ly, 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