more the exciting time that had happened to them there when the Indians +stampeded the cattle. + +"Here are the films you left with me," said Mr. Alden, giving the boys +those they had made of the cattle stampede and of the cowboys doing +their stunts. "And so you got other good ones?" + +"Yes, fine ones," replied Blake. "And we must soon be getting back to +Flagstaff. We have stayed away longer than we meant to, and Mr. Hadley +and Mr. Ringold may need our services." + +But the boys at the ranch would not hear of their starting for a few +days, and so Joe and Blake stayed on, being royally entertained. They +witnessed a round-up and the branding of cattle, but could get no +pictures, as their films were all used up. However, the subjects had +often been filmed before, so there was no great regret. + +Then came a time when they had to say farewell, and they turned their +horses' heads toward Flagstaff. The cowboys gave them a parting salute +of cheers and blank cartridges, riding madly around meanwhile. + +"It reminds me of the Indian attack," said Blake. + +"Yes," assented Joe. "I wonder if we'll go through another scare like +that?" + +"I hope not," spoke his chum; but, though they did not know it, they +were destined to face many more perils in the pursuit of their chosen +calling. + +The ride to Flagstaff from Big B ranch was without incident. It was +through a fairly well settled part of the country, as settlements go in +Arizona, and they made it in good time. Joe often talked about the +strange fate that had put him on the track of his father. + +"I wonder what kind of a man he'll be?" he often said to his chum. + +"The best ever!" Blake would answer; "that is, if he's anything like +you--and I think he must be." + +"That's very nice of you, and I hope he does turn out to be what I wish +him to be. I can't even picture him in my mind, though." + +"Well, I should think he'd be something like your uncle--even if they +were only half-brothers." + +"If he is, I suppose it will be all right, though Uncle Bill is a little +too wild to suit me. I'd want my father to be more settled in life." + +"Well, it won't be a great while before you know," consoled Blake. + +The boys received a royal welcome from Mr. Hadley and the members of the +theatrical troupe. + +"Oh, but it's good to see you back!" exclaimed Birdie Lee to Blake, as +she shook hands with him, and if he held her fingers a little longer +than was necessary I'm sure it's none of our affair. + +"So you didn't get scalped, after all?" remarked C. C., gloomily, as he +surveyed the boys. "Well, you will next time, or else they will hold you +as captives." + +"Oh, stop it, Gloomy!" called Miss Shay. "What do you want to spoil +their welcome for, just as we have a little spread arranged for them?" +for she had gotten one up on the spur of the moment, on sighting the +boys. + +"A spread, eh? Humph, I know I'll get indigestion if I eat any of it. +Oh, life isn't worth living, anyhow!" and he sighed heavily and +proceeded to practice making new comical faces at himself in a +looking-glass. + +"Well, I'm glad you boys are back," said Mr. Ringold a little later at +the impromptu feast, at which C. C. ate as much as anyone and with +seemingly as good an appetite. "Yes," went on the theatrical manager, "I +shall need you and Mr. Hadley right along, now. I am going to produce a +new kind of drama." + +"I--er--I'm afraid I can't be with you," said Joe, hesitatingly. "I am +at last on the track of my father, and I must find him." + +"Where is he?" asked Mr. Ringold, when the lad had told his story. + +"Somewhere on the Southern California coast. In a lighthouse--just +where I can't say. But I am going there, and so you will have to get +some one else, Mr. Ringold, to take my place. Blake can stay here, of +course, and make moving pictures, but I----" + +"I'm going with you," said his chum, simply. + +There was a moment's silence, and then the theatrical manager exclaimed: + +"Well, say, this just fits in all right. There's no need for any of us +to be separated, for I intend taking my whole company to the coast to +get a new series of sea dramas. The Southern California coast will suit +me as well as any. + +"Joe, you can't shake me that way. We'll all go together, and you'll +have plenty of chance to locate your father!" + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +ON THE COAST + + +The announcement of Mr. Ringold was followed by a silence, during which +Joe and Blake looked at each other. It seemed like too much good fortune +to learn that they would still have the company of their friends in this +new quest. + +"Do you really mean that?" asked Joe. "You're not saying it just to help +us out; are you, Mr. Ringold?" + +"No. What makes you think that?" + +"Because it seems too good to be true. I wouldn't like anything better +than to go with your company and make pictures." + +"The same here," added Blake. + +"And if, at the same time, I can locate my father," went on Joe, "so +much the better, though I don't imagine I will have any trouble finding +him, once I can communicate with the government lighthouse board, and +learn where he is stationed. They have a list of all employees, I +imagine." + +"Yes, I think so," spoke Mr. Hadley. "As you say, it will be easy to +locate him. And, boys, I'm very glad you're going to be with us again. I +wouldn't like to break in two new lads, and we will certainly need three +photographers to take all the scenes in the sea dramas that are +planned." + +"Will we have to go very far to sea?" asked Macaroni, who was among +those who had greeted the moving picture boys. The lads' thin assistant +had been kept busy assisting Mr. Hadley while they were after the +Indians. "Because if it's very far out on the ocean wave I don't believe +I want to go; I'm very easily made seasick." + +"Oh, we can arrange to keep you near shore," said the theatrical man, +with a laugh. + +"He may be drowned, even near shore," put in C. C., with his most gloomy +voice; though he was, at the same time, practicing some new facial +contortions that were sending the women members of the troupe into +spasms of laughter. + +"Oh, there you go, Gloomy!" exclaimed Mr. Hadley. "First we know you'll +be saying we'll all be smashed in a train wreck going to the coast; or, +if not, that we'll be carried off by a tidal wave as soon as we get +there." + +"It might happen," spoke the gloomy comedian, as though both accidents +were possible at the same time. + +"And it may rain--but not to-day," put in Miss Shay, with a look at the +hot, cloudless sky. + +"Then it's all settled," went on Mr. Ringold. "It is understood, Joe, +that you can have considerable time, if you need it, to locate your +father. The dramas I intend to film will extend over a considerable +time, and they can be made whenever it is most convenient. After all, I +think it is a good thing that we are going to the Southern California +coast. The climate there will be just what we want, and the sunlight +will be almost constant." + +"I'm sure I'm much obliged to you," said Joe. "This trip after the +Indian films cost us more than we counted on, and we'll be glad of a +chance to make more money. We're down pretty low; aren't we, Blake?" + +"I'm afraid so. But then, we may get that prize money, and that will +help a lot." + +"That's so," put in Mr. Hadley. "You had better have those films +developed, and send them to the geographical society. I wouldn't ship +them undeveloped, for they might be light-struck. You were lucky the +Indians didn't spoil them." + +The boys decided to do this, and during the next few days the reels of +moving pictures were developed, and some positives printed from them. +While the lads had been after the Indians Mr. Ringold had sent for a +complete, though small, moving picture outfit, and with this some of the +pictures were thrown on a screen. + +"They're the finest I've ever seen!" declared Mr. Hadley, after +inspecting them critically. "That charge of the soldiers can't be +beaten, and as for the Indian dances, they are as plain as if we were +right on the ground. You'll get the prize, I'm sure; especially since +you're the only ones who got any views, as I understand it." + +Mr. Hadley proved a good prophet, for in due time, after the films +reached New York, came a letter from the geographical society, enclosing +a substantial check for the two boys. + +The films were excellent, it was stated, and just what were needed. One +other concern, aside from Mr. Munson's, and the one the latter +mentioned, which had gone to Indian land, had succeeded in getting a few +views of the Indians in another part of the State, but they were nowhere +near as good as those Blake and Joe had secured after such trouble and +risk. The attempt to get phonographic records had been a failure, the +officers of the society wrote, though another attempt would be made if +ever the Indians again broke from their reservations. + +"And if they do," spoke Blake, "I'm not going to chase after them." + +"Me, either," decided Joe. "I've had enough. Now the sooner we can get +to the coast the better I'll like it. Just think, my father must be as +anxious to see me as I am to find him; but as near as I can understand +it, he doesn't even know that I am alive. Think of that!" + +"It is rather hard," said Blake, sympathetically. "But it won't be long +now. I heard Mr. Ringold say we would start soon." + +There were a few scenes in some of the dramas enacted in Arizona that +yet needed to be filmed, and Joe and Blake helped with this work, +Macaroni assisting them and Mr. Hadley. + +"And after this, nearly all our work will have to do with the sea," said +the theatrical man. "I want to depict it in all its phases; showing it +calm, and during a storm, the delights of it, as well as the perils of +the deep." + +Before leaving Flagstaff it was decided to give a few exhibitions of +some of the moving pictures, so that the residents there, and a number +of the cowboys and Indians who had taken part in the plays, might see +how they looked on the screen. A suitable building was obtained, and it +was crowded at every performance. + +The Indians were at first frightened, thinking it was some new and +powerful kind of "medicine" that might have a bad effect on them. With +one accord, when the film the boys had taken, showing the charge of the +soldiers on the Moquis, was put on, the redmen rushed from the building. +And it was some time before they could be induced to return. + +"Say, there's my uncle, as plain as anything!" exclaimed Joe, when the +excitement had calmed down, and the reel was run over again. "There's +Sergeant Duncan, close to Captain Marsh!" and he indicated where the +trooper was riding beside the commander of the cavalry. + +"That's right," agreed Blake, as the pictures flickered over the screen, +the figures being almost life size. "And he looks like you, too." + +"I wonder if my father looks like that?" said Joe, softly. + +There were busy days ahead of them all now, and there was much work to +be done in transporting all the "properties" to the coast, and arranging +to move the picture outfit, the cameras and the entire company. The boys +had little leisure, but Joe managed to get a letter off to the +government lighthouse board, asking for news of his father, Nathaniel +Duncan. + +In reply he got a communication stating that a Mr. Duncan was stationed +as assistant keeper at a light near San Diego, and not far from Point +Loma. + +"That's where we want to head for, then," said Joe, as he talked the +matter over with his chum. "I wonder if that will suit Mr. Ringold?" + +It did, as the theatrical manager stated, when the subject was broached +to him. Accordingly arrangements were made to ship everything there. + +The day came to bid farewell to Flagstaff, which had been the stopping +place of the theatrical troupe for several months. They had made many +friends, and the Indians had become so used to taking their parts in the +dramas, and in getting good pay for it, that they were very sorry to see +the "palefaces" leave. So, too, were the cowboys, many of whom had +become very friendly with our heroes and the theatrical people. + +"But we've got to go," said Blake, as he shook hands with his +acquaintances. + +"Indeed, if we didn't leave soon," said Joe, "I'd be tempted to start +off by myself. I've sent a letter to my dad, telling him all about how +strangely I found him, and I'm just aching to see him. I guess he'll be +pretty well surprised to get it." + +"I should imagine so," agreed Blake. + +"One last round-up to say good-bye!" cried one of the cowboys, as the +party started away from the quarters they had occupied. "Everybody get +in on this. Whoop her up, boys!" + +He leaped to his steed, flourished his hat, and began riding around in a +circle, firing his big revolver at intervals. + +"That's the ticket!" shouted the others, as they followed his example. + +Soon two score of the light-hearted chaps were riding around the little +crowd of the boys and their friends, saluting them, and saying farewell +in this lively fashion. + +"Whoop her up!" + +"Never say die!" + +"Come again, and we'll exterminate a whole band of redskins for you!" + +"And have a cattle stampede made to order any day you want!" + +These were only a few of the many expressions from the cowboys. + +"Say, if they don't kill themselves, they'll make us deaf, with all that +noise," predicted C. C. + +"This isn't a funeral," declared Mr. Hadley. "It's a jolly occasion, +Gloomy Gus!" + +"Huh! Jolly? First you know some one will be hurt." + +But no one was, in spite of the direful predictions, and soon the +cowboys drew off, with final shots from their revolvers, discharging +them in the air. The Indians, too, had their share in the farewell, +though they were not so demonstrative as were their companions. + +"And now for the coast!" cried Blake, as they reached the train. + +"And my dad," added Joe, and there was a trace of tears in his eyes, +which he did not attempt to conceal. Blake knew just how his chum felt, +and he found himself wishing that he, too, was going to find some +relative. But he knew the only one he had was his aged uncle. + +Little of incident occurred on the trip to San Diego, which had been +decided on as headquarters until a suitable location, away from any +town, could be selected directly on the ocean beach. I say little of +moment, but C. C. was continually predicting that something would +happen, from a real hold-up to a train wreck. + +"And if that doesn't happen, a bridge will go go down with us," he said. + +But nothing of the kind occurred, and finally the boys and their friends +reached the coast, going to the boarding place they had engaged. + +"And there's the old Pacific!" exclaimed Joe, as he and Blake went down +to the shore of the bay on which San Diego stands. "It isn't very rough, +however, and Mr. Ringold said he wanted tumbling waves as a background." + +"It gets rough at times, though," remarked a fisherman. "Of course, if +you want to see big waves you'll have to go beyond this bay. It's pretty +well land-locked. Oh, yes, the old Pacific isn't always as peaceful as +her name." + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +AT THE LIGHTHOUSE + + +The two boys talked for some time with the old fisherman, and then Blake +whispered to Joe: + +"Why don't you ask him where the lighthouse is where your father is +supposed to be, and the best way of getting to it?" + +"I will," replied his chum. + +"The Rockypoint light?" repeated the fisherman, in response to Joe's +inquiry. "Why yes, I know it well. It's only a few miles from here. You +can see her flash on a clear night, but you can't make out the house +itself, even on a clear day, because she's down behind that spur of +coast. From the ocean, though, she's seen easily enough." + +"And how can we get there?" asked Blake. + +"Well, you can walk right down the beach, though it's a middlin' long +tramp; or you can go back to town, and hire a rig." + +"We'll walk," decided Joe. "Do you happen to know of a Mr. Duncan +there?" He waited anxiously for the answer. + +"No, lad, I can't rightly say I do," said the fisherman. "I know the +keeper, Harry Stanton, and, now I come to think of it, I did hear the +other day that he had a new assistant." + +"That's him!" cried Joe, eagerly. + +"Who?" + +"My father, I hope," was the reply, and in his joy Joe told something of +his story. + +"Well, you sure have spun a queer yarn," said the old fisherman, "and I +wish you all sorts of luck. You'll soon be at the light if you go right +down the beach. I'd row you down in my dory, only I've just come in from +taking up my nets and I'm sort of tired." + +"Oh, we wouldn't think of asking you," put in Blake. "We can easily walk +it." + +"Some day I'll take you out fishing," promised the man. "And so you're +here to get moving pictures; eh? Well, I don't know much about 'em, but +you couldn't come to a nicer place than this spot on the coast. And you +only have to go a little way to get right where the real surf comes +smashing up on the beach. Of course, as I said, we're so land-locked +just here that we don't see much of it, even in a storm. Moving +pictures; eh? I'd like to see some." + +"I guess you can be in them, if you want to," said Blake. "I heard Mr. +Ringold say he had one drama that called for a lot of fishermen." + +"Me in moving pictures!" cried the old man. "Ho! Ho! I wonder what my +wife'd say to that. I've been in lots of queer situations. I've been +knocked overboard by a whale, I've been wrecked, and half drowned, and +almost starved, but I've never been in a picture, except I once had a +tintype taken--that was when I was married," and he chuckled at the +remembrance. "These movin' pictures aren't like tintypes; are they?" + +"Not much," laughed Joe, as he and Blake moved off in the direction of +the lighthouse, calling a good-bye to their new friend. They had told +Mr. Hadley, in starting out that morning, that they might not be back +until late, for Joe had a half notion that he would try to find the +lighthouse that day. + +"I wonder what I shall say to him, when I first see him, Blake?" Joe +asked, as they trudged along. + +"Why--er--I hardly know," replied his chum. "I never found a lost +father, myself." + +"And I never did, either. I guess I'll just say: 'Hello, Dad; do you +know me?'" + +"That sounds all right," said Blake. "He sure will be surprised." + +The walk was longer than they had thought, and when noon came they +still had some distance to go. As they were hungry they sought out a +fisherman's cottage, where, for a small sum, they had a fine meal. +Starting out again, they turned an intervening point of land about three +o'clock, and then came in view of a lighthouse, located on a pile of +rocks, not far from the high-water mark. + +"That's the place," said Blake, in a low voice. + +"Yes," agreed Joe. "It looks comfortable and homelike, too." + +Back of the lighthouse was a small garden, and also a flower bed, and a +man could be seen working there. His back was toward the boys. + +"I--I wonder if that's him--my father?" said Joe, softly. "He seems to +be very old," for they had a glimpse of a long white beard, and the man +seemed to be bent with the weight of many years. + +"Go up and ask," said Blake. "I'll wait here." + +"No, I want you to come with me," insisted his chum. "You were with me +when I first heard the good news, and now I want you along to hear the +conclusion of it. Come on, Blake." + +"No, I'd rather not," and nothing Joe could say would induce his chum to +accompany him. + +Their talk had been carried on in low voices, and the aged man, working +in the garden, had apparently not heard them. He continued to hoe away +among the rows. + +"Well, here goes!" exclaimed Joe, with a sigh. Now that he felt he was +at the end of his quest his sensations were almost as sorrowful as +joyful. In fact, he did not know exactly how he did feel. + +Walking up toward the old man, he paused, and then coughed slightly to +attract his attention. The lighthouse keeper turned, surveyed the boy +and in a pleasant voice asked: + +"Well?" + +"If--if you--are you my father?" asked Joe, in trembling voice, holding +out his hands. + +"Your father!" cried the man in unmistakable surprise. "What is your +name?" + +"Joe Duncan." + +"Joe Duncan? Did Duncan have a son?" + +"Yes, and I'm the boy!" went on Joe, eagerly, yet a doubt began creeping +into his heart. "But are you Mr. Nathaniel Duncan?" + +The old man paused a moment, and then said gently: + +"No, my boy. I'm Harry Stanton, keeper of Rockypoint light." + +"But my father!" exclaimed Joe. "I understood he was here! Where is he?" + +"He was here," went on Mr. Stanton, as he leaned on his hoe and looked +compassionately at the lad standing before him; "but he went away more +than a week ago." + +"Gone away!" echoed Joe. "Did he--did he get my letter?" + +"I don't know whether it was your letter or not," said the keeper. "One +came for him the day after he left. It's here yet. It was from +Flagstaff, Arizona, I believe." + +"That's my letter!" exclaimed Joe. "And he never got it! Poor Dad, he +doesn't yet know that I'm alive!" and he turned away with tears in his +eyes. