"SHALL we go back the same way we came up?" asked Thad, as they made a start toward returning to the camp down below.

"I think I'd like to try another route," Bob replied. "Some of those places we hit were pretty tough climbing; and you know it's always harder going down, than up a mountain. Seems to me we'll strike an easier way over to the right here."

"My opinion exactly," Thad declared, ready to fall in with anything which the other proposed, because he was interested heart and soul in the work Bob had cut out for himself--trying to bring more of happiness into the life of little Bertha, his cousin; and finding out whether his long-lost father was still in the land of the living.

They had gone about half of the way, and found that, just as Bob guessed, it was much easier than the other route would have proven, when Thad made a discovery that gave him a little thrill.

"There's a man, Bob!" he exclaimed, suddenly.

"Where?" demanded the other, turning his head around; for he happened to be a trifle in advance of his companion at the time.

"Over yonder, on that rock, and of course with a rifle in sight; for you never see one of these mountaineers without that. I wouldn't be surprised to hear that some of them go to bed with their guns in their arms. Do you see him now, Bob?"

"Yes, and can understand why he's sitting there like that," replied the other, rather bitterly.

"Looks like he might have a touch of the fever and ague, and that with a spell of the shakes on, he wanted to sun himself," suggested Thad; though he knew full well the true explanation was along other lines entirely.

"He's doing sentry duty," remarked Bob, soberly. "You can see, Thad, that from where he lies he has a splendid view of the road we came over?"

"That's a fact, and could even toss a rock down on it if he chose,"

continued the patrol leader. "I understood that, Bob, and can guess why he was placed there by Old Phin Dady."

"I suppose they're all around us," remarked the Southern boy, "and as I said last night, they've sure got us marooned, all right. We can't move without they're knowing it. Oh! what sort of chance would I have to get him out of this awful country, even if it should turn out to be my father who is the prisoner of the moonshiners? Thad, I reckon it's a forlorn hope after all."

"Well," remarked the other, seeing that Bob needed cheering up again, "even if you only discover that he is alive, that will be great news alone. And when things get to coming your way the style they've been doing lately, believe me, you can hope for the best. Keep your spirits up, Bob. That girl is going to help us more than we ever dreamed of."

"It _was_ great luck, our running across Polly; and then the chance to do her a favor, could you beat it? Reckon you're right, Thad; and I'm foolish for letting myself look at the dark side, when things are breaking so splendidly for me."

"That fellow doesn't seem to pay much attention to us, though I'm sure he knows we're going to pa.s.s him by," Thad continued, in a lower voice.

"I used to know a good many of the men around here, and this might be one of the lot; so I hadn't better take any chances of his seeing me too close in the daylight," and with this remark Bob drew the brim of his hat lower over his face.

The man never so much as moved, though the two descending boys pa.s.sed within thirty feet of where he reclined on the rock, his face turned toward the road that wound in and out of the tangle far below.

Thad believed he could see a pair of sharp eyes under the man's hat, that kept watch over their movements; but there was no hail, or other sign of life from that sphinx-like figure stretched out at length on the sunny rock. Should they have given the mountaineer cause for displaying any activity, no doubt he would be quick to take action.

Thad certainly did not want to strike up a conversation with so morose a man; and especially when his chum wished to keep aloof from him. So they continued along down the side of the mountain, and soon lost sight of the vidette.

Still, the circ.u.mstance left a bad feeling behind. It was far from pleasant for the boys to realize how completely they had put themselves in the power of these mountain moonshiners. Just as Bob had so bitterly declared, Old Phin ruled with an iron hand among the men who lived here among the uplifts; and once he had placed sentries on duty to watch the movements of the scouts, they could neither go forward nor retreat, unless that gaunt moonshiner crooked his finger.

"I don't see how it can be done," Bob broke out later, as they began to draw near the camp again; as though he had been wrestling with some subject, and reached a point where he needed counsel.

"As what?" inquired his comrade.

"Work both ends of the affair at the same time," continued Bob.

"Suppose, now, I find that the paper Bertha has seen is the very one I've been hoping to get my hands on; and she comes to me to-night; how can I carry her away, and at the same time stay here to find out about the news Polly will bring me?"

"Now, I'm glad you spoke of that, Bob," Thad declared; "because I've been trying to puzzle out that same thing myself. And I really believe I've hit the only answer."

