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FAILURE
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wrong, it's like leading a blind man into danger. So let's get after 'em and stop their work!"

The men well knew the way nearly to the place where the boys had discovered the wreckers at work, and so they would not have to rely on Joe and Blake to guide them until they were almost there.

"When you see that you are close to the place," said Tom Cardiff, "you boys go ahead, and we'll trail along after you. And keep mighty quiet, too. If we can catch these fellows actually in the act of showing a false light, so much better for the chances of convicting them."

They went on in the darkness. Back of them, as they mounted the hill which ended in the high cliff, could be seen the flashing light tended by aged Mr. Stanton.

"He's right on the job," remarked Tom Cardiff. "Even if he's an old man he'll stay up all night to attend to that light, to see that it's trimmed properly, that the machinery is working, that there's oil in the reservoir, and that the lenses are clean. That light is just like a son or daughter to him. He can't bear to have anything happen to it and the very idea of any scoundrels trying to wreck vessels by means of a false beacon riles him up considerable."

"I should think it would," agreed Mr. Wilton.