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +BLAKE LEARNS A SECRET + + +Blake, looking on from a little distance, saw Joe turn aside from the +aged man. + +"That's rather queer," thought the lad. "If that was his father it isn't +a very cordial welcome." + +As he looked, he saw Joe walking out of the garden. + +"Queerer still," Blake mused. "Even if that isn't Mr. Duncan, he must be +somewhere around, for lighthouse keepers can't be very far away from +their station, as I understand it." + +Joe came walking toward his chum. His face showed his disappointment so +unmistakably that Blake called out: + +"What's the matter, Joe?" + +"He's gone--he isn't here! He never got my letter!" + +"Where has he gone?" asked Blake, always practical. + +"I--I don't know. I didn't ask." + +"Look here, Joe!" exclaimed his chum. "I guess you're too excited over +this. You let me make some inquiries for you. Suppose he has gone? We +may be able to trace him. Men in the lighthouse service get transferred +from one place to another just as soldiers do, I imagine. Now you sit +down here and look at the sad sea waves, as C. C. would say if he were +here, and I'll go tackle that lighthouse keeper. You were too flustered +to get any clues, I expect." + +"I guess I was," admitted Joe. "When I found he wasn't there I didn't +know what to do. I didn't feel like asking any questions." + +Blake placed his arm around his chum's shoulder, patted him on the back, +and started toward the aged man, who was still leaning on his hoe, +looking in mild surprise at the two lads. + +"I'll find out all about it," called back Blake. + +"Ha! Another boy!" exclaimed Mr. Stanton, as Blake approached. "I didn't +know this was going to be visiting day, or I might have put on my other +suit," and he laughed genially. "Are you another son of Mr. Duncan?" he +asked. + +"No," replied Blake. "I'm Joe's chum. We're in the moving picture +business together. But he says his father has left, and, as he naturally +feels badly, I thought I'd make some inquiries for him, so we can +locate him. Do you know where Mr. Duncan went?" + +"No--I can't say that I do," was the slow answer. "And so you are chums; +eh?" + +"Yes, and we have been for some years." + +"That's nice. You tell each other all your secrets, I suppose?" + +"Well, most of 'em." + +"Never hold anything back?" + +"Why, what do you mean?" asked Blake, for there seemed to be a strange +meaning in the old man's voice. + +"I mean, lad," and the lighthouse keeper's tones sank to a whisper; "I +mean, if I tell you something, can you keep it from him?" + +"Why--yes--I suppose so," spoke Blake, wonderingly. "But what is the +matter? Isn't his father here?" + +"No, he's gone, just as I told him. But look here--he seems a nice sort +of lad, and I didn't want to hurt his feelings. I'd rather tell you, as +long as you're his chum, and if you can keep a secret." + +He looked to where Joe was sitting on the rocks, watching the waves roll +lazily up the beach and break. Joe was far enough off so that the +low-voiced conversation could not reach him. + +"I can keep a secret if I have to," replied Blake. "But what is it all +about? Is Mr. Duncan--is he--dead?" + +The old man hesitated, and, for a moment, Blake thought that his guess +was correct. Then the aged man said slowly: + +"No, my boy, he isn't dead; but maybe, for the sake of his son, he had +better be. At any rate, it's better, all around, that he's away from +here." + +"Why?" asked Blake quickly. "Tell me what you mean!" + +"That I will, lad, and maybe you can figure a way out of the puzzle. I'm +an old man, and not as smart as I was, so my brain doesn't work quickly. +Maybe you can find a way out. Come inside where we can talk so he won't +hear us," and he nodded toward the quiet figure of Joe on the beach. + +Blake wondered more than ever what the disclosure might be. He followed +the aged man into the living quarters of the house attached to the light +tower. + +"Sit ye there, lad," went on Mr. Stanton, "and I'll tell you all about +it. Maybe you can find a way out." + +He paused, as if to gather his thoughts, and then resumed: + +"You see I'm pretty old, and I have to have an assistant at this light. +I expect soon I'll have to give up altogether. But I'm going to hang on +as long as I can. I've had three assistants in the last year, and one of +'em, as you know now, was Nathaniel Duncan, Joe's father. Before him I +had a likely young fellow named--ah, well, I've forgotten, and the name +doesn't matter much anyhow. But when he left the board sent me this +Duncan, and I must say I liked him right well." + +"What sort of a man was he?" asked Blake. + +"A nice sort of man. He was about middle aged, tall, well built, and +strong as a horse. He looked as if he had had trouble, though, and +gradually he told me his story. His wife had died when his boy and girl +were young----" + +"Girl! Was there a girl?" cried Blake. "Has Joe a sister, too?" + +"He had--whether he has yet, I don't know," went on Mr. Stanton. "I'll +tell you all I know. + +"As I said, Nate Duncan seemed to have had lots of sorrow, and he told +me how, after his wife died, he had placed the boy and girl in charge of +some people, and gone off to the California mines to make some money. +When he come back, rich, the children had disappeared, and so had the +people he left 'em with. He never could locate 'em, though he tried +hard, and so did his half-brother, Bill. But Bill was different from +Nate, so I understand. Bill was a reckless sort of chap, while Joe's +father was quite steady." + +"That's right," spoke Blake, and then he related how Joe had come to get +a trace of his father. + +"Well," resumed Mr. Stanton, "as I said, Duncan came here, and he and I +got along well together. Then there came trouble." + +"Trouble? What kind?" asked Joe. + +"Trouble with wreckers, lad. The meanest and most wicked kind of trouble +there can be on a seacoast. A band of bad men got together and by means +of false lights lured small vessels out of their course so they went on +the rocks. Then they got what they could when the cargo was washed +ashore." + +"But what has that got to do with Joe's father?" asked Blake. + +"Too much, I'm afraid, lad. It was said that the light here was allowed +to go out some nights, so the false light would be more effective." + +"Well?" + +"Well, Nate Duncan had charge of the light at night after I went off +duty. And it was always when I was off duty that the wrecks occurred." + +"Do you mean to accuse Joe's father of being in with the wreckers?" + +"No, lad. I don't accuse anybody; I'm too old a man to do anything like +that. But ugly stories began to be circulated. Government inspectors +began to call more often than they used to, inspecting my light--my +light, that I've tended nigh onto twenty-five years now. I began to hear +rumors that my assistant wasn't altogether straight. He was said to be +seen consorting with the wreckers, though it was hard to get proof that +the men were wreckers, for they pretended to be fishermen. + +"Then come a day when, with my own eyes, I saw Nate Duncan walking along +the beach with one of the men who was said to be at the head of the +wrecking gang. I could see that they were quarreling, and then Nate +knocked the man down. He didn't get up right away, for, as I said, Nate +was strong. I knew something would come of that, and I wasn't much +surprised when that day Nate disappeared." + +"Disappeared?" cried Blake. + +"Went off completely, and left me alone at the light. I tended it all +night, same as I had done before, many a time, and the next day I +reported matters, and I had a new assistant--the same one I have now." + +"But that doesn't prove anything," said Blake. "Just because Joe's +father, and a man suspected of being a wrecker, had a quarrel, doesn't +say that Mr. Duncan was a wrecker, too." + +"There's more to it," went on the old man. "The day after Nate Duncan +disappeared detectives came here looking for him." + +Blake started. There was more to the story than he had suspected. He +looked at Mr. Stanton, and glanced out of the window to where Joe still +sat. + +"So that's why I say maybe it would be better for Joe if his father was +dead," went on Mr. Stanton. "Disgrace is a terrible thing, and I +couldn't bear to tell Joe, when he asked me about his father." + +"But where did he go?" asked Blake. "Didn't he leave any trace at all?" + +"Not a trace, lad--folks most generally doesn't when the detectives are +after 'em. Hold on, though, I won't say Nate was guilty on my own hook. +I'm only telling you what happened. I'd hate to believe he was a +wrecker, misusing this light to draw vessels on the dangerous rocks; but +it looks black, it looks black." + +"Did the detectives actually accuse Mr. Duncan?" asked Blake. + +"Well, they as much as did. They said some of the wreckers had been +arrested, and had incriminated the assistant light-keeper. But Duncan +was smart enough--provided he was guilty--to skip out. As I told Joe, +his father left just before the letter from Flagstaff came, so he +doesn't know his son is alive. Poor man, I'm sorry for him. He told me +how he had searched all over for his children, and at last, becoming +tired and discouraged, he took this job just to have something to do, +for he's well enough off not to have to work." + +"And there's no way of telling where he went?" questioned Blake. + +"Nary a one that I know of, lad. As I said, maybe he's better off lost." + +"Not for Joe." + +"Well, maybe not; but for himself. There are heavy penalties for +wrecking, and it's well he wasn't caught, though, as I say, I don't +accuse him. Only it looks black, it looks black. If he was innocent why +didn't he stay and fight it out? Yes, lad, it looks black." + +"I'm afraid so," sighed Blake. "How can I ever tell Joe the news?" + +"You mustn't!" exclaimed the old man. "That's just it. You must not tell +him. I'd hate to destroy his faith in his father. It would be cruel. +That's why I asked if you could keep a secret. You won't tell him; will +you?" + +"No," said Blake, in a low voice; "I won't tell him." + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +AT PRACTICE + + +There was silence between man and boy for a space, and then Blake, +understanding how hard it would be to keep the news from Joe, said: + +"I'll have to tell him something, Mr. Stanton. Joe will want to know why +his father went away, and where. Isn't there any way in which we may get +a clue to the direction he took?" + +"Wait a minute until I think, lad," said the old man. "It may be that we +can find a clue, after all. Nate Duncan left some papers behind. I +haven't looked at 'em, not wishing to make trouble, but there may be a +clue there. I'll get 'em." + +"And I'll call Joe in to go over them with me," said Blake. "He'll want +to see them." + +"But, mind you, not a word about what I've told you." + +"No, I'll keep quiet," promised Blake. "I'll call him in, while you get +the papers." + +Going to the door of the little cottage, Blake called to his chum. + +"What is it?" asked Joe, eagerly. "Was there some mistake? Is my father +somewhere around here, after all?" + +"Well, we hope to find him," said Blake, with an assurance he did not +feel. "Look here, Joe, your father went away rather suddenly, it seems, +but you mustn't think anything about that. He's been traveling all over, +you know, looking for you and your sister----" + +"Sister?" cried Joe. + +"Yes, you had a sister, though I can't get much information about her. +Neither could your uncle tell you, as you remember." + +"That's right. Oh, if I could only find dad and her!" and Joe sighed. +"But maybe she isn't alive." + +"It's this way," went on Blake, and he told as much of the lighthouse +keeper's story as was wise, keeping from Joe all information about the +wreckers. "Now, your father may have heard of some new clue about you," +continued Joe's chum, "and he may have gone to hunt that up," which was +true enough, for with the warning that he was likely to be arrested as a +criminal, there may have come to Mr. Duncan some information about his +missing children. + +"But in that case," asked Joe, "why didn't he leave some word as to +where he was going?" + +"He may have been in too much of a hurry," suggested Blake, realizing +that he was going to have considerable difficulty in keeping Joe from +guessing the truth. + +"Well, perhaps that's so," agreed the lad. "But maybe Mr. Stanton has +some clues." + +The lighthouse keeper came downstairs at this moment with a bundle of +papers in his hand. + +"Here is all I found," he said. "It isn't much, but among the things he +left behind is the letter you wrote," and he extended to Joe the missive +the lad had penned in such hope at Flagstaff. + +"Poor Dad," murmured Joe. "I wonder if he will ever get this?" + +Together he and Blake looked over the documents. As the keeper had said, +there was not much. Some memoranda, evidently made as different clues +came to him; paid bills, some business letters, a few notes, and that +was all. + +"What's this?" exclaimed Blake, as he read one letter. "It seems to be +from some shipping agent in San Francisco, saying he can place--why, +Joe, it's to your father, and it says he can have a place as mate any +time he wants it. Was he a sailor?" he asked, eagerly, turning to the +keeper. + +"So I understood." + +"Then this is the very thing we're looking for!" cried Blake. "Look, it +is dated only a short time before he left. I see now," and he gave the +lighthouse keeper a peculiar look, when Joe was not glancing in his +direction. "Mr. Duncan got word that he could ship as a mate, and he +left in a hurry." + +"Maybe so," assented Mr. Stanton. + +"Perhaps he had some new clue about you, Joe, or possibly about your +sister," suggested Blake, hoping his chum would come to take this view. + +"Maybe," assented Joe. "But it's queer he didn't leave some word, or +tell someone he was going." + +"He may not have had time," went on Blake. "Vessels have to sail in a +hurry, lots of times, and he may have had to act quickly." + +"It's possible," admitted the keeper. + +"Then I'll tell you what we'll do," continued Blake. "We'll go to San +Francisco the first chance we get, and see this shipping agent. He may +be able to put us on the right track." + +"I guess it's the only thing to do," agreed Joe, in despondent tones. +"Poor Dad! I nearly found him, and then I lost him again." + +They looked over the other papers. None offered as promising a clue as +did the agent's letter, and this Joe took with him, also his own to his +father. + +"Maybe I'll get a chance to deliver it to him myself," he said, with a +smile that had little of hope in it. + +There was nothing more to be learned at the lighthouse. The boys left, +after thanking the keeper, and promising to come and see him again. As +they went out Mr. Stanton gave Blake a little sign, warning him not to +disclose the secret. + +"Well, failure number one," said Joe, as they took a carriage back to +San Diego, it being rather late. + +"Yes, but we'll win out yet!" declared Blake, with a confidence he did +not feel. "We'll find your father and your sister, too." + +"I'll have more relations than you, Blake, if I keep on, and can find +them," said Joe, after a bit. + +"That's right. Well, I wish you luck," and Blake wondered if Joe would +be glad he had found his father, after all. "Wrecking is a black +business," mused the lad. "But, like Mr. Stanton, I'm not going to think +Joe's father guilty until I have to. I wonder, though, if the story is +known about San Diego? If it is I'll have trouble keeping it from Joe." + +But Joe's chum found he had little to fear on this score, for, on +getting back to the quarters of the theatrical troupe, the boys were +told that the next day they would all take up their residence in a small +seacoast settlement, out on the main ocean beach, away from the +land-locked bay and where bigger waves could be pictured. + +"And there we'll enact the first of the sea dramas," said Mr. Ringold. + +"And all get drowned," murmured C. C., in his gloomiest tone. + +"I'll wash your face with snow--the first time it snows in this summer +land--if you don't be more cheerful," threatened Miss Shay. + +"Well, something will happen, I'm sure," declared C. C. "When do we +move?" + +"To-morrow," said Mr. Ringold, while Blake and Joe told Mr. Hadley of +their poor success in finding Mr. Duncan. The photographer, as did the +other members of the company, sympathized with the lad. Mr. Ringold said +that as soon as they got settled the boys could go to San Francisco to +look up the shipping agent. + +The transfer to the small seacoast settlement was a matter of some work, +but in a week all was arranged, and the members of the company were +settled in a large, comfortable house, close to the beach. + +"And now for some rehearsals," said Mr. Ringold, one morning. "One of +the scenes calls for a shipwrecked man coming ashore in a small boat. +Now, C. C., I guess you'll have to be the man this time, as I need the +others for shore parts. Get the cameras ready." + +"I--I'm to be shipwrecked; am I?" inquired Mr. Piper. "Do I have to fall +overboard?" + +"Not unless you want to," said Mr. Ringold, consulting the manuscript of +the play. + +"Then I'm not going to, for I'll catch my death of cold if I do." + +"Hum! I'm glad he didn't have any other objections," murmured the +theatrical man. "This is going to be easy." + +The preparations were made, it being customary to rehearse the scenes +and acts before "filming" them to secure good results. A boat was +launched, after some trouble on account of the surf, and with the aid of +some fishermen, "C. C. was finally sent to sea," which was a joke, as +Blake remarked. + +"And now come in with the waves," ordered Mr. Ringold, who was directing +the drama. "Hang over the edge of the boat, C. C., and look as if you +hadn't had any food or water for a week." + +"They say an actor never eats, anyhow," murmured Mr. Hadley, who, with +the boys, was ready with the cameras; "so I guess C. C. won't have to +pretend much." + +"Come on!" cried Mr. Ringold. "Hang more over the side of the boat." + +C. C. Piper obeyed orders--too literally, in fact. He leaned so far over +that, a moment later, when there came a particularly large wave, the +craft slewed sideways, got into the trough, and an instant later +capsized. + +"He's overboard!" yelled Miss Lee. + +"Save him!" cried Miss Shay. + +"Stop the cameras," came from Mr. Ringold. "We don't want that in the +picture." + +"Man overboard!" bawled the fishermen, who were interestedly watching +the scene. "Launch the motor boat!" + + + + +CHAPTER X + +TO SAN FRANCISCO + + +For a moment there was excitement, and then the trained men of the sea +got into action. Nearby there were several fishing boats, operated by +gasoline motors. There were planks at hand, and rollers on which the +craft could be launched in the surf, being eased along the slope by +releasing a cable rigged to a post some distance away. + +It did not take long for the fishermen to launch one of these motor +boats, and while C. C. Piper was struggling in the surf, endeavoring as +best he could to climb into his overturned boat, they put out to rescue +him. + +"Do you want that in the picture?" asked Joe, who was at one of the +cameras. + +"No indeed!" cried Mr. Ringold. "It won't fit in at all! He must drift +ashore. We'll have to do all this over again." + +"I can see Gloomy doing it," murmured Blake. + +At that moment there came a hail from the comedian. + +"Hello!" he cried. "Are you going to--gulp--let me--glub--sink out +here? Can't some of you----" and the rest was lost amid a series of +gurgles as the salty water got in C. C.'s mouth. + +"Hold on just a little longer," called one of the fishermen, as he +directed the craft toward the struggling actor. "We'll have you out +presently." + +"You'd--better--hurry--up!" panted the comedian, who might well be +excused at this moment from taking a gloomy view of life. + +He managed to cling to one side of the dory until the rescuing motor +craft reached him. Then he was soon hauled aboard, dripping wet, all but +exhausted, and unable to utter a sound save sighs. + +"Well, it was too bad," said Mr. Ringold, when C. C. was once more +ashore. "I guess we'll have to get you a little larger boat." + +"Get _me_ one?" asked the actor, with the accent on the personal +pronoun. + +"Certainly. We'll have to do this scene over again. I guess we could use +one of the fishing boats, though they're a little large. But we can move +the cameras back. Take one of those, C. C." + +"I guess not." + +"What's that?" + +"I said I guess not. No more for mine!" + +"Do you mean to say you won't go on with this act? Are you going to +balk as you did in the Indian scene?" + +"Say," began C. C., earnestly, as, dripping wet as he was, he strode up +to the theatrical man, "I can't swim, and I don't like the water. I told +you that the time you took me up in the country, where we found these +boys," and he motioned to Blake and Joe, who were looking interestedly +on, ready to work the cameras as soon as required. + +"And yet," went on Mr. Piper, "you insisted that I jump overboard then +and rescue Miss Shay. Now you want me to drift in as a shipwrecked +sailor. It's too much, I tell you. There is entirely too much water and +tank drama in this business. I know I'll get my death of cold, if I +don't drown." + +"Oh, can't you look on the bright side?" asked Miss Shay, who was to +come into the drama later. "Why, it's so warm I should think you'd like +to get into the surf." + +"Not for mine!" exclaimed C. C., firmly, and it took some persuasion on +the part of the theatrical manager, accompanied by a promise of an +increase of salary every time he had to go into the water, to induce +C. C. to try the shipwreck scene over again. + +This time a larger boat was used, and, though it came near to capsizing, +it did not quite go over, though considerable water was shipped. C. C. +managed to stay aboard, and the cameras, rapidly clicking, registered +each movement of the actor and those who later took part in the drama. + +Then some shore scenes were photographed, the supposed shipwrecked +persons building a fire, pretending to catch fish from the ocean, and +cooking them. + +All this the moving picture boys, or Mr. Hadley, faithfully registered +on the films, to be later thrown on the screen for the delight of the +public. + +"I wonder if the folks who look at moving pictures realize how they are +made?" said Joe, as they stopped work for the day. + +"I don't believe so," answered Blake. "There are tricks in all trades, +it's said; but I guess the moving picture business is as full of them as +any." + +The next two days were busy ones, as a number of elaborate acts had to +be filmed, and the boys were kept on the jump from morning to night. Mr. +Hadley, also, had all he could do with the camera. There were fishing +views to get, scenes on the beach, where a number of children were +induced to play at games in the sand, building castles and tunnels, +boating incidents and the like. + +C. C. did not fall overboard again, though he often was sent out to do +some funny stunt that was to be used in the play. + +"I wonder when we can go to San Francisco?" queried Joe one afternoon, +following a particularly hard day. "I want to see that shipping agent, +and ask him if he can give me any clue to my father." + +"Maybe we'd better speak to Mr. Ringold," suggested Blake, and they did, +with the result that the theatrical man informed them that the end of +the week would be free, as he had to wait for some costumes to arrive +before he could produce any more dramas. + +"I want to get a good wreck scene," he said, "and that is going to be +rather hard." + +"Will it be a real wreck scene?" asked Joe. + +"Yes, as real as we can make it. I'm negotiating now for an old schooner +that I can scuttle out at sea. All the company will be aboard, and +they'll drift about for a long time without food and water." + +"Am I supposed to be in on that?" asked C. C., suspiciously. + +"Of course," was the theatrical man's answer. "This is a circus company +returning from abroad that is wrecked, and you are the clown. Be as +funny as you can." + +"Wrecked?" queried C. C. + +"That's it." + +"And I'm to be funny?" + +"Certainly." + +"Without food and water for days, and I'm expected to be funny!" +exclaimed the comedian, with a groan. "Oh, why did I ever get into this +business? I'll not do it!" + +"Oh you're only _supposed_ to be starving and thirsty," explained Mr. +Ringold. "If you want, you can take some sandwiches and cold coffee with +you, and have lunch--but don't do it when the cameras are working. It +wouldn't look well in the moving pictures to have a note on the screen +saying that the shipwrecked persons were starving, and then show you +chewing away; would it, now?" + +"No, I suppose not," admitted C. C., with a sigh. "Oh, but this is a +miserable business, though! I'm sure I'll be drowned before we get +through with it!" + +"Oh, cheer up!" called Miss Lee, but there seemed to be no need for the +advice, for a moment later C. C. broke forth into a comic song. + +While the preparations for producing the wreck scene were under way, +there was small need for the services of the boys, and they made ready +to go to San Francisco. + +"Even if he has gone away somewhere," suggested Blake, "he may have left +some address where you can reach him." + +"Do you think he'll be gone?" asked Joe. + +"Well, if he left the lighthouse in a hurry, intending to call on a +shipping agent, naturally he wouldn't stay in port long," said Blake. +"Besides----" He stopped suddenly, being on the verge of saying +something that would give Joe a hint of the truth. + +"What is it?" asked his chum, quickly. "What were you going to say, +Blake?" + +"Nothing." + +"Yes, you were, I'm sure of it. Blake, is there anything you're holding +back from me?" + +Joe looked earnestly at his chum. + +"I--er--" began Blake--when there came a knock on the door. + +"What is it?" called Blake, glad of the interruption. + +"Mr. Ringold wants you to get ready to take some scenes to-night," said +the voice of Macaroni. + +"Scenes at night?" inquired Joe, opening the door, and forgetting the +question he had put to his chum. + +"Yes," went on their young helper. "Flashlight scenes. He wants you at +once." + +The boys reported to their superiors, and learned that a smuggling +scene, to fit in one of the sea dramas, was to be attempted. By means of +powerful flash and electric lights, the current coming over cables from +San Diego, it was planned to make views at night. + +As this was an unexpected turn to affairs, they had to postpone their +trip to San Francisco for a few days. The night pictures came out well, +however, and the first of the following week saw Joe and Blake start on +their way to the city of the Golden Gate. