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
