ldn't be a bit surprised if
he had. There are so many old salts that run over to spin yarns with
him, that there's very little sea gossip going around that he doesn't
hear at one time or another."

"Let's ask him," suggested Bill.

"Surely we will. He may be able to tell us something that Ross himself
doesn't know."

"In that case, the next time we meet Ross it will be our turn to look
wise and mysterious," laughed Fred.

"Or we can bargain with him. We'll tell him what we know in return for
what he was going to tell us but didn't," added his brother.

"We'll have to come to something like that sooner or later," said Lester
decidedly. "It's all nonsense our going round blindly, when each might
be able to help the other. A sick man ought to tell everything to his
doctor, and a prisoner oughtn't to keep anything back from his lawyer.
When he does, he has no one to blame but himself if things don't go
right. I'm going to put it up to Ross, full and plain, the next time I
see him."

"I wonder when that will be," murmured Teddy.

"Before long I hope. If he doesn't come over to see us, we'll go up to
Oakland to see him."

"How far is Oakland from here?" asked Bill.

"Not more than thirty miles. With a good wind we can make it in a few
hours. But I think I see father standing on the platform of the tower.
Take a look, Bill, and tell me if it is. My eyes are pretty good, but
yours are better."

"That's who it is," pronounced Bill, after a minute's scrutiny. "He has
a pair of glasses in his hands. There, he's waving to us."

"Dear old dad!" exclaimed Lester. "I suppose he's worried himself half
sick, wondering what had become of us. But he knows now that we are
safe, and with this wind we'll not be more than twenty minutes or half
an hour in getting in."

They flew along over the waves, cunningly coaxing every inch of speed
out of the _Ariel_, and in less time than Lester had predicted they
rounded to at the little dock on the leeward side of the lighthouse
rock. A bronzed, elderly man, of medium height, came hurriedly down to
meet them.

"Thank God, you are safe!" he exclaimed, as he grasped Lester's hand,
then that of each of the boys in turn. "I haven't been able to think of
anything but you all night long. What happened to you?"

"It's a long story, Dad," said Lester, beaming affectionately on his
father, as, after fastening the _Ariel_, they all walked up to the
lighthouse. "We picked up a fellow that had