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +A STRANGE CHARGE + + +"Are you going to take a camera with you, boys?" asked Mr. Ringold, as +Joe and Blake were saying good-bye to their friend, preparatory to +making a brief stay in San Francisco. + +"A camera? No. Why?" inquired Blake. + +"Well, I happen to need some San Francisco street scenes for one of the +dramas," went on the theatrical man; "and it occurred to me that you +could get them when you weren't busy." + +"Of course we could," answered Joe. "We can take the automatic, and set +it up wherever you say, and go looking for that shipping agent. When we +come back we'll have all the pictures we need." + +"Good!" exclaimed Mr. Ringold. "Try that, if you don't mind. Get some +scenes down in the financial district, and others in the residential +section. Then, as long as you have to go to the shipping offices, get +some there." + +The boys promised they would, and added the small but compact automatic +camera to their luggage as they started off. + +This camera worked by compressed air. There was a small motor inside, +operated by a cylinder of air that could be filled by an ordinary +bicycle pump. Otherwise it was just like the other moving picture +cameras. + +There was the upper box, in which was wound the unexposed reel of film. +From this it went over a roller, and the cog wheel, which engaged in the +perforations, thence down by means of the "gate," behind the lens and +shutter. There two claws reached up and grasped the film as the motor +operated, pulling down three-quarters of an inch each time, to be +exposed as the shutter was automatically opened in front of the lens. + +Each one of the thousands of moving pictures, as I have explained in +previous books, is three-quarters of an inch deep, though, of course, on +the screen it is enormously enlarged. + +After the film has been exposed, three-quarters of an inch at a time, it +goes below into another light-tight box of the camera, whence it is +removed to be developed and printed. The movement of the film, the +operation of the claws and the opening and closing of the shutter, +making it possible to take sixteen pictures a second, was, in this +camera, all controlled by the air motor. + +Joe and Blake found much to amuse them in San Francisco, which they had +never before visited. They were a bit "green," but after their +experiences in New York they had no trouble in finding their way around. + +"We'd better go to some hotel, or boarding house," suggested Joe, after +their arrival. "Pick out one where we can leave the camera working while +we're gone." + +They did this, being fortunate enough to secure rooms in a good, though +not expensive, hotel near the financial district. One of their windows +looked directly out on a busy scene. + +"That'll be just the place, and the sort of scene Mr. Ringold wants," +declared Blake. "Let's set the camera there on the sill and see what it +gets. The light is good to-day." + +It was, the sun shining brightly, and being directly back of the camera, +which would insure the proper illumination. + +They adjusted the machine, and set the mechanism to go off about an hour +after they had left the room. Then they went to find the shipping agent, +to see if they could get any news of Joe's father. + +But, to their disappointment, he was out, and none of the clerks could +tell them what they wanted to know. They were directed to return the +next day. + +"More disappointment!" exclaimed Joe. "It does seem as if I was up +against it, Blake." + +"Oh, don't worry. To-morrow will do just as well as to-day. And you +don't want to get in C. C.'s habit, you know." + +"No, that's right. Well, what shall we do?" + +"Let's look around a bit, and then go see how the camera is working." + +They found so much to interest them in the streets of San Francisco that +they did not go back to the hotel as soon as they had intended. When +they did reach the street on which it stood they saw a crowd gathered. + +"Look at that!" cried Blake. + +"Yes! Maybe it's a fire!" exclaimed Joe. "Our camera----" + +"There's no fire, or else we'd see some smoke," answered his chum. "But +we'll see what it is. There's been some sort of an accident, that's +sure." + +They broke into a run, pushing their way through the throng about the +front doors of the hotel. As they entered the lobby, they were surprised +to see the clerk point his finger at them, and exclaim: + +"There are the two lads now!" + +Everyone turned to look at Joe and Blake, and a man, dressed in some +sort of uniform, approached them. + +"Are you the lads that have rooms sixty-six and sixty-seven?" he asked, +sharply. + +"Yes," replied Blake. + +"Why, has anything happened there?" asked Joe. + +"Well, yes, there has, and we thought perhaps you could explain." + +"Have we been robbed?" burst out Blake. + +"Robbed? No," answered the clerk. "But----" + +"Perhaps I had better explain," put in the uniformed man. "I think I +shall have to ask you boys to come with me," he went on. + +"Come where?" Joe wanted to know. + +"To police headquarters." + +"What for?" burst out Blake. "We haven't done anything! We only came +here to----" + +"Be careful," warned the man in uniform. "Whatever you say may be used +against you." + +"Why--why?" stammered Joe. "What's it all about?" + +"An infernal machine!" exclaimed the hotel clerk. "How dare you poke one +out of the window, right toward one of our largest banks, and go out, +leaving the mechanism clicking? How dare you?" + +Joe and Blake staggered back, half amused and half alarmed at the +strange charge. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +ON A LONG VOYAGE + + +"This is a serious charge," went on the man in uniform, who was +evidently from the police department. "We have had some dynamiting +outrages here, and we don't want any more." + +"Dynamite!" exclaimed the hotel clerk; "do you think it could be that, +officer?" + +"That's what it seems like to me," said the other. "I have investigated +a number of infernal machines, and they all make the same sort of sound +before they go off." + +"Go off!" cried the clerk, while Joe and Blake were vainly endeavoring +to get in a word that would explain matters. "If it's dynamite, and goes +off here, it will blow up the hotel. Get it away! Porter, go up and get +that infernal machine, and dump it in a pail of water." + +"'Scuse me!" exclaimed the colored porter, as he made a break for the +door. "I--I guess as how it's time fo' me to sweep off de sidewalk. It +hain't been swept dish yeah day, as yit. I'se gwine outside." + +"But we've got to get rid of that infernal machine!" insisted the clerk. +"It's been clicking away now for some time, and there's no telling when +it may go off. Get it, somebody--throw it out of the window." + +"No! Don't do that!" cried the officer. "That will only make it go off +the sooner. I'll get some one from the bureau of combustibles and----" + +"Say, you're giving yourselves a needless lot of alarm!" interrupted +Blake. "That's no infernal machine!" + +"No more than that ink bottle is!" added Joe, pointing to one on the +clerk's desk. + +"But it clicks," insisted the clerk. "It sounds just like a clock +ticking inside that box." + +"And it's pointing right at the bank," went on the officer. "That bank +was once partly wrecked because it was built by non-union labor, and we +don't want it to happen again." + +"There's no danger--not the slightest," cried Blake, while the crowd in +the hotel lobby pressed around him. "That's only an automatic moving +picture camera, that we set this morning, and pointed out of the window +to take street scenes. It works by compressed air, and the clicking you +hear is the motor. Come, I'll show you," and he started toward his +room, followed by Joe. + +"Is--is that right?" asked the hotel clerk, doubtfully. + +"Are you sure it isn't dynamite?" inquired the officer. + +"Well, if _we're_ not afraid to take a chance in going in the same room +with what you call an infernal machine, _you_ ought not to be," said +Joe, with a smile. + +This was logic that could not be refuted, and they followed the boys to +the room. There, just where they had left it, was the camera, the motor +clicking away industriously. It worked intermittently, running for five +minutes, and then ceasing for half an hour, so as not to use up the reel +of film too quickly. Also, it made a diversity of street scenes, an +automatic arrangement swinging the lens slightly after each series of +views, so as to get the new ones at a different angle. + +"Now we'll show you," said Blake, as, having noted that all the film was +run out, and was in the light-tight exposed box, he opened the camera +and showed the harmless mechanism. Several of the hotel employees +crowded into the room, once they learned there was no danger. + +The boys explained the working of the apparatus, and this seemed to +satisfy the officer. + +"But we were surely suspicious of you at first," he said, with a smile. + +"Yes," said the clerk. "A chambermaid called my attention to the +clicking sound when she was making up the room. I investigated, and when +I heard it, and saw the queer box, and remembered that we had had +dynamiting here, I sent for the police." + +"We're sorry to have given you a scare," said Blake, and then the +incident was over, and the crowd in the street dispersed on learning +there was to be no sensation. + +"Say, I think there's some sort of hoodoo about us," remarked Joe, as he +and Blake sat in their room. + +"Why, you're not going to come any of that gloomy C. C. business on me; +are you?" asked Blake. + +"Not at all," went on his chum. "But what I mean by a hoodoo is that +something always seems to happen when we start out anywhere. We've been +on the jump, you might say, ever since we lost our places on the farms +and got into this moving picture business." + +"That's so. And the latest is being taken for dynamiters." + +"Yes. But if things are going to keep on happening to us I wish they'd +take a turn and help me find my father," went on Joe. "You don't know +how it feels, Blake, to know you've got a parent somewhere and not be +able to locate him. It's--why, it's almost as bad as if--as if he were +dead," and Joe spoke the words with an obvious effort. + +"That's right," agreed Blake, and then there came to him the memory of +what the lighthouse keeper had said about Mr. Duncan being implicated in +the wrecking. If this was true, it might be better for Joe not to find +his father. + +"But he may not be guilty," thought Blake, and he mused on this +possibility, while Joe looked curiously at his chum. + +"Say, Blake," suddenly asked Joe. "What's the matter?" + +"Matter? Why, what do you mean?" asked Blake, with a start. + +"Oh, I don't know, but something seems to be the matter with you. You've +acted strangely of late, ever since--yes, ever since we were at the +lighthouse. Is anything troubling you?" + +"No--no--not at all; that is, not exactly." + +"You don't speak as if you meant it." + +"But I do, Joe. There's nothing the matter with me--really there isn't." + +"Well, I'm glad of it. If there is, and you need help, don't forget to +come to me. Remember we're pards, and chums, not only in the moving +picture business, but in everything else, Blake. Anything I've got is +yours for the asking." + +"That's good of you, Joe, and if you can help me I'll let you know. I +didn't realize that I was acting any way strange. I must brighten up a +bit. I guess we've both been working too hard. We need some amusement. +Let's go to a moving picture show to-night, and see how they run things +here, and what sort of films they have. We may even see one of our own." + +"All right. I'll go you. We can't see that shipping agent until +to-morrow. A moving picture show for ours to-night, then. Though, being +in the business, as we are, it's rather like a fireman going around to +the engine-house on his day off, and staying there--a queer sort of a +day's vacation." + +But, nevertheless, they thoroughly enjoyed the moving picture play, +interspersed, as it was, with vaudeville acts. Among the films were +several that Mr. Ringold's company had posed for, and several that the +boys themselves had taken. The reels were good ones, too, the pictures +standing out clear and bright as evidence of good work on the part of +the boys and Mr. Hadley. + +"Had enough?" asked Joe, after about an hour spent in the theatre. + +"Yes, let's go out and take a walk." + +"Feel any brighter?" went on Joe. + +"Yes, I think I do," and Blake linked his arm in that of Joe, wondering +the while, as they tramped on, how he should ever break the news to his +chum, in case Joe himself did not find it out. "The only hope is that he +isn't guilty," mused Blake, "and yet running away just before the +accusation was made public looks bad, just as Mr. Stanton said. However, +I'm not going to think about it." As long as it had gone thus far +without any outsider giving away the secret to Joe, his chum began to +feel that there was little danger. + +"Well, you haven't any more infernal machines; have you, boys?" the +hotel clerk asked them when they came in to get their keys. "Because, if +you have, just keep quiet about 'em. I don't want to be awakened in the +middle of the night with some one from the bureau of combustibles coming +down here," and he laughed. + +"No, we're all out of dynamite," responded Blake, in the same spirit. + +He and Joe were early at the office of the sailing master, who made a +specialty of fitting out vessels with crews. With a rather trembling +voice Joe asked for information about Mr. Duncan. + +"Duncan--Duncan," mused the agent, as he looked over his books. "Seems +to me I remember the name. Was he the Duncan from somewhere down the +coast?" + +"The Rockypoint light," supplied Joe. + +"Oh, yes, now I know. But why are you asking?" and the agent turned a +rather suspicious look on Joe. "Is there anything wrong--is Mr. Duncan +wanted for anything? I always try to protect my clients, you know, and I +must find out why you are asking. Has he committed any crime, or is he +wanted by anyone?" + +Blake started at the coincidence of the words. + +"Yes," answered Joe; "he is wanted by me--I'm his son, and I'd like very +much to find him. We found some of his letters, and there was one from +you about a berth you might have vacant." + +"That's right, my boy, and I'm glad to learn that is why you want Nate +Duncan, for he and I are friends in a way." + +"But has he shipped?" asked Joe, eagerly. + +"He has," answered the agent. "He signed for a trip to China, and it +will be a good while before he gets back here, I'm afraid. It's a long +voyage." + +"To China!" cried Joe. "Oh, if he had only received my letter he would +be here now with me. Poor Dad!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +A MIMIC FIRE + + +"Sorry I can't do any more for you," went on the agent, after a pause, +during which he gazed sympathetically at Joe. "I can give you the name +of the vessel your father is on, and you can write to Hong Kong, but it +will be some time before she arrives. She's a sailing ship, you know, +one of the few left in the trade." + +"I didn't know my father was a regular sailor," said Joe. + +"You didn't know he was a sailor? Say, don't you know your father's +business?" + +"It's been a good many years since I've seen him," spoke Joe. "In fact, +I can't remember him," and he told something of how he came to be on the +strange quest. + +"Well, this is certainly odd," remarked the agent. "I've known Nate some +years, more or less, and I've often heard him speak of a son he had lost +track of. Of late he had given up hope." + +"And just when I was on the verge of finding him," added Joe. + +"His daughter, too," continued the agent. "He said he felt sure he'd +never locate her, though he'd spent lots of money in hunting. And he +felt pretty bad, too, over the thought that he might never see his +children again." + +"And have I really a sister?" asked Joe, eagerly. + +"I can't rightly say," spoke the shipping master. "You had one, but +whether she's alive now or not no one seems to know. There's one +satisfaction, though, you can find your father in time, and as soon as +he hears from you, when his ship reaches Hong Kong, he won't lose any +time taking the fastest steamer back. I know Nate Duncan well enough for +that." + +"Will he, though?" thought Blake. "Will he come back when he knows of +the wrecking charge that may be made against him? Even the prospect of +seeing Joe may not overbalance that. Yet, I suppose he could send for +Joe. They couldn't make any charge against him over in China. But it's a +bad business." + +Joe talked a little longer with the agent, who gave him the name of the +ship on which Mr. Duncan had sailed, and also directions how to address +the letter. + +"Well, there's no use staying in 'Frisco much longer," said Joe, as +they finished their business. "We'll get what other moving pictures of +street scenes we want, and as I can't find Dad here, we'll leave. We'll +get back to San Diego, and out to the beach colony to film some more +dramas." + +A return trip to their hotel, a visit to various localities for films, +then to pack their belongings--and the automatic camera did not take +them long--and they were soon journeying down the coast again. They were +welcomed warmly by the members of the theatrical colony. + +As I have said, for the purpose of being unhampered in their work of +taking films, Mr. Ringold had moved his company from San Diego proper to +a small fishing settlement, directly on the beach. This place was called +Chester, after the man who owned the fishery there. He had a fleet, +consisting of several motor boats, in which the fishermen went out twice +each day to pull up the nets that were fast to long poles, sunk into the +sand of the ocean bed in water about forty feet deep. + +The fish were brought to the main building, and packed in ice for +transportation. Numbers of local dealers called each day with wagons to +get a load to peddle about. There were only a few houses in the place, +and a store or two. + +Once some millionaire had built an elaborate cottage on the beach, but +gave it up for some whim. It was in this cottage, which in size was +almost a mansion, that the moving picture boys and their friends had +their abode. A boarding mistress was installed, and thus the actors and +actresses lived right at the scene of their work, with almost as much +comfort as they would have had in a hotel. The place was not far from +San Diego, and it had the advantage of a heavy surf on the beach, the +big waves making just the background Mr. Ringold wanted. Of course, not +all the scenes were on the water-front, some taking place in front of, +or within, some of the cottages, which were hired for the short time +needed. The fishermen could not seem to understand why a man should pay +them good money for the use of their humble dwellings for a short time. + +"It just seems plumb foolishness," declared one grizzled salt. "I don't +see why folks want to make so many pictures of men and women walkin' in +and out of my cottage and sayin' such outlandish things like: 'Gal, you +shall give me them papers!' or, 'Meet me on yonder cliff at midnight!' I +give up!" + +"It does seem out of reason, Pete," agreed another. "But as long as they +pay me for it, and don't go to bustin' up things, I'm willin'." + +"Oh, so'm I. Keep it up, I says," and Mr. Ringold did, using different +cottages in turn to get a diversity of views. + +Sympathy was expressed for Joe on the failure of his mission to find his +father. + +"But don't you give up!" exclaimed Mr. Hadley. "China is far off, but it +isn't out of the world. Don't give up, Joe." + +"I'll not. I'm going to write to him to-day," and he did, dispatching +the letter to far-off Hong Kong. + +There was plenty of work waiting for the boys, some new manuscripts of +sea dramas having come in. Mr. Ringold decided to film several of them, +and rehearsals were already under way. + +"I'm going to have a novelty in one of the plays," said the manager. +"It's going to be a fire scene. We'll buy one of these cottages, or else +have one built that will do well enough for picture purposes, and set it +ablaze. Then, when C. C. comes running out, carrying Miss Shay--or maybe +Miss Lee, for she's lighter--we'll----" + +"Hold on there!" called the comedian. "Did I understand you to say I had +to rush out of a burning building?" + +"That's it, C. C." + +"But to rush out I've got to go in; haven't I?" + +"Why, naturally, C. C." + +"Then I serve notice here and now that I resign. I'm tired of being an +actor. I'm going into the coal business," and he stopped making odd +faces in the glass, practicing some facial contortions for a new clown +act, and began to dress as though to go out. + +"Hold on, C. C.; what's the matter?" asked Mr. Ringold. + +"Plenty! If you think I'm going to run the risk of being burned to death +you've got another guess coming. I'm through." + +"Why, C. C.," spoke the theatrical manager, with a laugh; "there's no +danger." + +"Not in going into a burning building, even if it is only a fisherman's +shanty! No danger!" + +"No. Listen. You go in before the building is afire. The blaze is +started from the outside by your enemy, and with some red fire, which +makes a lot of smoke, we can show on the screen some pictures that will +look like a real fire. Then out you rush, before the flames have had a +chance to spread, and after you and the lady are safe, the fire gains +great headway, and the cottage burns to the ground. But the pictures are +being taken all the while, and it will show up great! There's not a bit +of danger." + +"Not that way," said Miss Lee. "I'm willing to do my part, Mr. Ringold." + +"Well, I suppose I'll have to also," spoke C. C., with a sigh. "But I +know something will happen. Some sparks will fall on me and scorch me, +anyhow, I'm sure." + +"Oh, Gloomy!" reproachfully exclaimed Miss Shay. "Do look on the bright +side for once." + +"There isn't any," asserted the comedian, as he resumed his practice of +making strange faces. + +Mr. Ringold succeeded in purchasing, for a moderate sum, one of the +older cottages, and it was put in shape for its share in the moving +picture story, some changes being necessary. The fisherman and his +family moved out, glad of the chance to better themselves. + +"We won't say anything about planning to fire the shack," declared Mr. +Ringold to the boys and the members of his company. "If we do it will +attract a crowd, and that's just what we don't want. The fewer the +better. Now we'll go over to the shack, and have a rehearsal." + +"A dress one?" asked Mr. Piper, meaning that everything would be done +just as if the pictures were being taken. "You're not going to have the +real fire now; are you?" + +"No, indeed," said the manager. "We can only burn the cottage down +once." + +The rehearsal went off well, and Blake and Joe, who were to make the +films, watched the work with interest. They were anxious for the time +to come to set the fire. + +"Well, I guess that will do," decided Mr. Ringold, after a day or two +spent in getting the actors and actresses familiar with their parts. +"We'll do the business to-morrow morning." + +Accordingly, they all assembled at the shack, and went through the +various acts leading up to the fire scene. The boys ground away +industriously at the handles of the moving picture cameras. + +All went well until it came time to set the fire. Then, whether the +building was older and more tinder-like than was supposed, or whether +Mr. Levinberg, the "villain" who fired the shack, used too much red fire +and kerosene, was not explained. + +At any rate, the little building was more quickly wrapped in flame and +smoke than was expected, and Mr. Ringold yelled excitedly: + +"Come on out, C. C.! Don't wait any longer. Never mind if it isn't time! +Rush out with the girl before it's too late!" + +"That's what I'll do!" cried the comedian, appearing in the doorway, +carrying Miss Lee. There was little danger now, as long as he was in the +open, unless some tongue of fire should catch the girl's dress. + +"Hurry!" cried the manager, and C. C. sprinted out of the reach of the +fire. + +And then something entirely unexpected, and not down on the bill, +happened. A number of fishermen, who had seen the blaze from down the +beach, came running up, all excited, thinking the fire was an accident. + +"Get that old pumping engine!" shouted one grizzled salt. "We'll have +that blaze out in no time!" + +"Form a bucket brigade!" suggested another. + +"No! No! Let it burn!" cried Mr. Ringold. "We want it to burn!" + +"Want it to burn?" was shouted at him, by the fisherman who had proposed +the pump. "Be you plumb crazy? Come on, boys, form that bucket brigade. +Some of you run that hand-pump over here where we can pour water in the +tank. Stretch the hose!" + +"They'll spoil the picture!" cried Mr. Ringold, rushing about, and +trying to keep the fishermen away. + +Joe and Blake, not having orders to the contrary, and not knowing but +what this was all part of the play, continued to grind away at their +cameras, two reels of this play being taken, as an additional one was +needed. + +"Here she comes!" cried the fisherman, as some of his companions came +rushing from a shed with an ancient style of hand fire-engine, +consisting of a tank, on wheels, with a force-pump arrangement, worked +by long handles. Water was poured in the tank by means of buckets, and +forced out on the blaze through a hose. + +"Bring her up as clost as ye kin!" directed the self-appointed chief of +the amateur fire department; "'cause our hose ain't very long. Form +lines now, and dip water up from the ocean. Salt water is good for +fires!