Page:Moving Picture Boys on the Coast.djvu/175

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THE CAPTURE
165

"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