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