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 a