"Then let me hear it, for goodness sake, please!" exclaimed the other, in a relieved tone; for he well knew that when Thad Brewster said a thing that way, he must feel pretty confident he had the right solution in hand.

"Just as you say, it would be next to impossible to take Bertha away from here, and at the same time carry out your plans in connection with that other business. That is of the first importance, it seems to me, Bob. This other about Bertha can wait some, if it comes to it."

"Yes, it could, I suppose," admitted the other, slowly. "Bertha is unhappy she says, and he treats her wretchedly; but then he is not really cruel to her. Tell me your plan, Thad, and I'll be ready to stand by it."

"Suppose, then, she brings you that paper, and it turns out to be all you hope for? You can take it away with you, and when we get back to Asheville place it in the hands of some reliable lawyer, who will have Reuben summoned to court with the girl. Then she will never be allowed to go back with him again; and he may consider himself lucky if he gets off without being sent to jail for having withheld a lawful doc.u.ment, and replacing it with a false will, or one that was older."

Bob uttered a cry of delight.

"It sure takes you to think up an answer to every hard, knotty problem, Thad," he cried. "That is just the best thing ever, and I'm willing to try it. Why, for me to take the law in my hands would be silly, when the courts will save me all the risk. And while I hate to disappoint poor little Bertha, who believes I'm down here to carry her off, in spite of old Reuben, she'll understand, and be willing to wait a bit. Thank you over and over again, Thad. I'm feeling a thousand per cent better, suh, after what you said."

"And about the other thing, Bob, I wouldn't let myself believe too strongly that this mysterious prisoner of the moonshiners will turn out to be your father. There were some other revenue men who have disappeared in the last few years, men who started into the mountains to learn things, and never came out again. It might be one of these after all. And I guess you'd be awfully disappointed if you set too much store on that thing."

"I keep trying all I know how not to hope _too_ much, Thad," replied the other, with a big sigh; "and tellin' myself that it would be too great news; yet, seems like there was a little bird nestlin' away down in here, that goes on singin' all the while, singin' like a mockingbird that brings good news," and Bob laid a trembling hand on his breast in the region of his heart, as he spoke.

"Well," said Thad, warmly, "I'm just hoping that everything'll come out the way you want, old fellow. We're going to back you up the best we know how; and if we fail to do what we aim for, it won't be from lack of trying."

"I know that, and I'll never, never forget it as long as I live!"

declared the other, almost choking in his emotion.

"There's the camp," remarked Thad, five minutes later, "and everything seems to be going along all right at the old stand. I can see Step Hen lying on his back, with his hat over his eyes as if he might be taking a nap; Smithy is of course brushing his coat, because he has discovered some specks of dust on it that worry him; and if you look at Giraffe, you'll know what he's up to when I tell you he's whittling at a piece of pine, to beat the band."

"Getting kindling ready to start up the fire, when supper time comes around," said Bob, with a chuckle, as though some of these familiar sights began to do him good, in that they served to take his thoughts away from the things that distressed and worried him.

When the two scouts arrived in camp they were immediately surrounded by their comrades, who demanded to know what they had seen and done. To judge from the variety of questions that showered upon them, one might think that Thad and Bob had been off on a regular foraging expedition, and scouring the upper regions in search of adventures.

And indeed, they did have something to tell that made the others stare.

The several little holes in their clothes, evidently made by sharp claws, gave evidence as to the truth of their wonderful story. And all of the stay-at-homes united in the fervent hope that Polly Dady might be grateful enough to bring Bob the news he yearned to possess.

Several of the boys had been dispatched to the cabins across the valley, where they managed to purchase some dozens of eggs, but could get no bacon. They did secure a couple of fowls, however, which were even then plucked, and ready for the pot.

As evening settled down soon afterward, the scouts prepared to make themselves as comfortable as the circ.u.mstances allowed.

And certainly not one among them so much as dreamed that other peculiar events were on the calendar; ready to take their places upon the stage; and advance the interests of the fellow scout, whose yearning to look again on the familiar scenes of his younger years had influenced the others to hike through the Blue Ridge Range.

CHAPTER XX.

THE AWAKENING OF STEP HEN.

"Say fellers, did anybody see that----"

Step Hen had just managed to get that far in what he was about to say, when he was rudely interrupted by a combined shout from Giraffe, Davy Jones, and b.u.mpus.

"Don't you dare accuse us of taking any of your old traps, Step Hen!"

said the last named scout, severely.