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +ATTACKED BY A SWORDFISH + + +"Don't do it!" cried Mr. Ringold. "Let that fire burn!" + +But there were now so many fishermen rushing about here and there that +they paid no attention to the excited theatrical man, who issued orders +right and left. + +"What shall we do?" demanded C. C., who had gotten off to one side with +the girl he was supposed to have "rescued" from the burning cabin. + +"I don't know!" cried Mr. Ringold. "The whole play is spoiled by those +fellows butting in. Hi, there!" he called to Blake and Joe, as he saw +them operating the cameras. "Stop the reel! We don't want any of this!" + +The clicking machines grew silent, and then the boys knew that something +was wrong. + +Meanwhile, the hand engine was placed in position. It was learned, +later, that the fish concern kept it for use in cases of emergency. +There had been some small blazes, in which the old engine had proved +its worth. + +The fishermen knew how to operate it to advantage, too, and soon a +double line of them, extending from the surf to the tank, began passing +the filled buckets up one side and the empty ones down the other. As the +tank filled, other men worked the handles and a stream of water was soon +spurting on the fire. + +"Quit it! Oh, quit it!" begged Mr. Ringold. "I want that shack to burn!" + +"He's crazy--don't mind him!" shouted the self-appointed chief. "We'll +soon have it out now." + +"I'll see if I can stop them," said C. C., for the water had about +quenched the blaze, and it was useless to try to go on with the play. +"They'll listen to me," the comedian declared. + +He rushed forward, but at that moment the hose got from the control of +the two men holding it. The nozzle swung around, and the stream came +full force over Christopher Cutler Piper, drenching him in an instant. + +"I say there--hold on--shut that water off! I--I'm being drowned!" he +spluttered. And then, as the men again got the nozzle under control, the +comedian, dripping water at every point, walked away, saying: + +"There, I told you something would happen!" + +"I should say it has!" declared Mr. Ringold, for once agreeing with the +gloomy actor. + +A few more strokes of the pump handles, a few more gallons of water, and +the fire, which had quickly attacked all parts of the cottage at once, +died out. + +"There!" cried Abe Haskill, the old fisherman-chief. "We saved your +building for ye, Mr. Ringold. Ain't no use in buyin' a shack an' then +havin' it burn down--no matter if it ain't wuth much. We saved her for +you, though at one time it looked pretty dubious. This is the first fire +we've had in some time, an' I reckon we got a bit rusty. + +"I might add," he went on, "that it's customary, in cases where a +volunteer department saves a buildin' from destruction--it's customary, +I say, for the owner to donate a leetle suthin' to the department. In +this case, seein' as how Jim Belton sold his shack to you--why, you're +the owner. And, as I say, we saved her for you!" he concluded, proudly. + +"Yes, I see you did," remarked Mr. Ringold, dubiously. "Now I've got to +buy another, and burn that down, for this play is spoiled." + +"What! Did you _want_ her to burn?" asked Mr. Haskill, in accents of +horror. "Did you want the devourin' element to consume that buildin'?" + +"I did," replied the theatrical man. + +"Well--I vum!" declared the volunteer chief. "Boys, we made a mistake." + +"The next time I'll tell the inhabitants here what my plans are," went +on Mr. Ringold, grimly. "I told you I wanted it to burn." + +"I know you did," admitted the chief; "but I thought you was so excited +you didn't know what you was sayin'." + +"So did I," admitted several of the volunteer fire-fighters. "It's too +bad!" + +"Well, you meant all right, anyhow," went on Mr. Ringold, with cheerful +philosophy; "and I'll make the department a donation. But next time, +please don't interfere. I'll set another shack on fire as soon as I can +arrange to buy one," he said to his company. "Meanwhile we'll go on with +another drama. Save whatever you can of the films," he added to Blake +and Joe. "Up to the time the firemen broke in they'll be all right. Next +time I'll be more explicit." + +"I knew something would happen," declared C. C., gloomily, as he tried +to wring some of the water from his clothes. "I didn't burn, but I +nearly drowned." + +There was nothing to do but return to their boarding place and arrange +for another drama, rehearsals for which would take place in a day or so. + +"Meanwhile," said Mr. Ringold to Joe and Blake, "you may have a little +time off. I tell you what you might do. We could use a fishing scene, I +believe. Suppose you go out in one of the small boats here and get a +series of views when they lift their nets." + +"The very thing!" cried Blake. "We'll do it; eh, Joe?" + +"Sure thing!" + +"You might, in fact," went on Mr. Ringold, "show the whole process of +fishing, from the launching of the boats until they come back filled +with the day's catch." + +This the boys arranged to do, and that noon, when the power boats were +launched, they were on hand to make moving pictures. + +The craft, as I have explained, were "eased down" the sloping beach, by +means of rollers and planks, until the stern was just at the edge of the +surf. The motor was then started, the boat being still held fast by a +rope. This rope was fastened in a peculiar knot, so that one man, +standing near it, could loosen it with one pull when the word was given +to "cut loose." + +The men watched the rollers with practiced eyes, for if the surf was +heavy the boat might get into the trough, on being launched, and +capsize. Often fishermen are drowned in this way, being struck by the +heavy boat, or getting under it. + +With the engine racing, the men got into the boat. One remained on the +beach, holding the restraining rope. Another took his place at the +stern, with a long steering oar that was to be used to get her bow on to +the waves. + +A particularly large wave was seen coming in. + +"Get ready!" ordered the captain. + +The man at the big oar took his place. The boat was almost afloat now. + +"Cut loose!" came the order. + +The man at the rope yanked the knot loose. The boat slid into the water +and the next instant was being tossed about in the breakers, the man +with the oar forcing her head around, aided by the powerful gasoline +engine that turned the propeller. The craft came near to capsizing, but +kept upright, and a little later was beyond the surf, into deep water, +speeding out to the nets two miles away. + +Blake and Joe, working by turns, got some fine views of the launching. +Then, getting into another of the fishing boats with their cameras, and +with Macaroni to aid them, they prepared to go out to the fishing +grounds, where the nets were. + +"Say, this is rough, all right!" exclaimed Blake, as they found +themselves in the boiling, frothing surf. + +"That's what!" agreed Joe. + +"Let me out! I want to walk!" pleaded Macaroni, who was not very fond of +the water. + +"You'll be all right in a minute!" called Abe Haskill, who was captain +of the boat. "Soon as you git out beyond the breakers you won't mind +it." + +And they found that they did not, though there was some motion, as there +was quite a swell on. They reached the nets safely, and while the meshes +were hauled up, bringing a good catch of fish, the moving picture boys +took many views. It was interesting as well as instructive. + +"This would make a good educational reel," suggested Blake, as he spread +his legs to maintain his balance against the rocking motion of the boat. + +"Indeed it would," observed Joe. "Look, there's some one overboard!" and +he pointed to one of the other boats. + +A man had indeed slipped into the sea. The moving picture boys were +ready, however, and trained one of the cameras on the fisherman, who, +laughing at his mishap, soon swam to the boat again, and was pulled in. + +It took some little time to haul the nets, but at last, with their own +boat well filled with flapping fish, as were the others, Joe and Blake +started for shore. + +"Well, we made out all right, I think," said Blake, as he looked to see +if there was any more film left in his machine. + +"Sure we did," declared his chum. "If we had to take some other views we +could." + +"We'll want some of the landing of the boats, and the carting of the +fish up to the sheds," Blake reminded him. + +"That's right, we will. I guess I can----" + +Joe did not finish his sentence. At that moment there came a jar and +Blake cried: + +"We've hit something!" + +"No, something has hit _us_!" corrected one of the fishermen, leaping +up, and grabbing a long, iron-shod pole. + +"What is it?" demanded Joe. + +"A pesky swordfish. He's ramming us, and he may poke a hole in us! If I +can get a chance I'll jab him!" and the man leaned over the side. As he +did so there came another attack on the craft, so fierce that it heeled +over, and the man with the pole, giving a cry, was flung overboard. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +SUSPICIOUS ACTIONS + + +"Man overboard!" cried several of the fishermen. + +"Yes, and with a pesky swordfish too close for comfort!" added Abe +Haskill. "Stop that motor, Bunker; we'll have to pick him up." + +The fisherman who was called to, pulled out the switch, thus stopping +the motor, and the boat drifted about on the slowly rising and falling +billows. + +"Can you see him?" asked the captain of the man who acted as mate. + +"Yes, he's right astern, but that fish----" + +"Is he coming after Jake?" + +"Full tilt!" + +"Grab that prod, one of you!" yelled the captain. "See if you can +harpoon him with it. I'll git out the duck gun, though land knows it +ain't much use against a pesky swordfish!" + +One of the fishermen picked up the iron-shod pole the unfortunate man +had dropped as he went overboard, and stood ready to cast it at the big +fish, which could be seen swirling along in the water, near the swimmer. + +"Say!" cried Blake to Joe. "It may seem a heartless thing to do, but why +can't we get some moving pictures of this?" + +"We can," decided his chum. "We can't help any, and we might as well +film it." + +"Come on, then. You hold the camera steady and I'll turn the handle." + +They had a machine all in readiness, its tripod shortened so that the +lens could be brought close to the water. + +"He's dived!" cried one of the men. + +"Who--the fish, or Jake?" demanded the captain. + +"Jake. He saw the fish coming at him, and he went under. Lucky he did, +or he might have been cut in two." + +"Throw that prod; can't you? I'll have this gun ready in a minute." + +The captain had pulled from a locker an old-fashioned, double-barreled +duck gun. + +"It's loaded with slugs," he called to the boys, who were even now +taking moving pictures of the strange scene. "I carry it for sharks, but +it'll do as well against a swordfish, though they don't commonly attack +men." + +"Here goes for a cast!" cried the man with the prod, which was a sort +of boathook without the hook. "I'll see if I can spear him!" + +Leaning forward he threw the weapon with all his force. The other +fishermen, some of whom had grasped the spare oars to swing the boat +around, looked eagerly to see the result. + +"Missed, by ginger!" exclaimed the captain. "Here, let me try. Where's +Jake?" + +"Out there. He's swimming strong," was the answer. "The pesky fish is +coming back at him again." + +"Duck, Jake, duck!" cried the captain, as he got ready with the gun. +"I'm going to shoot. Get down out of the way, and hold your breath. +We'll have you in another minute!" + +He could see the swordfish plainly now, rushing directly toward the +swimmer. The man heard and followed directions. Deep down he dived, and +the fish shot directly over him. + +"Say, that's a great picture!" cried Blake. + +"That's what!" yelled Joe, and then his voice was drowned in the report +of the gun, which was doubly charged. + +"I got him! By cracky, I got him!" cried the captain. "That's his blood +showing." + +The waves were indeed red with the blood of the big fish, and a moment +later its body was floating on the swells. + +"There's Jake!" cried one of the fishermen. + +"All right!" was the response. "Throw him a line. He's in no danger +now." + +A few moments later the man was safe aboard, minus his boots, which he +had kicked off in the sea, and some of his heavier clothing. + +"That's the end of Mr. Swordfish," murmured the captain, in gratified +tones, as he watched the lifeless body sink. "The sharks will get him. +Are you all right, Jake?" + +"Sure. It was hard work, though; and once I thought he had me. I dived +just in time." + +"That's what you did," said Blake. "It was a great exhibition, and when +it's thrown on the screen it will make a sensation, I'm sure." + +"Say, you don't mean to tell me you snapped what happened?" asked the +fisherman, in surprise. + +"We sure did," declared Joe. "We got every move." + +"Plucky lads," murmured the captain; "and right on the job, too. Start +the motor," he added to the man in charge of it. + +"We've sprung a leak, captain!" exclaimed a man up in the bow. "Water's +coming in." + +"It's where that pesky swordfish rammed us, I reckon. But stuff +something in and it will hold until we get to shore. We haven't far to +go." + +The boat was soon under way again, and offers of aid from sister craft +that circled around were declined. A bundle of rags served to stop the +inrush of most of the water, and a little later the craft, with its load +of fish, was hauled up on the beach by means of a tackle and fall, +horses being the motive power. Joe and Blake got pictures of the other +boats making a similar landing, theirs being the first in. + +"Well, we got some fine views," said Blake, as he and his chum started +for their boarding place. + +"We sure did, and something unexpected, too. I never counted on a +swordfish attack." + +"No, and I guess the fishermen didn't either. But it will make a +realistic film, as Mr. Hadley would say." + +"It's just our hoodoo luck again," went on Joe. "Something out of the +ordinary seems to be happening all the while to us." + +"Well, it's better than monotony." + +"I suppose so. But I wonder what it will be next?" + +The boys were congratulated on their success by Mr. Hadley and Mr. +Ringold, and the films, when developed and printed a little later, +furnished a series of fine views. + +For the next week the boys had little time to themselves. The drama +with the burning shack was enacted over again, this time with success, +the volunteer firemen not throwing any water on the blaze. Other sea +dramas were also made, and then came a period of rest, in which Blake +and Joe had hardly anything to do. + +"Say," exclaimed Blake, one afternoon, "let's go for a walk down the +beach, by the cliffs. It's a fine day and it will do us good." + +"All right," agreed Joe. "I was thinking of paying another visit to the +lighthouse, and asking if there was any news of my father; but, of +course, there can't be." + +"Hardly," agreed Blake, thinking that the only news his chum would get +there would be bad. + +They strolled along the shore, making excursions here and there as +something attracted them. Going through a little group of scrub oak, +somewhat back from the shore, and climbing a slight elevation to get a +view of the Pacific, the boys were startled, as they were about to +emerge into a little open glade, to hear voices. + +"Some one else besides us out here to-day," spoke Joe, in a low voice. + +"That's right," agreed his chum. "Keep still until we see who it is." + +Cautiously they advanced until they stood behind a little screen of +trees, and were gazing into the open place. They saw several men at work +erecting some sort of tower, or pile of rocks, and on top of it was +mounted a large lantern. + +"There--that ought to show pretty well," remarked one of the men. + +"Yes, and be seen a good distance out to sea," put in another. "It's +just in the right place, too; for the rocks extend a good way out, and +you can't see 'em even at dead low water." + +"And anything drawing more than ten feet will be sure to strike on 'em," +suggested a third. + +"That's right, Sandy," came the retort. "Have you got the lantern fixed +so that she'll flash like the other?" + +"I sure have. All we've got to do is to pull one wire--this way--and the +light is shut off. Another pull, and she gives a flash, just like a +revolving light." + +"Good. We'll give it a trial to-night." + +"Say, what do you think they are?" whispered Joe. + +"I hardly know, and yet----" + +"Maybe they're experimenting with a new kind of light?" suggested the +other lad. + +"Experimenting? Yes!" spoke Blake, in a low, tense voice. "And I can +guess what they're experimenting for." + +"What?" + +Blake was about to answer, when one of the men, looking in the direction +where the boys were concealed, uttered an exclamation. + +"Hark!" he cried. "I think I heard something." + +"It was the wind," declared one. + +"A bird in the bushes," said another. + +"I'm going to see!" declared the man. And he came straight toward their +hiding place. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +JOE SUSPECTS SOMETHING + + +"What'll we do, Blake?" was the whispered question. + +"Stay here, I guess. If we run they'll see us or hear us. Besides, we +haven't done anything to run for." + +"I know it, but those men look like ugly customers. I wonder what they +can be up to?" + +"They are--" began Blake, and then he pulled Joe down beside him in the +bushes. + +"He's turned off to one side," Blake went on. "He hasn't seen us, and he +doesn't know just where to look. He may pass us by. Keep still!" + +Together they crouched down. The man looked around as though to trace +the noise which had been made when Joe accidentally stepped on a stick, +which broke under his weight. + +"Don't breathe," whispered Blake, with his lips close to Joe's ear. "I +think he's going to pass us by." + +The man paused, seemed as if about to come directly for them again, and +then dashed off to one side. He made a leap into the bushes, only to +discover nothing, as his chagrined exclamation showed. + +"I told you so!" growled one of his companions. "It was only the wind." + +"The wind doesn't break sticks," was the snappish reply. + +"Then it was a bird--maybe a fishhawk." + +"Maybe," assented the man who had started to make the search. "But I +thought some one was spying on us, and if they were----" He did not +finish, but glared angrily around. He was so close to the boys that they +could hear his rapid breathing, but the leafy screen effectively hid +them from view. "If I catch any one," he went on, "he'll wish he never +ran across Hemp Danforth!" and he shook a big fist. + +"Oh, come on!" called some of his companions. "There's lots to be done +yet before we get this lantern finished. And if we want any rich +pickings we'll have to hustle for 'em. The weather looks like it was +going to break, and that will be just what we want. Come on, Hemp." + +"All right, I will, only don't talk so bold and free." + +"Why not?" + +"Because some one might be spying and listening to us." + +"He's got that on his mind yet," laughed one of the men. "There's no one +around here." + +"And if they were, what could they pick up?" demanded another. + +"That's all right--it's best to be careful," said the one called Hemp +Danforth. "I'm taking no chances. Some of us might--well, no telling +what might happen to us if we was to be found out." + +"Don't talk that way," spoke a tall, thin man. "It isn't altogether +cheerful--especially with what work we have on hand. Come on, now; let's +make this pillar a little higher, and the light will show better." + +"Say, what do you imagine they are doing?" whispered Joe. "It's a queer +game, Blake." + +"It sure is. I've about made up my mind what they are up to, and yet I +may be wrong. Let's wait here a while longer, and maybe we can pick up +some information that will give us a better clue." + +The men were now engaged in heaping more stones on the pile where the +lantern had set, and were making so much noise at it that the whispering +of the boys could not be heard. + +"Any special vessels in view?" asked one of the men, after they had +worked away for some time in silence. + +"No, but there'll sure be one along before long. We can count on that. +Of course, we'll have to keep the light going several nights, maybe, but +it'll be worth while." + +"It ought to fool 'em, all right," went on Hemp Danforth. "If it hadn't +been that Nate Duncan tripped us up, and didn't come across with that +information we wanted, we wouldn't have all this trouble." + +For a moment Joe seemed to stiffen as he heard the name, and then, in a +hoarse whisper, he turned to Blake and said: + +"Did you hear that? These men know my father. They used his name." + +"Yes, but keep quiet!" urged Blake, for Joe had raised his voice. "We +don't want them to know we're here." + +"But they know my father, Blake," went on Joe, using more caution, +however, in his tones. "I must speak to them. Maybe they were associated +with him in lighthouse work, and this may be some new patent lantern +they're trying. Maybe my father hasn't gone to China at all, and these +men can tell where he is." + +Joe made a move as though to leave the screened hiding place and +approach the men. + +"No--don't go!" whispered Blake, hoarsely, holding his chum back. "Stay +here, Joe. Don't speak to those men!" + +"But they have something to do with my father." + +"No matter; do as I say, please! Believe me, Joe, I can't explain now, +for I promised I would not. But you'll understand--later. Don't approach +those men!" + +"Why not?" + +"Because--well, I can't tell you!" + +"Then I'm going!" declared Joe, half fiercely. "Blake, I'm sure you're +keeping something from me. I've suspected it for some time, for you've +looked at me in a queer fashion when I spoke of my father. Now what is +it?" + +"Really, Joe, it's nothing--that is----" + +"Yes, it is something. If you don't tell me I'll go out there and take +the consequences!" + +Joe broke from Blake's restraining grasp as he whispered this, and was +about to dash for the bushes, when Hemp Danforth, dashing down a stone +he was raising, cried out: + +"Boys, you can't fool me! There is some one here, and they're spying on +us. I'll make 'em sorry for it! I hear whispering, and I've felt right +along as though unseen eyes were looking at me. Now I'm going to find +out who it is!" + +Once more he started for the place where Blake and Joe were concealed. +This time it could be seen that he would not be swerved from his quest. + +"Come on, Joe. We've got to run for it!" exclaimed Blake, and, not +caring now how much noise they made--being under the necessity of +betraying their presence--they dashed back in the direction they had +come. + +"Here they are!" yelled Hemp, as he ran after them, tearing through the +underbrush. "I knew we were being spied on! Come along, men!" he yelled. + +Blake and Joe looked back as they got to the path that led along the +cliff, below which was the rolling ocean. They had a glimpse of the big +man racing after them, several others in his wake. + +"Stop!" commanded Hemp Danforth. "Hold on, you spies!" + +"Don't answer," advised Blake. "Save your breath for running, Joe." + +"Um!" grunted his chum. + +They were fleet of foot, and had a start. They were also lighter in +weight than was their pursuer. In a short time they were well ahead. + +"But he's still coming on!" declared Blake. + +"We've got to give him the slip," declared Joe. "Can't you see some side +path we can take?" + +"Yes, here's one," was the panting answer, and at that moment Blake +parted some low bushes and jumped into a sort of cross path, almost +concealed from view. "Come on, Joe!" + +His chum lost no time in following, and for a few moments, at least, +they were comparatively safe. + +"Now, Blake," said Joe, when they felt that they could slacken their +pace to get their breath, "I want you to tell me that secret!" + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +AFTER THE WRECKERS + + +Blake Stewart was at a loss. He did not know what to do, and, though he +had been expecting to hear this request at almost any time, he was no +more prepared for it now than he would have been had it been made +directly after Blake learned of Mr. Duncan's flight. + +"Well?" asked Joe, suggestively, when his chum did not answer. "Aren't +you going to tell me?" + +"What makes you think I have a secret, Joe?" Thus Blake tried to +temporize, so that he might think what was best to do. + +"Oh, I'm sure you have," declared Joe, "and you might as well tell me +now as any time, for I'm bound to find it out. I don't believe there's +any more danger now," and he paused to look back along the almost hidden +path