The Moving Picture Boys on the Coast/Chapter 25
CHAPTER XXV
A NEW QUEST
From where he was standing by a group of the rescued sailors, Joe Duncan heard what the lighthouse keeper said. The lad rushed forward.
"Nate Duncan!" he repeated, as he gazed at the two men, who were just beginning to revive under the application of stimulants. "Which one of you is Mr. Duncan?" he asked, eagerly.
"I—I am," faltered the younger of the two men. "Why, who wants me. Oh, it's you, Harry Stanton," and he looked at the lighthouse keeper standing near him. "I—I can explain everything. I"
"It wasn't I who asked," spoke the lighthouse keeper. "It was this lad here," and he indicated Joe. "Your son."
"My son!" cried the rescued man. "Are you sure—can it be true. Oh, is it possible? Don't disappoint me! Are you my son?" and he held out his hands to Joe.
"I—I think so, father," spoke the boy, softly. "I—I have been looking for you a long time."
"And I have, too, Joe; yes, you are my boy. I can see it now. Oh, the dear Lord be praised!" and there was moisture in his eyes that was not the salt from the raging sea.
"But—but," went on Joe. "I thought you went to China. I wrote to you at Hong Kong."
"I did start for there, Joe; but the vessel on which I sailed was wrecked, and this craft, bound back for San Francisco, picked us up. So I didn't get very far. Oh, but I have found my boy!"
The others drew a little aside while father and son, so strangely restored to each other by the fury of the sea, clasped each other close.
"Now, friends," said Mr. Ringold, bustling up; those of you who are wet through had better let us take care of you. We have room for you all, and I'll send word to any of your friends if you'll give me the addresses. Your wreck, in a way, has been a great thing for me, for I have obtained some wonderful moving pictures of it and this rescue. It will make a great drama. So I want to help you all I can."
By this time the captain of the vessel had been revived and with his wife and crew was taken to the theatrical boarding place, where the women busied themselves getting warm drinks and food, and the men changed into dry garments loaned by the fishermen and the others. Soon after the last one came ashore the wreck broke up and sank.
"Well, of all the wonderful things I ever experienced, this is the most marvelous," declared Mr. Duncan, as he sat with his son's hand in his. "I am wrecked twice, and come back to the same place I ran away from, to find Joe waiting for me."
"It is wonderful," agreed Joe, wondering how he was going to bring up the subject of the wreckers.
"Yes, this is the very place I left in such a hurry, a few months ago," went on Mr. Duncan.
"Would you mind telling me why you left so suddenly?" asked the lighthouse keeper, solemnly. "Of course it's none of my affair; but I might say it concerns you mightily, Nate Duncan. Can you prove your innocence?"
"Prove my innocence! Of what charge?" cried the man.
"Oh, father, of course we don't believe it!" burst out Joe, unable to keep silent longer; "but Hemp Danforth says you were implicated with him in wrecking boats by means of false lights!"
"Hemp Danforth says that!" cried Joe's father.
"Yes. Tell me—tell all of them—that it isn't so!" pleaded the lad.
"Of course it isn't so, Joe."
"But why did you leave so suddenly, and why did the officer come for you the next day?" asked the lighthouse keeper. "It looked bad, Nate."
"I suppose it did," said Mr. Duncan, slowly. "But it can easily be explained. I was mixed up with those wreckers"
"Father!" cried Joe.
"But not the way you think, son," went on the former lighthouse worker quickly. "Hemp Danforth and I had a quarrel. It was over some business matters that he and I were mixed up in before I learned that he and his gang were wreckers.
"We quarreled, because he tried to defraud me of my rights, and I had to give him a severe beating. Perhaps I was wrong, but I acted on impulse. Then I heard that Hemp, to get even, had accused me of being a wrecker, and he had his men ready to swear to false testimony about me; even that I let the light go out, which I never did.
"I knew I could not refute it, especially at that time, and as something came up that made it necessary for me to leave for China at once, I decided to go away. I realize now that it must have looked bad, especially after the charge against me. But now I am ready to stay and face it. I can prove that I had nothing to do with the wrecking, and that as soon as I learned that Hemp and his gang were concerned in it I left them. If we can get hold of Hemp I can easily make him acknowledge this."
"You can easily get hold of him," said Blake. "He and his crowd are all in jail. They were caught in the act of setting a false light."
"And I don't believe you'll even have to prove your innocence," said Mr. Ringold. "They'll be convicted, and their evidence will never be accepted. You are already cleared, Mr. Duncan."
"My name cleared—and my son with me—what else could I want?" murmured the happy man.
"But, Dad," asked Joe, his face showing his delight that he could now use that word. "Why did you have to leave so suddenly?"
"To try and find your sister, Joe."
"My sister?"
Yes, I have a daughter, as well as a son," went on Mr. Duncan. "I have found one, and now to find the other."
"Where is she?" cried Joe. "What is she like? Did I ever see her when we were both little?"
"Indeed you did, and when your mother died I left you with a family, who later disappeared. You must tell me your story, Joe, and how you found me. But now as to your sister.
"Most unexpectedly, after years of searching, I got word that she had been brought up in a minister's family, and that lately she had gone as a missionary's helper to China. I had long planned to take a sea voyage, and when I got this news I decided to go at once, and bring her back. Then I was to renew my search for you.
"An agent in San Francisco told me of a vessel about to sail for Hong Kong, and I deserted my post at the lighthouse and sailed. I admit I did wrong in leaving so suddenly, but it seemed to be the best thing to do. I did not want to be arrested as a wrecker even though I was innocent."
