ate
was strong. I knew something would come of that, and I wasn't much
surprised when that day Nate disappeared."

"Disappeared?" cried Blake.

"Went off completely, and left me alone at the light. I tended it all
night, same as I had done before, many a time, and the next day I
reported matters, and I had a new assistant--the same one I have now."

"But that doesn't prove anything," said Blake. "Just because Joe's
father, and a man suspected of being a wrecker, had a quarrel, doesn't
say that Mr. Duncan was a wrecker, too."

"There's more to it," went on the old man. "The day after Nate Duncan
disappeared detectives came here looking for him."

Blake started. There was more to the story than he had suspected. He
looked at Mr. Stanton, and glanced out of the window to where Joe still
sat.

"So that's why I say maybe it would be better for Joe if his father was
dead," went on Mr. Stanton. "Disgrace is a terrible thing, and I
couldn't bear to tell Joe, when he asked me about his father."

"But where did he go?" asked Blake. "Didn't he leave any trace at all?"

"Not a trace, lad--folks most generally doesn't when the detectives are
after 'em. Hold on, though, I won't say Nate was guilty on my own hook.
I'm only telling you what happened. I'd hate to believe he was a
wrecker, misusing this light to draw vessels on the dangerous rocks; but
it looks black, it looks black."

"Did the detectives actually accuse Mr. Duncan?" asked Blake.

"Well, they as much as did. They said some of the wreckers had been
arrested, and had incriminated the assistant light-keeper. But Duncan
was smart enough--provided he was guilty--to skip out. As I told Joe,
his father left just before the letter from Flagstaff came, so he
doesn't know his son is alive. Poor man, I'm sorry for him. He told me
how he had searched all over for his children, and at last, becoming
tired and discouraged, he took this job just to have something to do,
for he's well enough off not to have to work."

"And there's no way of telling where he went?" questioned Blake.

"Nary a one that I know of, lad. As I said, maybe he's better off lost."

"Not for Joe."

"Well, maybe not; but for himself. There are heavy penalties for
wrecking, and it's well he wasn't caught, though, as I say, I don't
accuse him. Only it looks black, it looks black. If he was innocent why
didn't he stay and fight it out? Yes, lad, it looks black."

"I'm afraid so," sighed Blake. "How c