they had followed. "I can't see anything of that man," he added. +"We gave him the slip, all right. + +"Now go ahead, Blake, and end my suspense. I've seen for some time that +you've been keeping something back from me. I don't know what it is, but +it's something about my father. And I appreciate why you're doing it. +You want to spare my feelings." + +"That's it!" cried Blake, eagerly, glad of any chance to put off what he +regarded as a most unpleasant duty. "It is for your sake, Joe, that I +have been keeping silent, and I wish you would go on letting me do so. +Believe me, if I thought it well for you to know I'd tell you." + +"Is it--is it that he isn't my father, after all?" faltered the lad, +following a silence in which all sound of pursuit had died away. The +boys felt that they were safe now. "Do you mean to say, Blake, that this +man whom I've traced after such hard work, isn't any relation to +me--haven't I any folks, after all?" + +"No, Joe, it isn't that at all. He's your father, as far as I know, and +I will admit there is some secret about him. But I'd rather not tell +you." + +"I want to know it," insisted Joe, firmly. + +"If you'll only wait," went on his chum, "it may all be explained +when--when he comes back. Then there won't be any need of a secret. +Better wait, Joe." + +"No, I've got to hear it right away. If it's any disgrace--and it must +be, or you'd be willing to tell me--if it's any disgrace, it's my duty +to stand up for my father when he isn't here. I'm his son, and I have a +right to know about it, and protect his name as much as I can. Tell me, +Blake." + +The other hesitated a moment. If he told, it would be, he felt, breaking +his promise made to the lighthouse keeper, but then the promise was not +so sacred that it could not be broken. It was given under a sort of +discretion, and Blake knew that he would be allowed to reveal what had +been said if he felt that it was best to do so. The time now seemed to +have come to do this. He took a sudden resolve. + +"All right, Joe," he said, "I'll tell you. There is a secret about your +father. I suppose you know what sort of men those were that we just got +away from?" and he nodded in the direction of the hill down which they +had raced. + +"I've been puzzling my head about them, Blake," came the answer, "and +all I can say is that they must be either men who are experimenting with +a new kind of light, or else they are--wreckers!" + +"That's it, Joe. They are wreckers, and they're plotting to lure some +vessel on the rocks by means of false lights." + +"The scoundrels!" burst out Joe. "We've got to spoil their wicked +game." + +"That's what we have. We'll tell the police, or some one in authority." + +"But before we do," broke in Joe, "tell me about my father, though I +begin to suspect now," and there was a look of sadness on his face. + +"I presume you pretty well know what is coming," said Blake, slowly, +"now you have heard what those men said. The whole amount of it is, Joe, +that your father is suspected of having been in league with those +wreckers--that he helped to lure vessels on these same rocks." + +"My father a wrecker!" cried Joe. "It can't be--I won't believe it!" + +"I didn't want to either, when I heard it," said Blake, "and maybe, now +that I've told you, we can work together and find some way of proving +him innocent." + +"That's it!" cried the son. "Oh, if he were only here to help us! I +wonder why he went away?" + +"The lighthouse keeper said," began Blake, "that your father left +because he feared to be arrested. And the day after he went away an +officer did come for him," and he proceeded to relate what Mr. Stanton +had said. + +"I don't believe it!" cried Joe, when the account was finished. "Of +course, I don't remember my father, and, naturally, I don't know what +sort of a man he was, but I don't believe he was a wrecker!" + +"And I don't either!" added Blake. "Here's my hand on it, Joe, and we'll +do our best to find out the truth of this thing," and the two chums +clasped hands warmly. + +"But it's mighty strange what those men said about him," went on Joe. +"To think that we would stumble on the wreckers right at work. We can +lead the police to the very place where they have set up their false +light." + +"Maybe we can do better than that, Joe." + +"How?" + +"Why, we may be able to help the police catch these same fellows." + +"That's so. Have you a plan, Blake?" asked his chum, eagerly, as they +walked on along the path. + +"Not yet, but we'll make one up. But, Joe, did you notice just what it +was that big wrecker said?" + +"Not exactly; I was too excited when I heard them mention my father's +name." + +"Well, they as much as said that your father had refused to give them +the information they wanted, and this spoiled their scheme. That might +go to show that they made offers to him to have him help them in their +wicked plans, and he refused. That made them turn against him, and----" + +"I see, Blake! You mean that, maybe, after all, he left because he was +afraid of the wreckers, and not because he had done anything wrong?" + +"That's it, Joe. Of course, it's all guess work on our part, so far, and +I think the best thing we can do is to go to the lighthouse and tell Mr. +Stanton all we've seen and heard. He may be able to advise us, even if +he is an old man. At any rate, he'll know what police or government +officers to go to, so we can catch these wreckers." + +"That's right, Blake. Come on. I guess we can go down on the beach now. +Those fellows won't venture out into the open after us, I don't +believe." + +"No, they seem to have given up the chase," replied Blake, and the two +lads were soon down on the shore. + +A look around showed no signs of the supposed wreckers, and a little +later the two lads were in the lighthouse telling their story to the +wondering and amazed keeper. + +"So that's how the scoundrels are planning to work; are they?" cried the +old man. "Going to duplicate my light, and fool the poor sailors! But +we'll put a spoke in their wheel, boys. We'll spike their guns for 'em, +and have 'em behind the bars, if there's any law in this land. + +"Putting up a false light right opposite those rocks--the most dangerous +on the coast! No punishment would be too bad for 'em. Did you happen to +hear, boys, when they expected to play that wicked game?" + +"They didn't mention any special night," replied Blake; "it seemed that +they counted on getting some information which failed them--Joe's +father," he added, thinking it well to let Mr. Stanton know that Joe had +been informed of the secret. + +"Joe's father; eh?" said the old man, musingly. "Boy, I'm mighty sorry +for you," he said, softly; "for I know the disgrace is trying, and if it +had been possible to keep this from you----" + +"I'm glad I know!" burst out Joe. "There isn't going to be any disgrace. +My father is innocent, I'm sure of it; and I believe we can prove it, +once we have these wreckers arrested." + +"That's the way to talk!" cried the old man. "Boys, I'll help you. We'll +get right after these miscreants. Maybe I was wrong, after all, in +thinking Nate Duncan guilty. He was a good man, and it made me feel bad +even to suspect him." + +"What do you think is the best thing to do?" asked Blake. "We ought to +act quickly, or they may leave this part of the country, to try their +scheme farther down the coast. It might succeed, then." + +"That's right," declared Mr. Stanton. "We must act at once. My assistant +is here now, and I'll have him go with you. I'm a little too old for +such work. Besides, one of us will have to stay here to guard the light. +No telling but what the scoundrels might try to wreck it. But if they +come, I'll be ready for 'em!" he cried, as he took down an old-fashioned +musket from the wall. "I'll stand by to repel boarders!" he exclaimed, +holding the weapon above his head, and then sighting it at an imaginary +enemy. + +"I'll call my assistant," he went on. "Tom Cardiff is as sturdy a lad as +you'd wish to see. He can get one of the men from the life saving +station, and with a couple of the government secret service officers you +ought to be able to get those wreckers, don't you think?" + +"Sure!" cried Joe. + +"Did you mean for us to help catch 'em?" asked Blake. + +"I certainly did," went on the keeper. "That is, unless you're----" + +"Afraid? Not a bit of it!" cried Blake, vigorously. + +"Besides, you know just where they were located," continued Mr. Stanton. + +"Though they may have taken the alarm and left," suggested Joe. + +"Then we'll trace 'em!" cried his chum. "Where is your helper, Mr. +Stanton?" + +"I'll call him. I say Tom--Tom Cardiff!" he shouted up the lantern +tower. "I'll finish cleaning the lens. I've got other work for you. Come +down!" + +"Coming!" was the answer, and a little later a well built young fellow, +muscular and of fine appearance, greeted the boys. The introduction was +soon made, and the story of the lads told. + +"Wreckers; eh?" exclaimed Tom Cardiff. "I'd just like to get hold of +some of the wretches," and he stretched out his vigorous arms. + +"Well, get after 'em, then!" exclaimed the old man. "You don't want to +lose any time. Telephone for the officers." + +The wire was soon busy, and arrangements made for the secret service men +to come to the lighthouse. One of the life saving squad, from a station +a little farther down the coast, was also engaged. + +"Now you boys had better go back to your place," said Mr. Stanton; "and +arrange to come back to-night. That's the only time to get after these +fellows. They probably have finished their work, from what you told me, +and they'll lay low until it's dark. Then we'll get after 'em!" + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +FAILURE + + +"Boys, if you could only get moving pictures of the capture of the +wreckers!" + +Thus exclaimed Mr. Ringold when his two young employees told of the +plans afoot and asked to be excused from work a little longer. + +"It would be great," admitted Joe. + +"But we'd need a powerful light," said Blake, "and if we had that it +would warn the men we're after." + +"That's so," spoke the theatrical man. "I guess it's out of the +question. But you have done such wonderful work so far, that I'd like +you to keep it up. A film of the capture of wreckers would make an +audience sit up and take notice." + +"I guess I'll have to invent some sort of a light that would make it +possible," put in Mr. Hadley; "but I'm afraid I can't have it ready +to-night." + +"Then you don't mind if we go?" asked Blake. + +"No, indeed!" exclaimed Mr. Ringold, "and I wish you all success." + +"It's going to be a dark night," remarked Blake, a little later, as he +and Joe were on their way to the lighthouse. It was early evening, but +the sky was clouding over and a wind was coming up that sent the big +billows bounding up on the sand with a booming noise like the discharge +of distant cannon. + +"Yes, we'll have to sort of feel our way along," said Joe. "But I guess +we can find the place, all right." + +"I hope so. But I wonder if the men will come back after the alarm we +gave 'em?" + +"That's hard to tell, Blake. And yet they might; for, though they saw +us, they may think we were only a couple of lads out for a stroll, who +accidentally stumbled on their hiding place. In that case they wouldn't +think we'd give any alarm, and they'd go on with their plans." + +"That's so. Well, we'll see what happens. I hope there aren't too many +of them, so that our men can handle them." + +"That Tom Cardiff can get away with a couple on his own account, and +with the life saver, and the secret service men, not to mention +ourselves, Blake, I guess we'll make out all right." + +"I reckon you and I together, Joe, can account for at least one," and +Blake looked quizzically at his chum. + +"I feel almost as if I could handle one alone, when I think of how they +got my father into trouble," replied the other. "I'm going to give a +good account of myself, if I get the chance." + +"Same here. Well, there's the lighthouse just ahead, and two or three +men waiting for us. I guess they're the ones we are to go with." + +This proved to be the case, and a little later the boys were repeating +to the life saver, and two secret service men, such parts of their story +as Mr. Stanton and Tom Cardiff had omitted or forgotten. + +"Well, if we're all ready, we may as well start," proposed Sam Wilton, +one of the government agents. The other was Jerry Boundley, while the +name of the life saver was Frank Hale. + +"Yes, it's quite a tramp," said Tom Cardiff, "and the wreckers may be +there now. Several small trading vessels are expected up the coast this +week, and some may be due to-night. Though seeing that a storm is coming +up, they may keep so far out from shore that they won't see the false +lights, in case the wreckers try to work them. + +"This is about as wicked a piece of work as could well be done, trying +to wreck vessels this way. A sailor has to depend absolutely on the +lights, under certain conditions, and if they're wrong, it's like +leading a blind man into danger. So let's get after 'em and stop their +work!" + +The men well knew the way nearly to the place where the boys had +discovered the wreckers at work, and so they would not have to rely on +Joe and Blake to guide them until they were almost there. + +"When you see that you are close to the place," said Tom Cardiff, "you +boys go ahead, and we'll trail along after you. And keep mighty quiet, +too. If we can catch these fellows actually in the act of showing a +false light, so much better for the chances of convicting them." + +They went on in the darkness. Back of them, as they mounted the hill +which ended in the high cliff, could be seen the flashing light tended +by aged Mr. Stanton. + +"He's right on the job," remarked Tom Cardiff. "Even if he's an old man +he'll stay up all night to attend to that light, to see that it's +trimmed properly, that the machinery is working, that there's oil in the +reservoir, and that the lenses are clean. That light is just like a son +or daughter to him. He can't bear to have anything happen to it and the +very idea of any scoundrels trying to wreck vessels by means of a false +beacon riles him up considerable." + +"I should think it would," agreed Mr. Wilton. "Well, if we can catch +these fellows we'll put 'em where they can't do any more harm. And I +hope we'll get back in time, so Mr. Stanton won't have to stay up all +night." + +"I hope so, too," put in Tom Cardiff. "He isn't equal to the task." + +"We're getting close to the place now," said Blake, in a low voice a +little later. + +"Then you boys come up here," ordered Tom Cardiff, who, in a measure, +was a sort of leader. "And everybody keep quiet. Don't talk, except in +whispers, and make as little noise as you can." + +Cautiously they advanced, the boys in the lead. The lads recognized, +even in the darkness, some of the larger landmarks they had passed in +their flight that afternoon. + +"Hold on a minute, and listen," suggested the life saver. "Maybe we can +hear them talking." + +They paused, but the only sound that came was the booming of the surf on +the rocks below. + +"Can you see anything of a light?" asked Mr. Boundley. + +"Not a thing," replied Joe, glancing all about him. + +"Look up," directed Tom Cardiff. "That's the best way to locate a light +that you can't see directly. You may catch its reflection on the night +mist." + +But the night was black all around them. Not a gleam could they make +out. Once more they advanced until Joe and Blake recognized the place +where they had been hiding, and whence they had looked into the open +place where the wreckers had been putting up their false light. + +"It's here!" whispered Blake. + +"Just ahead there," added Joe. + +"Get ready, men!" exclaimed Tom Cardiff, in a tense whisper. "We'll rush +'em before they know it--if they're here." + +Stout clubs had been brought along in anticipation of a hand-to-hand +struggle, it being decided that these weapons were best, safest and most +effective at close quarters. + +"All ready?" asked the leader. + +"Yes--yes!" came the answers. + +Blake leaned forward, cautiously parted the bushes and looked toward the +open space. He had heard nothing, and seen nothing, and yet he knew that +the men might be hidden about, and that the lantern might not yet be +lighted. + +"Come on!" cried Tom Cardiff, and together they leaped from their place +of concealment. + +There was a moment of silence, and then a disappointed exclamation burst +from the lips of the assistant lighthouse keeper. + +"They're not here!" he declared. That was evident, for there had been +no response as the searchers burst out. + +"Are you sure this is the place?" asked Mr. Wilton, turning to the boys. + +"Positive," answered Joe. + +"Here's the pile of rocks on which the lantern was set," added Blake. + +"But there's no lantern here now," said Tom Cardiff. + +"Then they've skipped!" declared the life saver. "They got suspicious +and left, taking the lantern with 'em!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +ON THE TRAIL + + +There was no doubt about it, the wreckers were not there, and the +indications were that they had betaken themselves to some other +location. + +When the men flashed the pocket electric lamps they had brought with +them, the little opening at the top of the cliff was well illuminated. + +"Nothing doing!" exclaimed Joe, regretfully. + +"They must have skipped out right after they chased us," decided Blake. + +"And they went in a hurry, too," declared Tom Cardiff. + +"What makes you think so?" asked one of the government officers. + +"Look at how this stone pile, which they intended to use as a base for +their lantern, is disturbed, and pulled apart," went on the assistant +lighthouse keeper, as he flashed his torch on it. "I'll wager, boys, +that when you saw it, with that contrivance atop by which they hoped to +fool some vessels, this stone pile was well built up; wasn't it?" + +"Yes," said Blake, "it was." + +"Because," went on Tom Cardiff, "it would have to be so to make their +light steady, to give the impression that it was one of the regular +government lights. They were going to work a shutter, you boys say, to +give the impression of a revolving light, and that would make it +necessary to have a firm foundation. + +"And yet now the whole top of this stone pile is torn apart, showing +that they must have ripped out whatever they had here to hold the +lantern. They got away in a hurry, is my opinion." + +"And I guess we'll all have to agree," put in the life saver. "The +question is--where did they go?" + +"And that's a question we've got to answer," added Tom Cardiff. "We've +got to get on the trail." + +"Why so?" asked the life saver. "If you've driven 'em off, so they can't +try any of their dastardly tricks to lure vessels ashore, isn't that all +you want? You've spoiled their game." + +"Yes!" cried Tom Cardiff, "we've spoiled it for this one place, but +they'll be at it somewhere else." + +"What do you mean?" asked Joe. + +"I mean that they've gone somewhere else!" exclaimed the assistant +keeper. "They've made tracks away from here, but they've gone to some +other place to set up their light, and try the same thing they were +going to try here. It's our duty to keep after 'em, and break up the +gang!" + +"That's right!" cried Mr. Wilton. "There's no telling what damage they +might do, if left alone. Why, they might even get to some place where +large passenger steamers pass, and wreck one of them, though mostly they +aim to pick out a spot where small cargo boats would be lured on the +rocks. We've got to keep after 'em!" + +"Then come on!" cried Joe. He was fired with enthusiasm, not only to +capture the wreckers for the purpose of protecting human life and +property, but he was also eager to have the scoundrels safe in +confinement so that he might question them, and learn the source of the +suspicion against his father. + +"On the trail!" cried Blake. "Maybe we can easily find the wreckers." + +"No, not to-night," advised Mr. Boundley. "It wouldn't be practical, in +the first place; and if it was, it wouldn't be safe. We don't know this +locality very well. There may be hidden dangers and pitfalls that would +injure some of us. Then, too, we don't want to stumble on a nest of +wreckers without knowing something of the lay of the ground." + +"What's best to be done?" asked Tom Cardiff. + +"Do nothing to-night," advised the government man. "To-morrow we can +take up the trail, and by daylight we may be able to pick up something +that will give us a clue. I think they won't try any of their tricks +to-night, so it will be safe for us to go back." + +The others agreed with this view, and, after looking about the place a +little more, and trying, but unsuccessfully, to find clues in the +darkness, partly illuminated by the electric torches, they gave it up +and started back to the lighthouse. + +"Well, what do you think?" asked Blake of Joe, as the two lads reached +their boarding house in the little theatrical colony. It was quite late. + +"Think of it?" echoed Joe. "I'm terribly disappointed, that's what. I +hoped I'd be able to get a start on disproving this accusation against +my father." + +"Yes, it was a disappointment," agreed Blake. + +"And now there's no telling when I can." + +"No, not exactly; but, Joe, I have a plan." + +"What is it?" + +"What's the matter with getting on the trail after these fellows the +first thing in the morning. No use waiting any longer, and we can't tell +how prompt those government men may be. Of course they're interested, +in a general way, in making the capture; but aside from that, you and I +have a personal motive; for I'll admit I'm as interested as you are in +proving that your father is innocent. + +"So what's the matter with getting back up on the cliff as soon as we +can, and seeing if we can trace those fellows. You know we've had some +experience after taking films of those Indians, and can follow signs +pretty well." + +"I'm with you, Blake!" cried Joe. "We'll do it. I guess Mr. Ringold will +let us off when he knows how important it is." + +They spoke of the matter to the theatrical man early the next morning, +and he readily agreed to let them continue the work of trying to capture +the wreckers. + +"Go ahead, boys," he said. "Mr. Hadley and your lad, Macaroni, can take +what films we want to-day. And I would like to see you get those +wreckers. There's no meaner criminal alive. All we'll do for the next +couple of days is to get ready for our big drama--I've planned a new +one--and I sure will want you boys to help film it for me." + +"What's it going to be about?" asked Blake. + +"It's a sea story, and a wreck figures in it." + +"A real wreck?" asked Joe, in some surprise. "That will be hard to do; +won't it?" + +"It sure will, and I don't just know how to manage it. I could buy some +old tub, and wreck it, I suppose, but I want it to look natural. While I +don't wish anyone bad luck, I do wish, if a wreck had to happen, that it +would come about here, so we could get moving pictures of it. But I +don't suppose I'll have any such good luck. + +"However, I'll have to think about this. Now you boys can have a couple +of days off, if you like, and I hope you'll find those miscreants." + +"I wish we could get you some moving pictures of them," spoke Blake; +"but I'm afraid it's out of the question." + +The boys were soon at the scene of the disappointment the night before. +Daylight revealed more clearly the haste with which the wreckers had +removed their false lantern. Stones were scattered about, as were bits +of broken wood, wire, rope and other accessories. + +"Now," said Joe, after they had looked about, "the thing to do is to +trail them." + +"And the first thing is to get a clue," added Blake. + +They looked about, using the knowledge they had gained from being with +the cowboy the time they filmed the pictures of the Moqui Indians. For +some time their efforts were without success. They cast about in all +directions, looking for some lead that would tell them in which +direction the wreckers had gone. + +"I should think they'd go farther down the coast," suggested Joe. "They +certainly wouldn't come toward the lighthouse, and they wouldn't go +inland, for to work their plan they need to be near the shore." + +"That's right, to an extent," decided Blake; "but, at the same time, +they may have wanted to give a false clue. So we mustn't let that fool +us. Keep on looking." + +Narrowly they scanned the ground. It was covered with marks, not only of +the footsteps of the wreckers, but of the men and boys themselves who +had made