y say anything. What
does his speaking about Bartanet Shoals mean? It might have been just
chance that he didn't mention Cape Horn or Baffin Bay or any other
place."

"Do you think," asked Lester slowly, "that Ross has told us everything
he knows?"

The others looked at him in surprise.

"Why, what makes you ask that?" inquired Teddy.

"I don't know just how much there is to it," was the answer; "but did
you notice how he checked himself last night, when some one asked him
whether those were all the clues he had?"

"Now that you speak of it, I do remember that he said he hadn't anything
else, and then he used the word 'except,'" said Fred. "Then he stopped
suddenly and didn't explain what that 'except' meant."

"He acted as though something had slipped out before he thought,"
volunteered Bill.

"You can hardly blame him, if he felt a little doubtful about us,"
observed Teddy. "He had never seen us before, and I think he went pretty
far in telling us even as much as he did."

"You're right there," said Lester. "How did he know that we wouldn't
blurt out the whole thing to any one who would listen. It might spoil
all his chances of recovering anything. There are plenty of fellows who
would spy on his every act and make life a burden to him. Others might
plan to follow him and take the gold away from him by force if he should
find it."

"It would be a big temptation," agreed Bill. "There are some fellows who
would sell their souls for a ten dollar bill. How much more, if the
reward were a chest of gold!"

"I don't blame Ross a bit under the circumstances," said Fred, "but I'm
sorry just the same. We have so little to go by that we can't afford to
lose the slightest thing that may help us out."

"We'll see him again before long anyway," put in Teddy hopefully, "and
he may grow to know us well enough to put us wise to all that he's been
keeping back."

"We'll live in hopes," said Lester. "But look over there, boys, and see
a sight to gladden your eyes. We are almost home."

They followed his gaze and saw the Bartanet Shoals Lighthouse, its great
reflector sparkling in the rays of the morning sun.

CHAPTER IX

THE BEACON LIGHT

The lighthouse was a massive structure, over a hundred feet in height.
It had been built in obedience to a general demand, owing to the number
of vessels that had been wrecked in the vicinity. There were treacherous
currents and swiftly running tides due to the peculiar co