“I guess I know what the three blue lights mean,” Alex blurted out. “They constitute a signal used by the night-riders. I don’t wonder the pirates are afraid of them!”
“And I guess the night-riders are the ones who keep the ghost stories about the lights going!” Jule added.
“Of course,” Peck replied with a whimsical smile, “I don’t know anything about that. One of my friends, here, just happened to have three blue lights with him, so we put ’em up to scare the pirates. We thought that if we could make the outlaws believe that we belonged to the night-riders, we could throw a bigger scare into them.”
“Of course,” Case laughed, winking at Peck, “we never thought for a moment that you gentlemen belonged to the night-riders!”
“Of course not!” laughed Peck, winking back. “Nobody around here belongs to the night-riders! You might travel up and down the river, and over the mountains, for a thousand miles, and not find a night-rider in the whole country! Fact!” he added, significantly.
“Do they put out blue lights whenever they’re going to burn some one’s warehouse?” asked Alex.
“Boy,” answered Peck, patting Alex kindly on the shoulder, “you mustn’t ask any questions about the night-riders in this section of the country. They think they are protecting their own interests in what they do, and that’s all I know about it.”
“I’d just like to know how they make the lights go out so quickly,” Jule grinned. “They go out with a loud noise, don’t they.”
“I had that explained to me once,” replied Peck with a queer smile, “and if you won’t say anything about it. I’ll tell you how it’s done.”
“The three blue lights are placed on a board, either floating on the water or suspended from some elevation. On the same board is a stick of dynamite with a long fuse. After the lights burn a few moments—they are just little kerosene lamps with blue globes, you know—the dynamite explodes and that ends the display. Perfectly simple, ain’t it, boys?”