the unsuccessful raid the night before. + +"Hello!" cried Blake, suddenly, as he dived into a clump of bushes. +"Here's something!" + +"What is it?" asked Joe. + +"A piece of cloth, evidently torn from a man's clothing. And, Joe, now +that I recall it, it's the same color as the suit worn by Hemp Danforth +when he chased us. We're on the trail at last, Joe!" + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +THE DISCOVERY + + +Joe Duncan leaped to his chum's side. Eagerly he looked at the bit of +cloth which, caught on a thorn bush, had ripped from some man's garment. +The cloth was not weather-beaten, which, to the boys, showed that it had +not long been hanging there. + +"Blake, I believe you're right," assented his chum. "They went this way, +and they must have done it for a blind, or else to get to some path that +goes farther down the beach a different way," for the cloth was caught +on a bush toward the landward side of the little clearing. + +"We'll follow this," said Blake. + +"Of course," agreed his chum. + +They pushed into the bushes. There was no semblance of a path, but this +did not discourage the boys. They realized that the wreckers would want +to cover up their trail, and would take a way that would not seem to +lead anywhere. + +"This will branch off pretty soon," was Blake's opinion. "This is just +a blind, to make us believe they have given up, and gone inland. Come +on, Joe, and keep a sharp lookout for any other signs." + +They found none for some time, and then they came to a little open place +where the soft ground held several footprints. + +"We're getting warmer!" exclaimed Joe. + +"Hush!" cautioned his chum. "They may hear us." + +"Why, you don't think they're around here; do you?" + +"There's no telling. It's best to be on the safe side. Keep quiet. +Hello! here's something else!" and Blake, moving cautiously, so as not +to make any more noise than possible, picked up a bit of metal. + +"What is it?" asked Joe. + +"Part of their lantern," answered his chum. "It was made of black sheet +iron, you remember. This piece may have fallen off when they dragged it +through the bushes. We're on the right trail, all right." + +"I believe you. But I wish it would turn on to a better path. It's no +fun forcing your way through these bushes." + +"It'll turn soon now," predicted Blake. "They only took this lead long +enough to discourage pursuit. They didn't like it any better than we +do." + +His surmise proved correct and about five minutes later, having found +other evidences of the passage of the wreckers, they came out on an open +trail. + +It was a narrow path, leading along in both directions from where they +came out on it, and following the coast line, but some distance inland. +There were evidences that men had passed in both directions, and that at +no distant time, for footprints turned to both the left and right, as +the boys emerged from the blind trail in the brush. + +"Well, what about this?" questioned Joe, as he looked in silence at the +tell-tale marks. "Which way shall we go, Blake?" + +"To the right!" came the answer, almost immediately. + +"What makes you say that?" asked his chum. "I don't see anything to show +that they went to the right, any more than that they went to the left." + +"Don't you?" asked Blake. "Look here, and remember some of the things +our cowboy guide told us when we were after the Indians. Now you see +footprints going off to the left and right from this point; don't you?" + +"Sure." + +"Well, do you happen to notice that on the left there are footprints +coming back as well as going." + +"Yes, I see that. But what does it mean?" + +"And on the right side, counting from this dividing point, there are +only footprints in one direction." + +"That's so, Blake. But----" + +"Now what's the answer? Why the men got here, and, thinking they might +be followed, tried a simple trick. They doubled their trail." + +"What's that?" + +"Why, some of them went off to the left, walked on a little way, +doubled, or turned, and came back, joining the others, who had turned to +the right and kept on." + +"Why was that?" + +"Because they wanted to fool us. Naturally a person, not looking +carefully, would see both lines of footprints, and would reason that the +men might have divided, or that there might have been two separate +parties. He wouldn't know which trail to take. He might pick out the +right one, and, again, he might select the wrong one." + +"And you say the right one is----" + +"To the right. We'll follow that. If they think to fool us, or make us +divide our forces, they're going to be disappointed. Another thing." + +"What's that, Blake?" asked Joe, as he noticed his chum leaning over and +carefully examining the marks in the dirt. + +"Why, naturally they wouldn't go to the left, as that eventually leads +to the lighthouse. They want to keep some distance from that. Of course +they'd go to the right. And here's where we go after 'em. Come on!" + +There was no hesitation now. Joe was as sure as his chum that the +wreckers had gone farther down the coast, perhaps to some other high +cliff where they could set up their lantern. + +They followed the path. The trail was plain now, showing that a number +of men had passed along. Footprints were the only clues, however, a +number overlapping one another. + +"What shall we do if we find them?" asked Joe. + +"I--I don't know," answered Blake. This was when they had been following +the new trail for about an hour. + +"We can't tackle 'em alone, that's sure," went on Joe. + +"No, but we can--Hark! What's that?" whispered Blake, suddenly. + +They listened intently. Far off they could hear the roar of the surf on +the beach; but, closer at hand, was another sound. It was the clink of +metal. And then came the distant murmur of men's voices. + +"Joe, I think we've found them," whispered Blake. "Come on, but don't +make any noise." + +Cautiously they crept forward, the sounds becoming more and more plain. + +Suddenly they heard a loud voice exclaim: + +"There! I guess that will do the business! And those fellows won't find +us here!" + +"That's them!" whispered Blake in Joe's ear. "I know the voice of Hemp +Danforth. We've found 'em, Joe!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +THE CAPTURE + + +Impulsively the boys clasped hands as they realized what the discovery +meant. They had come upon the new hiding place of the wreckers, and the +chances were good for capture if no alarm was given. + +Joe, perhaps, felt more elated than did Blake, though the latter was +glad that his theory in regard to the direction taken by the men had +proved correct. + +But Joe felt that now he had a better chance to prove his father +innocent of the charge made against him--that he was involved with the +wreckers. + +"We've got 'em!" he whispered. + +"Yes--we've got 'em--to get!" agreed Blake. "No slip-up this time." + +In whispers they consulted, and decided to creep forward a short +distance to make sure of their first surmise that the men, whose voices +they heard, were really the wreckers. + +"We want to be certain about it," warned Blake, in a cautious whisper. + +"That's right," agreed his chum. "Go ahead, and I'll come after you." + +Cautiously they advanced until they were in a position to look forward +and make out a number of men working on a sort of mound of rock that +rose from the surface of the cliff. + +"This is a better place, from their standpoint, than the other," +whispered Blake. "A light can be seen farther." + +"Yes, and they're putting up the same lantern on a rock pile," remarked +Joe. Both lads recognized the apparatus they had seen before. The men +were busily engaged in setting it in place, evidently working fast to +make up for lost time. + +"It's the same gang," observed Blake; "and they must know of some vessel +that is to pass here soon, or they wouldn't be in such a hurry. Probably +they count on the steersman mistaking this light for the one at +Rockypoint, and standing in close here. Up at Rockypoint there is deep +water close in shore, but it shoals very fast both ways, up or down the +beach. So if a vessel saw a false light, and stood close in to get her +bearings, she'd be on the rocks in no time." + +"That's right," agreed Joe. "She'd be wrecked and these fellows would +get what they could out of her, caring nothing for the lives lost. +Blake, we've got to stop 'em!" + +"We sure have." + +"Not only to clear my father, but to save others," went on Joe. "What's +best to be done?" + +"Well, we can't capture 'em by ourselves; that's sure," went on Blake, +each lad speaking in a cautious whisper. "The best thing for us to do is +to go back, I think, and tell Tom Cardiff. He'll know what to do." + +"Maybe one of us had better stay here to keep watch. They may skip out." + +"No danger. They don't know that we have followed 'em, or that we are +here." + +"Then we'll go back together." + +"Sure, and give the alarm. Then to make the capture, if we can." + +For a few minutes longer the eager boys looked on, unseen by the men +whom they had trailed. The wreckers were busy putting up their lantern, +and were making as much noise, talking and hammering on the apparatus, +as though they were far removed from possible discovery. + +"Well, we'd better be going," suggested Blake, after a bit; and they +made their departure without causing any suspicious sounds, so that the +wreckers had no idea, as far as our heroes could ascertain, that they +were being spied upon. + +In order to save time, as soon as they got to the nearest small +settlement, Joe and Blake hired a carriage, and drove to the lighthouse. +As may well be imagined their report caused considerable excitement. + +"We'll get right after 'em!" cried Tom Cardiff. "I just got a telephone +message from the secret service men that they are on their way here. +They'll arrive in about an hour. We were counting on getting on the +trail ourselves to-day, but you boys got ahead of us. So in about an +hour we'll start. I guess they'll be there then; won't they, lads." + +"I should judge so," was Blake's answer. "They've got quite a good deal +yet to do to get that fake lantern in shape, and they don't seem +suspicious." + +"We can't have our life saving friend with us now," went on the +assistant keeper, "as he is on duty, but I guess the five of us will be +enough." + +"Say!" cried Blake, with sudden thought, "if it's going to be an hour +before we start we've got time to get our automatic moving picture +camera, Joe." + +"What for?" + +"To get some views of this capture. It ought to make a dandy film, and +we can set the machine in place, start the motor and then you and I can +jump in and help catch these wreckers!" + +"The very thing!" cried his chum. "I wonder I didn't think of it myself. +Come on!" + +"Don't be late!" advised Tom Cardiff, as they ran toward the ancient +carriage they had hired. "We don't want any slip-up this time. I'm glad +we're going to try for the capture by daylight, though, instead of +darkness; it gives us a better chance." + +Mr. Ringold and Mr. Hadley were surprised and delighted at the news the +boys brought, but they voted against the automatic camera. + +"This is a rare chance to get a film," said Mr. Hadley, "and we don't +want to miss it. I'll go along with you, taking a regular moving picture +camera, and while you capture the wreckers I'll make a film of it." + +This suited the boys as well, and a little later, with the chief +photographer, they started back for the lighthouse. They found the +secret service men and Tom Cardiff waiting for them, and, well armed, in +addition to the clubs they carried, and with ropes to bind the wreckers, +they started off. + +"We're almost there now," said Blake, in a whisper, when they neared the +second hiding place of the desperate men. "Go easy, now." + +"Let me get a chance to go ahead and place the camera," suggested Mr. +Hadley, who had the apparatus fully adjusted. + +"That's a great idea," declared one of the government men. "Taking their +photographs in moving pictures! There'll be no chance for them to deny +they were present when they were captured," and he chuckled grimly. + +Mr. Hadley was given an opportunity to move forward alone. He found an +advantageous spot and almost at once beckoned to the others to hasten. + +"They're getting ready to leave!" he whispered, as they reached his +side. + +"Come on, then!" cried Tom Cardiff. "Jump in on 'em, boys. Lively now!" + +As he spoke he leaped forward, followed by the others. + +"Surrender! We've got you surrounded!" yelled the assistant keeper. +"It's all over but the shouting!" and as he made a grab for one of the +men the moving picture machine began clicking. + +"Hands up!" ordered Mr. Wilton. + +"At 'em, boys!" called the other government man, as he and Blake and Joe +leaped to the attack together. + +For a moment the wreckers stood as if paralyzed about the stone pedestal +on which the false lantern was being built. Then, with one accord, the +desperate men made a dash for the bush. + +"Stop 'em!" cried Tom Cardiff. "Don't let 'em get away!" + +"Come on!" yelled Blake to his chum. "We've got to get in this fracas!" + +And as they dashed after the wreckers the moving picture camera in the +hands of Mr. Hadley recorded view after view of the exciting scene. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +A LIFE GUARD'S ALARM + + +Fortune played into the hands of our friends in two ways as they sought +to capture the wreckers. Otherwise the desperate men might have gotten +away, so quickly did they dash out of the clearing at the first alarm. + +But, as he ran along, big Hemp Danforth, the leader of the criminals, +stumbled and fell. Right behind him was sturdy Tom Cardiff, and the +assistant lighthouse keeper was quick to take advantage of the chance +thus put in his way. + +"I've got you!" he yelled, as he fairly threw himself on the prostrate +wrecker. "I've got you! Give up, you varmint!" + +There was a struggle, none the less desperate because the wrecker was +underneath. The two rolled on the ground until Tom got a grip on his +opponent. Then, by putting forth his enormous strength, Tom quickly +subdued the man. + +"Give up, I tell you!" panted Tom, breathing hard. "I'll teach you to +wreck ships. Give up!" + +"I give up!" was the sullen response. + +With a quick turn of the ropes he had brought, Tom had the wrecker +trussed up. + +Meanwhile the others had been busy. The secret service men had each +tackled a man, and had him secure by now, while Joe and Blake, by mutual +agreement picking out another member of the party had, after a struggle, +succeeded in tying him, too. + +But the wreckers outnumbered our friends two to one, and some, if not +all, of the desperate characters might have escaped had not +reinforcements appeared. These were in the shape of four sturdy +fishermen from the little colony where the moving picture boys lived. + +"Oh, if we could only capture the others!" cried Tom Cardiff, when he +had finished with his man, and saw some of the wreckers struggling to +make their way through the thick bush. "Come on, boys!" he yelled to his +friends. "When you finish with those fellows keep after the rest of the +gang, though I'm afraid they'll give us the slip." + +"No, they won't!" cried a new voice, and then appeared the husky toilers +of the sea, armed with stout clubs. At the sight of them the wreckers +not yet captured gave up in despair. Counting those tied up, the forces +were now equal, and as Mr. Hadley had taken all the moving pictures +possible, owing to the struggle taking place out of range of his +camera, he left the apparatus, and joined his friends. + +"Well, we got 'em!" cried Tom Cardiff, as he surveyed the line of +prisoners, fastened together with ropes. "Every one of 'em, I guess. +You're a nice crowd!" he sneered at big Hemp Danforth. "A nice lot of +men to be let loose!" + +"A little later and you wouldn't have had us!" snarled the leader of the +wreckers. "You were too many for us." + +"That's so," spoke Tom. "How did you happen to come to help us?" he +asked of Abe Haskill, who was one of the reinforcing fishermen. "Who +sent you?" + +"Old Stanton telephoned over from the lighthouse," was the answer. "He +said you were on your way here, and that the gang might be too much for +you. So I got a couple of my friends, and over we came--just in time, +too, I take it." + +"That's right!" exclaimed Blake, trying to staunch the flow of blood +from a cut on his face, received in the fight he and Joe had with their +prisoner. Joe himself was somewhat bruised. "A little later and we'd had +only half of 'em," went on Blake. + +"It looks as if the lantern was nearly finished, too," went on Joe. + +"Um!" sneered the chief wrecker. "You may think you have us, but it's a +long way from proving anything against us. What have we done that's +wrong?" and he looked defiantly at Tom Cardiff. + +"Wrong!" cried the lighthouse man. "Don't you call it wrong to set up a +false light to lure unsuspecting captains on the rocks, so you can get +your pickings? Wrong!" + +"Huh! How do you know but what this light was put here as a range finder +for us fishermen?" asked the other. + +"Fishermen! Why, you men never did an honest day's fishing in your +lives!" cried Abe Haskill. "Fishing! When you haven't been smuggling +you've been wrecking, or robbing other honest men's nets. You're a bunch +of scoundrels, and it's the best day's work we've done in many a year to +get you!" + +"That's all right," retorted Hemp, easily. "Words don't prove anything." + +"They don't; eh?" cried Tom Cardiff. "You'll see what they do. We'll +convict you by your own words!" + +"Our own words?" asked Hemp Danforth, uneasily. + +"Yes, overheard by these two lads, whom you chased but couldn't catch. I +guess when Blake Stewart and Joe Duncan go into court, and testify +about hearing you talk of wrecking vessels by your false lantern, the +jury'll convict you, all right!" + +Hemp seemed less concerned with what Tom said than with the name Joe +Duncan. As this was uttered the wrecker looked at the two lads. + +"Did I understand him to say that one of you is a Duncan?" asked Hemp, +curiously. + +"I am," replied Joe. + +"Are you Nate Duncan's son?" + +"I hope so--yes, I'm sure I am." + +"Ha! Ha!" laughed the wrecker. + +"What's the joke?" inquired Tom Cardiff. + +"This, and it's a good one, too. You think to convict us on the +testimony of Nate Duncan's son. Why, Nate is one of us! His son's +evidence wouldn't be any good. Besides, a son wouldn't help to convict +his father. That's a good one. Nate Duncan is one of us!" + +"That's not so!" burst out Joe, jumping toward the big wrecker, as +though to strike him. "It isn't true. My father never was a wrecker." + +"He wasn't; eh?" sneered Hemp. "Well, I'm not saying we are, either; but +if your father isn't a wrecker why did he run away before the officers +came for him? Answer me that--if you can!" + +"I--I--" began Joe, when Blake stepped to his chum's side. + +"Don't answer him," counseled Blake. "It will only make matters worse. +It will all come out right." + +"I'm sure of it," said Joe. "Poor Dad, I wish he were here to defend +himself; but, as he isn't, I'll stick up for him." + +"Well, if you're through talking I guess we'll move along," suggested +Tom at this point. "There are a few empty cells in the jail at San +Diego, I understand, and they'll just about accommodate you chaps." + +"Are--are you going to put us in jail?" faltered one of the prisoners, a +young man. + +"That's what we are," answered Tom. + +"Oh, don't. I'll tell--I'll----" + +"You'll keep still--that's what you'll do!" snapped Hemp. "I'll fix you +if you don't!" and he glared at the youth in such a way that the latter +said no more. "I'll manage this thing," went on Hemp. "You keep still +and they can't do a thing to us. Now go ahead; take us to jail if you +want to." + +"That's what we will," declared Tom, and a little later the prisoners +were on their way to San Diego, where they were locked up. Some +suspected wreckers had been taken into custody when Mr. Duncan was +accused, but nothing had been proved against them. + +"Well, that was a good day's work!" declared Mr. Hadley late that +afternoon, when he and the moving picture boys were back at their +quarters. "We not only got the wreckers, but a fine film of the capture +besides." + +"And we're in it," said Blake. "Joe, how will it seem to see yourself on +a screen?" + +"Oh, rather odd, I guess," and Joe spoke listlessly. + +"Now look here!" exclaimed his chum. "I know what's worrying you. It's +what Hemp said about your father; isn't it?" + +"Yes, Blake, it is." + +"Well then, you just stop thinking about it. Before you know it your +father may arrive in Hong Kong, get your letter, and send back an +answer. Then everything will be cleared up. Meanwhile, we've got to get +busy; there are a lot of films to make, I understand." + +"Indeed there are," declared Mr. Ringold. "I have my sea drama all ready +for the films now. I don't know what to do about a wreck, though. I'm +afraid I can't make it realistic enough. I must make other plans about +that scene. But get your cameras in good shape, boys, for there is +plenty of work ahead." + +"We can keep right on the job," said Joe, "for I guess we've about +cleaned up the wreckers." + +No members of the gang had escaped, as far as could be learned, and the +renewed work of getting evidence to be used at the trial was in the +hands of the government men. The false lantern, which had first given +the boys the clue, was taken down, and proved to be a most ingenious +piece of apparatus. Had it been used it would undoubtedly have lured +some ships on the rocks. + +The work of making the preliminary scenes of the sea drama were under +way. It took the best part of three weeks to get what was needed, for +Mr. Ringold was very particular, and insisted on many rehearsals, these +taking longer than the actual making of the films. + +Joe and Blake were kept busy, as was also their young assistant, +Macaroni, and Mr. Hadley. + +"Everything is going beautifully," said Mr. Ringold one day. "If we +could only have a storm and wreck to order, now, I would ask nothing +better." + +"Yes, everything is nice, except that we're being worked to death," +spoke C. C. Piper, gloomily. "I've lost ten pounds in the last week." + +"It will do you good," said Miss Lee, with a laugh. "You were getting +too stout, anyhow." + +"Oh, what a world!" sighed the comedian, as he began whistling the +latest comic song. + +"It looks like a storm," remarked Blake, as he and Joe came in one +evening from a stroll on the beach. + +"And when it does come," added Joe, "it's going to be a bad one, so old +Abe, the fisherman, says. They're putting storm signals up all along the +coast, and all leaves of absence for the life guards have been cancelled +for the next week. A storm sometimes lasts that long, Abe says." + +"A storm; eh?" remarked Mr. Ringold, absentmindedly. "Well, that will +interfere with our plans for to-morrow. I had intended to have some +peaceful scenes on the beach; but I'll postpone them. I wish I could +work out this wreck problem," he added, as he pored over the manuscript +of the sea drama. + +One did not need to go outdoors that morning to appreciate the fury of +the storm. The gale had come in the night, and the force of the wind had +steadily increased until its violence was terrific. There was no rain, +as yet, but the sky was obscured by hurrying black clouds. + +"Let's go down to the beach and see the big waves," proposed Blake to +Joe after breakfast. + +"All right," agreed his chum. "There won't be anything doing in the +moving picture line to-day, I guess." + +"Say, that's some surf!" cried Joe in his chum's ear, as they got to the +sandy stretch. "Look at those waves!" + +"I guess they're what you call 'mountain high,'" answered Blake, himself +yelling, for their ordinary voices could not be heard above the thunder +of the surf and the roar of the gale. + +They stood for a few minutes watching the big rollers pounding on the +sand, and then, looking down the strand, they saw a figure running +toward them. + +"Here comes a life guard," remarked Joe. + +"And he acts as if something was up," added Blake. + +Nearer came the man, dressed in yellow oilskins, for the spray from the +sea flew far inland, almost like rain. Joe and Blake had on rubber +coats. + +"What is it?" cried Blake, as the man came opposite. + +He held his hands in funnel shape and yelled: + +"A wreck--a big sailing vessel is coming ashore! Her masts are gone, and +she can't get off! She'll strike soon. I want all the men I can get to +help us with the breeches buoy. We can't launch our boat--too heavy +surf!