"We"ll get right after "em!" cried Tom Cardiff. "I just got a telephone message from the secret service men that they are on their way here.
They"ll arrive in about an hour. We were counting on getting on the trail ourselves to-day, but you boys got ahead of us. So in about an hour we"ll start. I guess they"ll be there then; won"t they, lads."
"I should judge so," was Blake"s answer. "They"ve got quite a good deal yet to do to get that fake lantern in shape, and they don"t seem suspicious."
"We can"t have our life saving friend with us now," went on the a.s.sistant keeper, "as he is on duty, but I guess the five of us will be enough."
"Say!" cried Blake, with sudden thought, "if it"s going to be an hour before we start we"ve got time to get our automatic moving picture camera, Joe."
"What for?"
"To get some views of this capture. It ought to make a dandy film, and we can set the machine in place, start the motor and then you and I can jump in and help catch these wreckers!"
"The very thing!" cried his chum. "I wonder I didn"t think of it myself.
Come on!"
"Don"t be late!" advised Tom Cardiff, as they ran toward the ancient carriage they had hired. "We don"t want any slip-up this time. I"m glad we"re going to try for the capture by daylight, though, instead of darkness; it gives us a better chance."
Mr. Ringold and Mr. Hadley were surprised and delighted at the news the boys brought, but they voted against the automatic camera.
"This is a rare chance to get a film," said Mr. Hadley, "and we don"t want to miss it. I"ll go along with you, taking a regular moving picture camera, and while you capture the wreckers I"ll make a film of it."
This suited the boys as well, and a little later, with the chief photographer, they started back for the lighthouse. They found the secret service men and Tom Cardiff waiting for them, and, well armed, in addition to the clubs they carried, and with ropes to bind the wreckers, they started off.
"We"re almost there now," said Blake, in a whisper, when they neared the second hiding place of the desperate men. "Go easy, now."
"Let me get a chance to go ahead and place the camera," suggested Mr.
Hadley, who had the apparatus fully adjusted.
"That"s a great idea," declared one of the government men. "Taking their photographs in moving pictures! There"ll be no chance for them to deny they were present when they were captured," and he chuckled grimly.
Mr. Hadley was given an opportunity to move forward alone. He found an advantageous spot and almost at once beckoned to the others to hasten.
"They"re getting ready to leave!" he whispered, as they reached his side.
"Come on, then!" cried Tom Cardiff. "Jump in on "em, boys. Lively now!"
As he spoke he leaped forward, followed by the others.
"Surrender! We"ve got you surrounded!" yelled the a.s.sistant keeper.
"It"s all over but the shouting!" and as he made a grab for one of the men the moving picture machine began clicking.
"Hands up!" ordered Mr. Wilton.
"At "em, boys!" called the other government man, as he and Blake and Joe leaped to the attack together.
For a moment the wreckers stood as if paralyzed about the stone pedestal on which the false lantern was being built. Then, with one accord, the desperate men made a dash for the bush.
"Stop "em!" cried Tom Cardiff. "Don"t let "em get away!"
"Come on!" yelled Blake to his chum. "We"ve got to get in this fracas!"
And as they dashed after the wreckers the moving picture camera in the hands of Mr. Hadley recorded view after view of the exciting scene.
CHAPTER XXII
A LIFE GUARD"S ALARM
Fortune played into the hands of our friends in two ways as they sought to capture the wreckers. Otherwise the desperate men might have gotten away, so quickly did they dash out of the clearing at the first alarm.
But, as he ran along, big Hemp Danforth, the leader of the criminals, stumbled and fell. Right behind him was st.u.r.dy Tom Cardiff, and the a.s.sistant lighthouse keeper was quick to take advantage of the chance thus put in his way.
"I"ve got you!" he yelled, as he fairly threw himself on the prostrate wrecker. "I"ve got you! Give up, you varmint!"
There was a struggle, none the less desperate because the wrecker was underneath. The two rolled on the ground until Tom got a grip on his opponent. Then, by putting forth his enormous strength, Tom quickly subdued the man.
"Give up, I tell you!" panted Tom, breathing hard. "I"ll teach you to wreck ships. Give up!"
"I give up!" was the sullen response.
With a quick turn of the ropes he had brought, Tom had the wrecker trussed up.
Meanwhile the others had been busy. The secret service men had each tackled a man, and had him secure by now, while Joe and Blake, by mutual agreement picking out another member of the party had, after a struggle, succeeded in tying him, too.
But the wreckers outnumbered our friends two to one, and some, if not all, of the desperate characters might have escaped had not reinforcements appeared. These were in the shape of four st.u.r.dy fishermen from the little colony where the moving picture boys lived.
"Oh, if we could only capture the others!" cried Tom Cardiff, when he had finished with his man, and saw some of the wreckers struggling to make their way through the thick bush. "Come on, boys!" he yelled to his friends. "When you finish with those fellows keep after the rest of the gang, though I"m afraid they"ll give us the slip."
"No, they won"t!" cried a new voice, and then appeared the husky toilers of the sea, armed with stout clubs. At the sight of them the wreckers not yet captured gave up in despair. Counting those tied up, the forces were now equal, and as Mr. Hadley had taken all the moving pictures possible, owing to the struggle taking place out of range of his camera, he left the apparatus, and joined his friends.
"Well, we got "em!" cried Tom Cardiff, as he surveyed the line of prisoners, fastened together with ropes. "Every one of "em, I guess.
You"re a nice crowd!" he sneered at big Hemp Danforth. "A nice lot of men to be let loose!"
"A little later and you wouldn"t have had us!" snarled the leader of the wreckers. "You were too many for us."
"That"s so," spoke Tom. "How did you happen to come to help us?" he asked of Abe Haskill, who was one of the reinforcing fishermen. "Who sent you?"
"Old Stanton telephoned over from the lighthouse," was the answer. "He said you were on your way here, and that the gang might be too much for you. So I got a couple of my friends, and over we came--just in time, too, I take it."
"That"s right!" exclaimed Blake, trying to staunch the flow of blood from a cut on his face, received in the fight he and Joe had with their prisoner. Joe himself was somewhat bruised. "A little later and we"d had only half of "em," went on Blake.
"It looks as if the lantern was nearly finished, too," went on Joe.
"Um!" sneered the chief wrecker. "You may think you have us, but it"s a long way from proving anything against us. What have we done that"s wrong?" and he looked defiantly at Tom Cardiff.
"Wrong!" cried the lighthouse man. "Don"t you call it wrong to set up a false light to lure unsuspecting captains on the rocks, so you can get your pickings? Wrong!"