"I'll forgive you," said Mr. Stanton, with a smile. "I'm so glad to learn you're not one of them pesky wreckers."
And then began a long series of explanations, Mr. Duncan listening with interest to Joe's story, and, in turn, telling how his vessel was wrecked, and how he and the others were picked up, only to be wrecked again, nearer home.
Joe's father paused a moment and then said:
"But, son, tell me something of yourself. I've been doing all the talking, it seems. Are you really in this queer business of taking moving pictures?"
"That's what I am, Dad—Blake and I. We've been in it some time, and we're doing well. We hope to be in it some time longer, too. If it hadn't been for these pictures I might never have found you."
"That's so, Joe. After this I'll never pass a moving picture theatre without thinking what it has done for me. It gave me back my boy!"
"Now I think you have talked enough, Mr. Duncan," said one of the women, coming up. "You had a much harder time of it than we did, and you must quiet down. You must have swallowed a lot of salt water."
"I guess I did—enough to preserve about a barrel of pickles," he admitted, with a smile. "I would be glad of a little rest. But you won't leave me; will you, Joe?"
"No indeed, Dad. I've had enough trouble finding you to lose you now. But you get a good rest. Blake and I have a lot to do yet. I want to get these latest films in shape to send off for development. I hope they came out good."
"I don't see how they could—with the weather conditions what they were," remarked C. C. Piper, joining the group.
"Now that isn't a nice thing to say," Miss Lee reminded him. "Why can't you be cheerful?"
"Why, I'm not at all gloomy. I only said"
"You tried to throw cold water on what the boys did," she reminded him.
"Water! Say, if anybody says water to me again to-day, I don't know what I will do!" exclaimed Blake. "Shame on you, C. C.! You ought to be more careful."
"Oh, well, I didn't mean anything. I guess those pictures will be all right—if the salt spray doesn't spoil the celluloid," he added, as he moved off.
"You're hopeless," declared Miss Lee. "I'll never speak to you again."
The nonsensical talk served to raise the spirits of those who had been rather plunged in gloom ever since the wreck. Mr. Duncan was given a room to himself where he could be quiet and recover from the shock of having been so near death.
The moving picture boys found plenty to do. In addition to getting off to the developing studio the films they had taken that day, they had to prepare for a hard day's work to follow, for, now that he had the wreck scene, Mr. Ringold declared that he needed some others to go with it to round out the drama of the sea that he had in mind when coming to the coast.
It may seem that it would not pay to go to such big expense to make a single films play, or even one or two, but I assure my readers that it is not uncommon for a concern to spend ten thousand dollars in making a single play, and some elaborate productions, such as Shakespearian plays, and historical dramas, will cost over fifty thousand dollars to get ready to be filmed.
Months are spent in preparation, rehearsals go on day after day, and finally the play itself is given, often not lasting more than an hour or half hour on the screen, yet representing many weary weeks of work, and the expenditure of large sums of money. Such is the moving picture business to-day.
The boys were kept busy nearly all the rest of that week, and then came a period of calm. Joe sought out his father, who had steadily gained in strength after his sensational rescue, and began to question him as to his experiences, for Mr. Duncan had only given a mere outline of his experiences up to this time.
"You must have had some strenuous adventures," said Blake, who went with his chum.
"I certainly did. But, according to Joe, here, they weren't much more than what you boys went through with in New York, and getting those Indian films."
"That's right; we did have a time," admitted Blake.
"Well, I'm glad I've got my boy, anyhow," went on the former lighthouse worker, with a fond glance at Joe. "Nothing is worse than to have folks, and not know where to find 'em. I hungered and longed for Joe for days and nights, and now I have him. And I'm not going to lose him again, either, if I can help it," and he clasped his son's hand warmly in his palm, while tears dimmed his eyes. Joe, too, was much affected.
"If you only had your daughter now, you'd be all right," said Blake, anxious to turn the subject.
"Yes, so I would. My poor little girl! We must locate her next, Joe."
"But what about my sister?" asked Joe. "Can we find her?"
"We'll try, Joe, my boy!" exclaimed his father. "You and I together."
"Count me in!" cried Blake.
"I sure will," agreed Joe. "I wonder what will happen to us."
And what did, and how the two lads went on their new quest, will be related in the next volume of this series, to be entitled "The Moving Picture Boys in the Jungle; Or, Stirring Times Among the Wild Animals." In it will be told of their adventures and you may learn whether or not they found Joe's sister.
"Well, we got everything we came for," said Mr. Ringold, a few days later, when the shipwrecked ones had been sent to their homes with the exception of Mr. Duncan, who remained with Joe.
"Yes, all the dramas, and the storm and wreck as well," agreed Mr. Hadley.
"But we'll never have such good luck again," predicted C. C. Piper, with a return of his gloomy manner. "I know something will happen to us on our way back East."
"Oh, cheer up," urged Miss Lee; "the sun is shining."
"But it will rain to-morrow," declared the comedian, as he did some odd little dance steps.
Preparations for taking the theatrical company back East were made; but Joe, Blake and Mr. Duncan were uncertain about accompanying them. While Joe and his father were talking over their plans, Blake went to San Francisco on a vacation for a week.
But it was not much of a rest for him. While there he learned of a prize offered for the best moving picture of the fire department in action, and, though many operators tried, Blake's film was regarded as the best. He "scooped" the others easily, and beat some of the most skillful men in the business.
But now, for a time, we will take leave of the moving picture boys.
THE END