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +THE DOOMED VESSEL + + +"You say there's a wreck?" cried Blake. + +"Yes, we just made her out through the glass. She's driving on the rocks +fast. The current is setting inshore and the wind is helping it." + +"Where is she?" asked Joe. + +"Right down there," answered the life guard. "But she'll come up farther +this way," and he pointed down toward the rocks opposite which the boys +had first surprised the wreckers at work. + +"I've got to give the alarm," went on the life saver. "We need all the +help we can get. We're short-handed, anyhow, and two of our men were +hurt early this morning trying to launch the surf-boat." + +"Can't you get some of the fishermen from around here?" asked Joe. + +"That's what I came for." + +"And we'll help, too!" cried Blake, bracing himself by leaning against +the wind, which seemed to grow stronger every minute. + +"Sure we will," added Joe. "Can you see the vessel?" he asked, peering +eagerly into the spume and spray. + +"Maybe she's drifted far enough up by now," went on the coast guard, as +he looked intently in the direction he had pointed. "Yes," he cried a +moment later, "I can catch glimpses of her at times, when the waves go +down a bit. See! There she is now!" + +Looking in the direction the guard pointed, Blake and Joe caught a +glimpse of a distant black object rising and falling at the mercy of the +wind and waves. It was the hull of a vessel, and when Blake used the +glass the guard handed him a moment later, he could see the jagged +stumps of broken masts. + +"She's in a bad way," remarked the lad, gravely. + +"Indeed she is," assented the life saver. + +"I wonder if my father is in any such storm as this, on his way to +China?" mused Joe, as he, too, looked through the binoculars. + +"It's a bad storm--and a big one, too," said the guard. "But I must +hurry on and give the alarm to the fishermen. The ship will strike soon, +and we want to send a line aboard if we can." + +"Wait!" cried Blake, as the man started off. "We'll tell the fishermen. +You can go back to the station. We'll come to help as soon as we can, +and bring all the men we can find." + +"Good!" shouted the man. "It'll take some time to get the apparatus in +shape, and we'll have to drag it up the beach from the station, to about +the place where she'll come on the rocks. Go ahead, give the alarm, and +I'll go back. Whew! But this is a fierce storm!" + +"Come on!" cried Blake to his chum, and they raced toward the little +fishing hamlet. + +"Say!" shouted Joe. "I've got an idea!" + +"What is it?" + +"The wreck--it'll come close on shore, the guard says; why not make some +moving pictures of it? They'll be just what Mr. Hadley wants." + +"That's it!" yelled Blake. "You've struck it. Go on and tell Mr. +Ringold, Mr. Hadley and the others, and I'll get the fishermen. Then +we'll go down the beach until we meet the life savers. It's a great +chance, Joe!" + +The lads separated, one to arouse the fishermen, most of whom were in +their shacks, for it was out of the question to lift the nets in the +tremendous seas that were running. + +"Come on!" cried Blake, as he saw old Abe Haskill come out to look at +the weather. "Wreck--ship coming ashore. The coast guards need help!" + +"Aye, aye, lad. We're with you!" cried the sturdy old man. "I'll get +the boys. A wreck; eh? Pity the poor sailors that come ashore in such a +blow!" + +Having given the alarm, Blake turned back to join his chum and the +others of the theatrical colony. + +"We may need all three cameras," he reasoned; "it is such a good chance +we don't want to risk it on one film." + +Blake found Mr. Hadley and his chum, with the theatrical manager and the +male members of the company, ready to set out. Joe had his own camera, +while Mr. Hadley was getting the largest one in readiness. + +"Let's take the automatic, too," suggested Joe. "We can start it going +and not have to worry about it." + +"All right," agreed Blake. + +"Say, this is the very chance we wanted!" cried Mr. Ringold. "Think of +it! A regular wreck, right at our doors!" + +"Oh, but the poor sailors!" exclaimed Miss Shay. "I do hope they may be +saved!" + +"Of course they can!" cried C. C. Piper. "We'll all help. Never fear; +we'll save them!" + +His tone and manner, to say nothing of his words, were in such contrast +to his usual demeanor that everyone looked at his or her neighbor in +surprise. + +"Don't give up!" went on the comedian, cheerfully. "We'll help the life +guards--we'll do anything. We'll save those sailors!" + +"Well, get on to Gloomy; would you!" exclaimed Joe, in a low voice, to +his chum. "That is the best ever! It's the first time he hasn't +predicted a calamity." + +"And just when anyone else would," added Blake. "For it sure is going to +be hard work to save anyone from a vessel that comes ashore in such a +storm as this," and he looked toward the tumbling billows in view from +the windows. + +Films were threaded into the moving picture cameras, the mechanism was +tested, and then the whole company, even to the ladies, set forth. + +"I hope the wreck gets near enough so we can get some good pictures of +it," said Mr. Ringold. + +"It'll have to come pretty well in shore, or the breeches buoy rope +won't reach," said Mr. Hadley. "I guess we can get some good pictures." + +"It's good it doesn't rain," went on the theatrical man; "though I think +it's going to, soon. We'll have to get up on some elevation to avoid the +spray." + +Down the beach they made their way, to be joined presently by the band +of sturdy fishermen. + +"There she is!" cried old Abe, as he pointed out to sea. "There she is, +blowing and drifting in fast. And right toward the Dolphin Rocks, +too--the worst place on the beach!" They all gazed toward the doomed +vessel, that was now much nearer shore. Blake even thought he could +descry figures on deck, clinging to the stumps of masts. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +OUT OF THE WRECK + + +"Here come the life savers!" cried Blake a little later, as through the +spray that flew over the beach a party of men, in yellow oilskins, could +be seen dragging something over the sand. + +"Yes, and few enough of 'em there are to do the work," said old Abe +Haskill. "The government ought to put more men at the station." + +"Some were hurt, trying to launch the boat this morning," said Joe. + +"Very likely," agreed the old fisherman. "The sea can be cruel when it +wants to." + +"And there comes Tom Cardiff!" added Blake, as he pointed to another +oncoming figure. + +"Yes, and Harry Stanton is with him," remarked Abe. "They must have left +the lighthouse to look after itself, and they're going to help in the +rescue." + +"No danger to the light, now that them pesky wreckers have been caught," +remarked one of the fishermen. + +"Boom!" came a dull report over the waste of tumultuous waters. + +"What's that?" asked Blake. + +"The signal gun!" cried Abe. "She must be sinking and they want us to +hurry help. But she's too far out yet for a line to reach her." + +Again the signal gun sounded, and hearing it, the life savers hastened +their pace, but it was hard work dragging their apparatus through the +sand. + +"Let's help 'em!" cried Joe. "The ship is drifting up this way. If we +make pictures it will have to be from about here. Let's help drag the +wagon!" + +"That's right!" echoed Blake, and the boys, leaving their cameras in +charge of Mr. Hadley, hastened to relieve the fagged-out life savers. +The fishermen and some of the theatrical men joined in also. + +"Right about here," directed the captain of the life saving crew, when +the cart containing the gun, "shears" and other parts of the breeches +buoy had been dragged farther along. "She'll strike about here, I +fancy." + +The doomed vessel was now much nearer shore, and on her wave-washed +decks could be seen the sailors, some of them lashed to the stumps of +masts, others to whatever of the standing rigging offered a hold +against the grasp of the sea. + +"Get ready, men!" the commander went on. "The wind is bringing her in +fast, and it's going to be against us shooting a line over her, but +we'll do our best. If she strikes now, so much the better." + +"Why?" asked Blake, wonderingly. + +"Because then she'll be stationary, and we can keep our main line taut. +If she keeps drifting inshore while we're hauling the buoy back and +forth it means that we'll have to keep tightening up all the while." + +"There, she's struck!" suddenly called one of the life savers. All gazed +out to sea, where, amid a smother of foam, the craft could be seen. Her +change in position was evident. Her decks sloped more, and instead of +drifting she remained in one position. + +"The rocks have gripped her," spoke old Abe, solemnly. "She'll go to +pieces soon now." + +"Then get busy!" cried C. C. Piper, who seemed not to have lost his +strangely cheerful mood. "Save those men!" + +"That's what we're going to do," said the captain. "All ready now, men." + +"And that means we'd better get busy, Joe," said Blake. "We can't do +anything to help just now. Besides, there are a lot of men here. We +must get our cameras in place." + +"That's right, Blake," and the two lads got their apparatus in shape to +operate, Mr. Hadley doing the same. The machines were set up on some +sand hills, far enough back to be out of the spray, which was like a fog +close to the surface of the water. + +While some of the life savers and their volunteer assistants were +burying in the sand the heavy anchor that was to hold one end of the +rope on which the breeches buoy would travel, others were getting ready +to fire the gun. + +In brief, the breeches buoy is operated as follows: A small mortar, or +cannon, is used, and an elongated projectile is placed in it. Attached +to the projectile is a thin and strong line. It is coiled in a box and +placed on the sand near the mortar. The coils are laid around pegs in a +peculiar manner to prevent tangling. The pegs are then pulled out, and +the coils lie one upon the other so that the line may be paid out +rapidly. + +When the projectile is fired toward the ship, the aim is to make it +shoot over her deck, carrying the cord with it. This is called "getting +a line aboard." Once this is done the crew on the vessel can, by means +of the small cord, pull aboard a heavy cable. This is made fast to the +highest point possible. + +There is now a cable extending from the shore to the ship, the shore end +being made fast to the anchor in the sand. The cable is raised as high +as possible on a pair of wooden "shears," to keep it above the waves. + +Running on pulley wheels, on this stout, tight rope, is the "breeches +buoy." This is literally a pair of canvas breeches, into which the +person to be saved places himself, getting into the apparatus from the +deck of the sinking ship. There is a line fast to the buoy, one end +being on shore. When the signal is given those on the beach pull, the +buoy and the person in it are pulled along the tight rope by means of +the pulleys to the beach and saved, though often they are well drenched +in the process. Those remaining on the ship now pull the empty buoy +back, and other persons come ashore until all are saved. + +Sometimes, instead of the canvas breeches, a small enclosed car is used +to slide along the rope. In this car more than one person can get, and +they are protected from the waves. + +"All ready?" asked the captain of the life saving crew, after he had +inspected what his men and the others helping them had done. + +"All ready, sir!" came the response. + +"Then fire!" + +The mortar boomed, through the wind shot the projectile toward the ship, +carrying with it the swiftly uncoiling rope. All watched anxiously. + +"Too short!" cried the captain a moment later, lowering the glass +through which he had watched the effect of the shot. "Use a little more +powder this time." + +The projectile was hauled back through the waves, and attached to +another line, coiled in readiness, while some of the life savers busied +themselves recoiling the first rope, in case the second shot failed too. + +It did, again falling short. + +"Try more powder," said the captain, grimly. "We've got to reach her." + +"And soon," murmured old Abe. "She's breaking up fast." + +Once more the mortar was fired, Blake and Joe, as well as Mr. Hadley, +getting films of every move. + +"There she goes!" cried the captain, in delight, as he watched the third +shot. "Over her decks as clean as you'd want! Now to get the poor souls +ashore!" + +On board the wrecked ship could be observed a scene of activity. The +sailors began hauling on the line, and presently the big cable began +paying out from shore. Soon it reached the side of the ship, to be +hauled up, and made fast to the stump of one of the masts. + +"Lively now, boys!" cried the captain. "Pull taut and then run out the +buoy. She can't last much longer!" + +The men made redoubled efforts, and Blake and Joe, leaving their +automatic camera working, while Mr. Hadley turned the operation of his +over to Macaroni, the three moving picture experts aided in the work of +rescue. + +Soon the breeches buoy was hauled out to the ship for its first +passenger, and presently the sagging of the cable told that some one was +in it. + +"Pull, boys!" cried the captain of the life savers, and through the +dashing waves, that threw their crests over the shipwrecked person, the +buoy was hauled ashore. + +"Grab him!" cried the captain, as the first one saved was pulled up high +on the beach. + +"It isn't a him, captain!" cried one of the men. "It's a woman!" + +"Bless my sea boots!" yelled the captain. "A woman! Are there any more +of you aboard--or any children?" + +"I--I'm the only one," was the panting answer, for she had swallowed +much water. "I'm the captain's wife. Can you--can you save the others? +They made me come first." + +"That's right! Women and children always first!" shouted the captain. + +"Of course we'll save the others," yelled C. C., who was running +excitedly about, helping all he could. "We'll save every one!" he +repeated. + +"Gloomy in a new rôle--a happy one!" remarked Blake. + +The buoy was hauled back, and another was saved--one of the sailors, +this time. He reported that there were in all twenty-five hands on the +ship, exclusive of the captain. + +"He'll come last, of course," he said, simply. + +"Of course," agreed Abe Haskill. "The captain allers does that. Once +more, boys!" + +Again was a rescue effected, the moving picture cameras registering +faithfully everything that went on. The work had to be done quickly now, +for the vessel was fast breaking up. + +"Two more left!" cried the chief life saver. "Jack up that cable, boys; +she's sagging. I guess the old ship is working farther in. Jack her up!" + +By means of pulleys attached to the main rope it was made tauter. Then +came a heavy sag on it. + +"What's that?" asked one of the life savers. + +"It's two of 'em--two of 'em, clinging to the buoy!" cried Blake, who +was watching through a glass. "I guess the ship must be going to pieces +too fast to allow for another trip. You've got to save two at once." + +"And we can do it!" cried the captain. "All together, now, boys! But +they're going to get wet!" + +By reason of the added weight the rope was sagging badly, and the men +clinging to the buoy could be seen half in and half out of the water. + +"Lively, men, or they'll drown!" yelled the captain. + +Hardy and intrepid as were the life-savers and the volunteers who had +assembled to help them, they paused a moment now. It seemed impossible +that the two in the buoy could be pulled ashore in time to be saved. + +Over them broke great seas, the waves hissing and foaming as though +angry at being cheated of their prey. The storm-swept waters seemed to +seize on the rope, as though to pull it beneath the billows. The anchor +that held the rope which passed over the "shears" seemed to be pulling +out of the sand packed around it. + +"Come on, men!" cried the captain. "Take a brace now, and we'll have 'em +ashore in a jiffy!" + +"But she's slipping!" cried a grizzled seaman. "She can't hold any +longer. The whole business is going!" + +"She can't go until we git 'em ashore!" yelled the captain of the +life-savers. "I won't let her! Here, Jim Black, you mosey back there and +pile more sand around that anchor. Now then, men, pull as though you +meant it. What! You're not going to have it said that you let a little +cat's paw of wind like this beat you; are you?" + +Something of the captain's courage seemed to infuse itself into his men. +They had been half-hearted before, but they were brave now. Once more +they ranged themselves on the rope that was used to haul the buoy from +the ship to shore. It was as though the waves had tried to intimidate +them, and had been bidden defiance. + +The weight of the two persons in the buoy was almost too much. The waves +had a doubly large surface against which to break, and well the captain +knew that there was a limit to the strain to which the tackle could be +subjected. Once the main rope leading from the anchor to the ship, on +which cable the buoy ran, parted, and nothing could save those last two +lives. No wonder the captain wanted haste. + +"Haul away!" he bellowed through the roar of the wind, using his hands +as a trumpet. "Haul away, men!" + +His companions braced themselves in the shifting sand. They bent their +backs. Their arms swelled into bunches of muscles that had been trained +in the hard school of the sea. + +"Will the haul-rope stand it?" cried one man. + +"She's _got_ to stand it!" cried the captain. "She's just _got_ to! +Pull, men; you're not half hauling!" + +"If that rope gives," faltered an old, gray-haired man, who seemed too +aged for this life, "if that rope gives way----" + +"Don't you talk about it!" snapped the captain. "I'll take all the +responsibility of that rope. It'll hold all right. I looked at it the +other day. All you've got to do is pull! Do you hear me? Pull as you +never pulled before!" + +Once more the backs of the men bent to the strain. The moving picture +boys, watching and waiting; filled with anxiety even as they filmed the +wreck, saw that the rise and fall of the waves had a good deal to do +with the rescue. + +"They can pull better when the waves don't wash over those two poor +souls in the buoy," observed Blake. + +"Yes, there's less resistance," agreed Joe. "Oh, there comes a big one!" +and, as he spoke, an immense comber buried from sight the two whom the +life-savers were endeavoring to pull from the grip of the sea. + +"If they can only hold their breaths long enough, they may come through +it," said Blake. "But it's a tough proposition." + +"It sure is," agreed his chum. They had gone back to snap a few +pictures, and then, finding that the automatic apparatus was working +well, they again joined the group on the sands. + +"Another pull or two and we'll have 'em ashore!" yelled the captain. +"Lively, men!" + +As he spoke a grizzled seaman rushed up to him. + +"That anchor's slippin' ag'in!" he bellowed through the noise of the +storm. "I can't put sand on fast enough to hold it!" + +"Then I'll have some one help you!" cried the captain. "Here, Si Watson! +You git back there and help Jim pile sand on that anchor. It mustn't be +allowed to pull out--do you understand? It mustn't pull out if--if you +have to--sit on it!" + +"Aye--aye, sir," was the answer, and the two men ran back to where the +anchor was buried in the beach, to pile the sand on with the shovels +provided for that purpose. + +"Now one more pull, and we'll have 'em safe!" yelled the captain a +little later, and with a mighty haul his men bent to their task. + +"There they come through the last line of surf!" yelled Joe, pointing to +the buoy containing the two shipwrecked persons. + +"If only the rope holds," murmured his chum. + +Even as he spoke there came a cry from the two men who had been sent to +watch that the anchor in the sand did not drag. + +"It's coming! It's coming out!" shouted one of them. + +"Sit on it! Hold it down!" yelled the captain. "Into the water after +'em, boys! Come on, ye old seadogs!" + +There was a snap--the rope had parted, but so near to the beach were the +two that the life-savers waded into the foam and spume, and grabbed +them, holding them safe. + +They were hauled to the beach, on which huddled the others who had been +saved from the wreck. + +The lone woman had been taken in charge by the feminine members of the +theatrical troupe, who led her toward their boarding house. They said +they would soon have hot coffee ready for all the sailors. + +"Get 'em out of the buoy!" cried the captain, as the two last rescued +were seen to be well-nigh insensible. They were assisted out, and sank +helpless on the sand. + +"Pretty far gone," remarked a life saver. "One must be the captain, I +reckon." + +"And the other," began Harry Stanton, keeper of the Rockypoint light; +"the other--why, if it isn't Nate Duncan, who used to be my assistant! +He came out of the wreck--Nate Duncan!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +A NEW QUEST + + +From where he was standing by a group of the rescued sailors, Joe Duncan +heard what the lighthouse keeper said. The lad rushed forward. + +"Nate Duncan!" he repeated, as he gazed at the two men, who were just +beginning to revive under the application of stimulants. "Which one of +you is Mr. Duncan?" he asked, eagerly. + +"I--I am," faltered the younger of the two men. "Why, who wants me. Oh, +it's you, Harry Stanton," and he looked at the lighthouse keeper +standing near him. "I--I can explain everything. I----" + +"It wasn't I who asked," spoke the lighthouse keeper. "It was this lad +here," and he indicated Joe. "Your son." + +"My son!" cried the rescued man. "Are you sure--can it be true. Oh, is +it possible? Don't disappoint me! Are you my son?" and he held out his +hands to Joe. + +"I--I think so, father," spoke the boy, softly. "I--I have been looking +for you a long time." + +"And I have, too, Joe; yes, you are my boy. I can see it now. Oh, the +dear Lord be praised!" and there was moisture in his eyes that was not +the salt from the raging sea. + +"But--but," went on Joe. "I thought you went to China. I wrote to you at +Hong Kong." + +"I did start for there, Joe; but the vessel on which I sailed was +wrecked, and this craft, bound back for San Francisco, picked us up. So +I didn't get very far. Oh, but I have found my boy!" + +The others drew a little aside while father and son, so strangely +restored to each other by the fury of the sea, clasped each other close. + +"Now, friends," said Mr. Ringold, bustling up; "those of you who are wet +through had better let us take care of you. We have room for you all, +and I'll send word to any of your friends if you'll give me the +addresses. Your wreck, in a way, has been a great thing for me, for I +have obtained some wonderful moving pictures of it and this rescue. It +will make a great drama. So I want to help you all I can." + +By this time the captain of the vessel had been revived and with his +wife and crew was taken to the theatrical boarding place, where the +women busied themselves getting warm drinks and food, and the men +changed into dry garments loaned by the fishermen and the others. Soon +after the last one came ashore the wreck broke up and sank. + +"Well, of all the wonderful things I ever experienced, this is the most +marvelous," declared Mr. Duncan, as he sat with his son's hand in his. +"I am wrecked twice, and come back to the same place I ran away from, to +find Joe waiting for me." + +"It is wonderful," agreed Joe, wondering how he was going to bring up +the subject of the wreckers. + +"Yes, this is the very place I left in such a hurry, a few months ago," +went on Mr. Duncan. + +"Would you mind telling me why you left so suddenly?" asked the +lighthouse keeper, solemnly. "Of course it's none of my affair; but I +might say it concerns you mightily, Nate Duncan. Can you prove your +innocence?" + +"Prove my innocence! Of what charge?" cried the man. + +"Oh, father, of course we don't believe it!" burst out Joe, unable to +keep silent longer; "but Hemp Danforth says you were implicated with him +in wrecking boats by means of false lights!" + +"Hemp Danforth says that!" cried Joe's father. + +"Yes. Tell me--tell all of them--that it isn't so!" pleaded the lad. + +"Of course it isn't so, Joe." + +"But why did you leave so suddenly, and why did the officer come for you +the next day?" asked the lighthouse keeper. "It looked bad, Nate." + +"I suppose it did," said Mr. Duncan, slowly. "But it can easily be +explained. I was mixed up with those wreckers----" + +"Father!" cried Joe. + +"But not the way you think, son," went on the former lighthouse worker +quickly. "Hemp Danforth and I had a quarrel. It was over some business +matters that he and I were mixed up in before I learned that he and his +gang were wreckers. + +"We quarreled, because he tried to defraud me of my rights, and I had to +give him a severe beating. Perhaps I was wrong, but I acted on impulse. +Then I heard that Hemp, to get even, had accused me of being a wrecker, +and he had his men ready to swear to false testimony about me; even that +I let the light go out, which I never did. + +"I knew I could not refute it, especially at that time, and as something +came up that made it necessary for me to leave for China at once, I +decided to go away. I realize now that it must have looked bad, +especially after the charge against me. But now I am ready to stay and +face it. I can prove that I had nothing to do with the wrecking, and +that as soon as I learned that Hemp and his gang were concerned in it I +left them. If we can get hold of Hemp I can easily make him acknowledge +this." + +"You can easily get hold of him," said Blake. "He and his crowd are all +in jail. They were caught in the act of setting a false light." + +"And I don't believe you'll even have to prove your innocence," said Mr. +Ringold. "They'll be convicted, and their evidence will never be +accepted. You are already cleared, Mr. Duncan." + +"My name cleared--and my son with me--what else could I want?" murmured +the happy man. + +"But, Dad," asked Joe, his face showing his delight that he could now +use that word. "Why did you have to leave so suddenly?" + +"To try and find your sister, Joe." + +"My sister?" + +"Yes, I have a daughter, as well as a son," went on Mr. Duncan. "I have +found one, and now to find the other." + +"Where is she?" cried Joe. "What is she like? Did I ever see her when we +were both little?" + +"Indeed you did, and when your mother died I left you with a family, +who later disappeared. You must tell me your story, Joe, and how you +found me. But now as to your sister. + +"Most unexpectedly, after years of searching, I got word that she had +been brought up in a minister's family, and that lately she had gone as +a missionary's helper to China. I had long planned to take a sea voyage, +and when I got this news I decided to go at once, and bring her back. +Then I was to renew my search for you. + +"An agent in San Francisco told me of a vessel about to sail for Hong +Kong, and I deserted my post at the lighthouse and sailed. I admit I did +wrong in leaving so suddenly, but it seemed to be the best thing to do. +I did not want to be arrested as a wrecker even though I was innocent." + +"I'll forgive you," said Mr. Stanton, with a smile. "I'm so glad to +learn you're not one of them pesky wreckers." + +And then began a long series of explanations, Mr. Duncan listening with +interest to Joe's story, and, in turn, telling how his vessel was +wrecked, and how he and the others were picked up, only to be wrecked +again, nearer home. + +Joe's father paused a moment and then said: + +"But, son, tell me something of yourself. I've been doing all the +talking, it seems. Are you really in this queer business of taking +moving pictures?" + +"That's what I am, Dad--Blake and I. We've been in it some time, and +we're doing well. We hope to be in it some time longer, too. If it +hadn't been for these pictures I might never have found you." + +"That's so, Joe. After this I'll never pass a moving picture theatre +without thinking what it has done for me. It gave me back my boy!" + +"Now I think you have talked enough, Mr. Duncan," said one of the women, +coming up. "You had a much harder time of it than we did, and you must +quiet down. You must have swallowed a lot of salt water." + +"I guess I did--enough to preserve about a barrel of pickles," he +admitted, with a smile. "I would be glad of a little rest. But you won't +leave me; will you, Joe?" + +"No indeed, Dad. I've had enough trouble finding you to lose you now. +But you get a good rest. Blake and I have a lot to do yet. I want to get +these latest films in shape to send off for development. I hope they +came out good." + +"I don't see how they could--with the weather conditions what they +were," remarked C. C. Piper, joining the group. + +"Now that isn't a nice thing to say," Miss Lee reminded him. "Why can't +you be cheerful?" + +"Why, I'm not at all gloomy. I only said----" + +"You tried to throw cold water on what the boys did," she reminded him. + +"Water! Say, if anybody says water to me again to-day, I don't know what +I will do!" exclaimed Blake. "Shame on you, C. C.! You ought to be more +careful." + +"Oh, well, I didn't mean anything. I guess those pictures will be all +right--if the salt spray doesn't spoil the celluloid," he added, as he +moved off. + +"You're hopeless," declared Miss Lee. "I'll never speak to you again." + +The nonsensical talk served to raise the spirits of those who had been +rather plunged in gloom ever since the wreck. Mr. Duncan was given a +room to himself where he could be quiet and recover from the shock of +having been so near death. + +The moving picture boys found plenty to do. In addition to getting off +to the developing studio the films they had taken that day, they had to +prepare for a hard day's work to follow, for, now that he had the wreck +scene, Mr. Ringold declared that he needed some others to go with it to +round out the drama of the sea that he had in mind when coming to the +coast. + +It may seem that it would not pay to go to such big expense to make a +single films play, or even one or two, but I assure my readers that it +is not uncommon for a concern to spend ten thousand dollars in making a +single play, and some elaborate productions, such as Shakespearian +plays, and historical dramas, will cost over fifty thousand dollars to +get ready to be filmed. + +Months are spent in preparation, rehearsals go on day after day, and +finally the play itself is given, often not lasting more than an hour or +half hour on the screen, yet representing many weary weeks of work, and +the expenditure of large sums of money. Such is the moving picture +business to-day. + +The boys were kept busy nearly all the rest of that week, and then came +a period of calm. Joe sought out his father, who had steadily gained in +strength after his sensational rescue, and began to question him as to +his experiences, for Mr. Duncan had only given a mere outline of his +experiences up to this time. + +"You must have had some strenuous adventures," said Blake, who went with +his chum. + +"I certainly did. But, according to Joe, here, they weren't much more +than what you boys went through with in New York, and getting those +Indian films." + +"That's right; we did have a time," admitted Blake. + +"Well, I'm glad I've got my boy, anyhow," went on the former lighthouse +worker, with a fond glance at Joe. "Nothing is worse than to have folks, +and not know where to find 'em. I hungered and longed for Joe for days +and nights, and now I have him. And I'm not going to lose him again, +either, if I can help it," and he clasped his son's hand warmly in his +palm, while tears dimmed his eyes. Joe, too, was much affected. + +"If you only had your daughter now, you'd be all right," said Blake, +anxious to turn the subject. + +"Yes, so I would. My poor little girl! We must locate her next, Joe." + +"But what about my sister?" asked Joe. "Can we find her?" + +"We'll try, Joe, my boy!" exclaimed his father. "You and I together." + +"Count me in!" cried Blake. + +"I sure will," agreed Joe. "I wonder what will happen to us." + +And what did, and how the two lads went on their new quest, will be +related in the next volume of this series, to be entitled "The Moving +Picture Boys in the Jungle; Or, Stirring Times Among the Wild Animals." +In it will be told of their adventures and you may learn whether or not +they found Joe's sister. + +"Well, we got everything we came for," said Mr. Ringold, a few days +later, when the shipwrecked ones had been sent to their homes with the +exception of Mr. Duncan, who remained with Joe. + +"Yes, all the dramas, and the storm and wreck as well," agreed Mr. +Hadley. + +"But we'll never have such good luck again," predicted C. C. Piper, with +a return of his gloomy manner. "I know something will happen to us on +our way back East." + +"Oh, cheer up," urged Miss Lee; "the sun is shining." + +"But it will rain to-morrow," declared the comedian, as he did some odd +little dance steps. + +Preparations for taking the theatrical company back East were made; but +Joe, Blake and Mr. Duncan were uncertain about accompanying them. While +Joe and his father were talking over their plans, Blake went to San +Francisco on a vacation for a week. + +But it was not much of a rest for him. While there he learned of a prize +offered for the best moving picture of the fire department in action, +and, though many operators tried, Blake's film was regarded as the +best. He "scooped" the others easily, and beat some of the most skillful +men in the business. + +But now, for a time, we will take leave of the moving picture boys. + +THE END + + + * * * * * * + + +THE FAMOUS ROVER BOYS SERIES +By Arthur W. Winfield + +American Stories of American Boys and Girls +ONE MILLION COPIES ALREADY SOLD OF THIS SERIES + +12mo. Cloth. Handsomely printed and illustrated. +Price, 60 Cents per volume, postpaid + +THE ROVER BOYS IN THE AIR Or From College Campus to the Clouds +THE ROVER BOYS DOWN EAST Or The Struggle for the Stanhope Fortune +THE ROVER BOYS AT COLLEGE Or The Right Road and the Wrong +THE ROVER BOYS ON TREASURE ISLE Or The Strange Cruise of the Steam Yacht +THE ROVER BOYS ON THE FARM Or The Last Days at Putnam Hall +THE ROVER BOYS IN SOUTHERN WATERS Or The Deserted Steam Yacht +THE ROVER BOYS ON THE PLAINS Or The Mystery of Red Rock Ranch +THE ROVER BOYS ON THE RIVER Or The Search for the Missing Houseboat +THE ROVER BOYS IN CAMP Or The Rivals of Pine Island +THE ROVER BOYS ON LAND AND SEA Or The Crusoes of Seven Islands +THE ROVER BOYS IN THE MOUNTAINS Or A Hunt for Fame and Fortune +THE ROVER BOYS ON THE GREAT LAKES Or The Secret of the Island Cave +THE ROVER BOYS OUT WEST Or The Search for a Lost Mine +THE ROVER BOYS IN THE JUNGLE Or Stirring Adventures in Africa +THE ROVER BOYS ON THE OCEAN Or A Chase for a Fortune +THE ROVER BOYS AT SCHOOL Or The Cadets of Putnam Hall + +GROSSET & DUNLAP - NEW YORK + + * * * * * * + +THE PUTNAM HALL SERIES +Companion Stories to the Famous Rover Boys Series +By Arthur M. Winfield + +Open-air pastimes have always been popular with boys, and should always +be encouraged. These books mingle adventure and fact, and will appeal to +every manly boy. + +12mo. Handsomely printed and illustrated. +Price 60 Cents Per Volume, Postpaid. + +THE PUTNAM HALL MYSTERY Or The School Chums' Strange Discovery + +The particulars of the mystery and the solution of it are very +interesting reading. + +THE PUTNAM HALL ENCAMPMENT Or The Secret of the Old Mill + +A story full of vim and vigor, telling what the cadets did during the +summer encampment, including a visit to a mysterious old mill, said to +be haunted. The book has a wealth of fun in it. + +THE PUTNAM HALL REBELLION Or The Rival Runaways + +The boys had good reasons for running away during Captain Putnam's +absence. They had plenty of fun, and several queer adventures. + +THE PUTNAM HALL CHAMPIONS Or Bound to Win Out + +In this volume the Putnam Hall Cadets show what they can do in various +keen rivalries on the athletic field and elsewhere. There is one victory +which leads to a most unlooked-for discovery. + +THE PUTNAM HALL CADETS Or Good Times in School and Out + +The cadets are lively, flesh-and-blood fellows, bound to make friends +from the start. There are some keen rivalries, in school and out, and +something is told of a remarkable midnight feast and a hazing that had +an unlooked-for ending. + +THE PUTNAM HALL RIVALS Or Fun and Sport Afloat and Ashore + +It is a lively, rattling, breezy story of school life in this country +written by one who knows all about its pleasures and its perplexities, +its glorious excitements, and its chilling disappointments. + +GROSSET & DUNLAP - NEW YORK + + + +THE RISE IN LIFE SERIES +By Horatio Alger, Jr. + +These are Copyrighted Stories which cannot be obtained elsewhere. They +are the stories last written by this famous author. + +12mo. Illustrated. Bound in cloth, stamped in colored inks. +Price, 40 Cents per Volume, Postpaid. + +THE YOUNG BOOK AGENT, Or Frank Hardy's Road to Success + +A plain but uncommonly interesting tale of everyday life, describing the +ups and downs of a boy book-agent. + +FROM FARM TO FORTUNE, Or Nat Nason's Strange Experience + +Nat was a poor country lad. Work on the farm was hard, and after a +quarrel with his uncle, with whom he resided, he struck out for himself. + +OUT FOR BUSINESS, Or Robert Frost's Strange Career + +Relates the adventures of a country boy who is compelled to leave home +and seek his fortune in the great world at large. + +FALLING IN WITH FORTUNE, Or The Experiences of a Young Secretary + +This is a companion tale to "Out for Business," but complete in itself, +and tells of the further doings of Robert Frost as private secretary. + +YOUNG CAPTAIN JACK, Or The Son of a Soldier + +The scene is laid in the South during the Civil War, and the hero is a +waif who was cast up by the sea and adopted by a rich Southern planter. + +NELSON THE NEWSBOY, Or Afloat in New York + +Mr. Alger is always at his best in the portrayal of life in New York +City, and this story is among the best he has given our young readers. + +LOST AT SEA, Or Robert Roscoe's Strange Cruise + +A sea story of uncommon interest. The hero falls in with a strange +derelict--a ship given over to the wild animals of a menagerie. + +JERRY, THE BACKWOODS BOY, Or the Parkhurst Treasure + +Depicts life on a farm of New York State. The mystery of the treasure +will fascinate every boy. Jerry is a character well worth knowing. + +RANDY OF THE RIVER, Or the adventures of a Young Deckhand + +Life on a river steamboat is not so romantic as some young people may +imagine, but Randy Thompson wanted work and took what was offered. + +JOE, THE HOTEL BOY, Or Winning Out by Pluck. + +A graphic account of the adventures of a country boy in the city. + +BEN LOGAN'S TRIUMPH, Or The Boys of Boxwood Academy + +The trials and triumphs of a city newsboy in the country. + +GROSSET & DUNLAP - NEW YORK + + + + +THE FLAG AND FRONTIER SERIES +By Captain Ralph Bonehill. + +These bracing stories of American life, exploration and adventure should +find a place in every school and home library for the enthusiasm they +kindle in American heroism and history. The historical background is +absolutely correct. Every volume complete in itself. + +12mo. Bound in cloth. Stamped in colors. +Price, 60 Cents per Volume. Postpaid. + +WITH BOONE ON THE FRONTIER, Or The Pioneer Boys of Old Kentucky. + +Relates the true-to-life adventures of two boys who, in company with +their folks, move westward with Daniel Boone. Contains many thrilling +scenes among the Indians and encounters with wild animals. + +PIONEER BOYS OF THE GREAT NORTHWEST, Or With Lewis and Clark Across the +Rockies. + +A splendid story describing in detail the great expedition formed under +the leadership of Lewis and Clark, and telling what was done by the +pioneer boys who were first to penetrate the wilderness of the +northwest. + +PIONEER BOYS OF THE GOLD FIELDS, Or The Nugget Hunters of '49. + +Giving the particulars of the great rush of the gold seekers to +California in 1849. In the party making its way across the continent are +three boys who become chums, and share in no end of adventures. + +WITH CUSTER IN THE BLACK HILLS, Or A Young Scout Among the Indians. + +Tells of the experiences of a youth who, with his parents, goes to the +Black Hills in search of gold. Custer's last battle is well described. + +BOYS OF THE FORT, Or A Young Captain's Pluck. + +This story of stirring doings at one of our well-known forts in the Wild +West is of more than ordinary interest. Gives a good insight into army +life of to-day. + +THE YOUNG BANDMASTER, Or Concert, Stage and Battlefield. + +The hero is a youth who becomes a cornetist in an orchestra, and works +his way up to the leadership of a brass band. He is carried off to sea +and is taken to Cuba, and while there joins a military band which +accompanies our soldiers in the attack on Santiago. + +OFF FOR HAWAII, Or The Mystery of a Great Volcano. + +Several boys start on a tour of the Hawaiian Islands. They have heard +that there is a treasure located in the vicinity of Kilauea, the largest +active volcano in the world, and go in search of it. + +A SAILOR BOY WITH DEWEY, Or Afloat in the Philippines. + +The story of Dewey's victory in Manila Bay as it appeared to a real, +live American youth who was in the navy at the time. Many adventures in +Manila and in the interior follow. + +WHEN SANTIAGO FELL, Or The War Adventures of Two Chums. + +Two boys leave New York to join their parents in Cuba. The war between +Spain and the Cubans is on, and the boys are detained at Santiago, but +escape across the bay at night. Many adventures follow. + +GROSSET & DUNLAP - NEW YORK + + + +THE ENTERPRISE BOOKS +Captivating Stories for Boys by Justly Popular Writers + +The episodes are graphic, exciting, realistic--the tendency of the tales +is to the formation of an honorable and manly character. They are +unusually interesting, and convey lessons of pluck, perseverance and +manly independence. 12mo. Illustrated. Attractively bound in cloth. + +Price, 40 Cents per Volume. Postpaid. + +MOFFAT, WILLIAM D. +THE CRIMSON BANNER. A Story of College Baseball + +A tale that grips one from start to finish. The students are almost +flesh and blood, and the contests become real as we read about them. The +best all-around college and baseball tale yet presented. + +GRAYDON, WILLIAM MURRAY +CANOE BOYS AND CAMP FIRES. + +In this book we have the doings of several bright and lively boys, who +go on a canoeing trip and meet with many exciting happenings. + +HARKNESS, PETER T. +ANDY, THE ACROBAT. Or, With the Greatest Show on Earth + +Andy is as bright as a silver dollar. In the book we can smell the +sawdust, hear the flapping of the big white canvas and the roaring of +the lions, and listen to the merry "hoop la!" of the clown. + +FOSTER, W. BERT +THE QUEST OF THE SILVER SWAN. A Tale of Ocean Adventure + +A Youth's story of the deep blue sea--of the search for a derelict +carrying a fortune. Brandon Tarr is a manly lad, and all lads will be +eager to learn whether he failed or succeeded in his mission. + +WHITE, MATTHEW, JR. +TWO BOYS AND A FORTUNE. Or, The Tyler Will + +If you had been poor and were suddenly left a half-million dollars, what +would you do with it? That was the problem that confronted the Pell +family, and especially the twin brothers, Rex and Roy. A strong, helpful +story, that should be read by every boy in our land. + +WINFIELD, ARTHUR M. +BOB, THE PHOTOGRAPHER. Or, A Hero in Spite of Himself + +Relates the experiences of a poor boy who falls in with a "camera +fiend," and develops a liking for photography. After a number of +stirring adventures Bob becomes photographer for a railroad; thwarts the +plan of those who would injure the railroad corporation and incidently +clears a mystery surrounding his parentage. + +BONEHILL, CAPTAIN RALPH +LOST IN THE LAND OF ICE. Or, Daring Adventures Round the South Pole + +An expedition is fitted out by a rich young man and with him goes the +hero of the tale, a lad who has some knowledge of a treasure ship said +to be cast away in the land of ice. The heroes land among the wild +Indians of Patagonia and have many exciting adventures. + +GROSSET & DUNLAP - NEW YORK + + + +THE YOUNG REPORTER SERIES +By Howard R. Garis + +The author is a practised journalist, and these stories convey a true +picture of the workings of a great newspaper. The incidents are taken +from life. + +12mo. Bound in Cloth. Illustrated. +Price, 40 Cents per Volume. Postpaid. + +FROM OFFICE BOY TO REPORTER +Or The First Step in Journalism. + +LARRY DEXTER, THE YOUNG REPORTER +Or Strange Adventures in a Great City. + +LARRY DEXTER'S GREAT SEARCH +Or The Hunt for a Missing Millionaire. + +LARRY DEXTER AND THE BANK MYSTERY +Or A Young Reporter in Wall Street. + +LARRY DEXTER AND THE STOLEN BOY +Or A Young Reporter on the Lakes. + + * * * * * * + +THE SEA TREASURE SERIES +By Roy Rockwood + +No manly boy ever grew tired of sea stories--there is a fascination +about them, and they are a recreation to the mind. These books are +especially interesting and are full of adventure, clever dialogue and +plenty of fun. + +12mo. Bound in Cloth. Illustrated. +Price, 40 Cents per Volume. Postpaid. + +ADRIFT ON THE PACIFIC +Or The Secret of the Island Cave. + +THE CRUISE OF THE TREASURE SHIP +Or The Castaways of Floating Island. + +THE RIVAL OCEAN DIVERS +Or The Search for a Sunken Treasure. + +JACK NORTH'S TREASURE HUNT +Or Daring Adventures in South America. + +GROSSET & DUNLAP - NEW YORK + + + +THE DICK HAMILTON SERIES +By Howard R. Garis + +A NEW LINE OF CLEVER TALES FOR BOYS + +DICK HAMILTON'S FORTUNE Or The Stirring Doings of a Millionaire's Son + +Dick, the son of a millionaire, has a fortune left to him by his mother. +But before he can touch the bulk of this money it is stipulated in his +mother's will that he must do certain things, in order to prove that he +is worthy of possessing such a fortune. The doings of Dick and his chums +make the liveliest kind of reading. + +DICK HAMILTON'S CADET DAYS Or The Handicap of a Millionaire's Son + +The hero, a very rich young man, is sent to a military academy to make +his way without the use of money. A fine picture of life at an +up-to-date military academy is given, with target shooting, broadsword +exercise, trick riding, sham battles, and all. Dick proves himself a +hero in the best sense of the word. + +DICK HAMILTON'S STEAM YACHT Or A Young Millionaire and the Kidnappers + +A series of adventures while yachting in which our hero's wealth plays a +part. Dick is marooned on an island, recovers his yacht and foils the +kidnappers. The wrong young man is spirited away, Dick gives chase and +there is a surprising rescue at sea. + +DICK HAMILTON'S FOOTBALL TEAM Or A Young Millionaire on the Gridiron + +A very interesting account of how Dick succeeded in developing a +champion team and of the lively contests with other teams. There is also +related a number of thrilling incidents in which Dick is the central +figure. + +Other volumes in preparation. + +12mo. Handsomely printed and illustrated, and bound in cloth, stamped in +colors. Printed wrappers. + +Price, 60 Cents per volume, postpaid + +GROSSET & DUNLAP - NEW YORK + + + +THE TOM SWIFT SERIES +By Victor Appleton + +12mo, printed from large type on good paper, each volume with half-tone +frontispiece. Handsomely bound in cloth. Printed wrappers. + +Price, 40 Cents per Volume, postpaid + +It is the purpose of these spirited tales to convey in a realistic way +the wonderful advances in land and sea locomotion. Stories like these +impress themselves on the youthful memory and their reading is +productive only of good. + +TOM SWIFT AND HIS MOTOR CYCLE +Or Fun and Adventure on the Road + +TOM SWIFT AND HIS MOTOR BOAT +Or The Rivals of Lake Carlopa + +TOM SWIFT AND HIS AIRSHIP +Or The Stirring Cruise of the Red Cloud + +TOM SWIFT AND HIS SUBMARINE BOAT +Or Under the Ocean for Sunken Treasure + +TOM SWIFT AND HIS ELECTRIC RUNABOUT +Or The Speediest Car on the Road + +TOM SWIFT AND HIS ELECTRIC RIFLE +Or Daring Adventures in Elephant Land + +TOM SWIFT AND HIS SKY RACER +Or The Quickest Flight on Record + +TOM SWIFT IN THE CAVES OF ICE +Or The Wreck of the Airship + +TOM SWIFT AMONG THE DIAMOND MAKERS +Or The Secret of Phantom Mountain + +TOM SWIFT AND HIS WIRELESS MESSAGE +Or The Castaways of Earthquake Island + +TOM SWIFT IN THE CITY OF GOLD +Or Marvellous Adventures Underground + +TOM SWIFT AND HIS AIR GLIDER +Or Seeking the Platinum Treasure + +TOM SWIFT IN CAPTIVITY +Or A Daring Escape by Airship + +TOM SWIFT AND HIS WIZARD CAMERA +Or The Perils of Moving Picture Taking + +TOM SWIFT AND HIS GREAT SEARCHLIGHT +Or On the Border for Uncle Sam + +GROSSET & DUNLAP, Publishers, NEW YORK + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MOVING PICTURE BOYS ON THE +COAST*** + + +******* This file should be named 23677-8.txt or 23677-8.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/3/6/7/23677 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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