"Oh!did you see him kick his heels at us as he went down?" gasped Bumpus, as they hurried forward to the spot where the venturesome scout had vanished so forlornly; "I'll never forget it, never! Just like the poor old chap wanted to say 'good-bye boys!'"
Bumpus was too honest and warm hearted a fellow to say this with any intention of being hilarious. He sincerely felt every word of it.
Of course the long-legged Giraffe had to be the first to arrive on the scene of the late tragedy. Thad felt constrained to call out to him in warning.
"Be careful there, Giraffe, or else there may be another of us down in that pocket. Look out for your footing, I tell you!"
The other had dropped flat on his chest. He was seen to stretch his neck in the endeavor to get the best results with a minimum of risk; and they did say that when Giraffe really and truly did his prettiest in this respect he could cover more territory than any one else ever seen.
"Oh! is he smashed flatter'n a pancake?" asked Step Hen, as he drew near, with his melancholy face looking longer than usual; and the whites of his eyes showing strongly, as they always did when he was frightened.
Giraffe twisted his head around with the utmost ease; indeed, from the length of his neck it looked as though he might continue the turning movement until he had actually made a complete revolution.
And when Thad caught sight of the grin on his face he felt immediately relieved; for surely Giraffe loving fun as much as he did, would not allow this smirk to decorate his angular countenance unless there seemed little danger.
Another minute, and all of them were ranged there along the edge of the gully, staring down at Davy Jones. It would seem that the other had been agile enough to clutch hold of a small tree that jutted out from the steep slope. He was hanging to it now, and straining the best he knew how to fling his legs upward, so as to relieve the situation, and the terrific pull on his arms.
He looked upward toward the row of faces peeping over the edge above; and there was a humorous grin on his face. He knew what his comrades were doubtless thinking about "the pitcher that went once too often to the well;" and that their natural alarm having passed, they would see only the humorous side of the affair.
Again did Davy strain. There was something connected with the way he was hanging there that seemed to prevent him from accomplishing the result he wanted to attain. For the first time they could remember the boys saw that the gymnast and acrobat of the troop had certainly met his match. Left to himself he would surely have had to invent some other method for drawing himself up on to the slender horizontal trunk of the little tree; or else let go, and drop.
As it was a matter of some twenty feet or so to the bottom of the gully; and the chances were that he might receive any number of bad scratches while making the transit, Davy of course would be averse to trying this plan.
"Guess you'll have to lend me a hand this time, boys," he called out, when once more he failed to make connection between his squirming legs and the body of the tree.
"Who'll go down, and yank him on to that tree?" asked Bumpus; knowing full well at the same time that no one could have the nerve to ask a fellow of his heft, when there were so many others better fitted for the task.
"Don't all speak at once!" advised the hanging Davy.
Somehow all eyes were turned toward Giraffe. As the most agile of the lot, he might be expected to volunteer; and yet with not a particle of footingbetween the top of the bank and that tree, some ten feet down, the job was hardly one that might appeal to any scout, however nimble.
"Oh! you needn't look at me that way," he complained; "because I'm long, and active, you just think I c'n stretch that far; but it's a mistake. But if somebodyhasto try and make the riffle, I s'pose it'll be me."
He started to take off his knapsack as he said this, when Thad stopped him.
"Wait, Giraffe," said the patrol leader, quietly; "perhaps, after all, nobody has to go down after Davy. You seem to forget, all of you, that we've got a stout rope along with us. What's the need of carrying such a thing, if it can't help us out in a pinch?"
"Bully! Sure we've got a rope, and a dandy one at that!" cried Bumpus, growing so excited that he came near falling over the edge, and had to clutch hold of the nearest scout to steady himself.
"If you'd gone that time, Bumpus, think what a splash you'd have made down there. Because Davy got hold of a tree don't think you could do the same. It'll have to be a whopping big one that could bear up underyourweight, all right," said Step Hen, who chanced to be the one whom the fat boy had caught hold of in his sudden alarm.
It turned out that Bob White was carrying the rope. He had it wound around his body in a wayAllan had shown him, so that it did not interfere with his movements, and was not coming loose all the time.
Quickly then was it unwound. In order to hasten this, the boys even began to turn Bob around like a teetotum, until he said he was dizzy.
"Lucky it's got a loop handy at the end," remarked Allan, as he took the rope, and sought a position directly above the hanging scout.
"How is it, Davy?" he asked, while lowering the noose.
"If you mean how much longer I could stand it, I'd say not a big lot," replied the one addressed. "You see, the old tree cuts my hands just fierce; and I've been twisting around here so long now that I'm gettin' tired. How're you goin' to fix it, Allan? Might toss the loop over my head; but I'm afraid my neck wouldn't hold out. If it was Giraffe now—"
"Here, you just let up on Giraffe, and pay attention to what Allan's goin' to tell you; hear?" called out the party mentioned.
"Do you think you could hold on with one arm, and get the other through the loop?" continued the Maine boy. "Of course, if you can't, why, I might swing it around, and you could somehow stick your feet through; when we'd drag the loop up under your arms. How about that, Davy?"
But Davy made a test, and declared that one handwould hold him for a brief time. So, in this way, the rope was finally placed under both arms, and tightened.
"Now, get hold here, fellows, and give a pull!" said Allan; "hold on, not so rough about it, Giraffe, or you'll rub his face against the rocks and make it worse than if he'd let go, and dropped down. Here he comes, boys!"
"Heave ho!" sang out the scouts, and foot by foot they drew the unlucky acrobat once more to the surface.
"Got off pretty slick that time, eh, Davy?" demanded Step Hen, after the other had been landed, and Bob White was coiling the rope around himself again.
"Never knew me to miss doin' that, did you, Step Hen?" queried the other; and from the flippant tone in which he said this it was plainly evident that the lesson had been lost on him; and that Davy would be doing his customary stunts right along.
The hike was presently resumed, and the little adventure reckoned a thing of the past. Shortly afterwards they came suddenly on a man, with an old vehicle, and a slab-sided horse that looked half starved. The ramshackle wagon bed was covered to about the depth of three feet with poor looking straw, that seemed to have done duty a long time.
As for the man himself, he was a typical mountaineer, thin and scrawny, with a small, weasenedface, and keen, snapping eyes. Bob White instantly pulled his hat down over his face as he saw the man.
Thad noticed that the other looked alarmed at sight of these eight khaki-clad boys strung out along the mountain road. Indeed, he had the appearance of a man who would have turned and fled, only that he was afraid to do so after finding himself face to face with what looked like a squad of United States regulars, or at the least, North Carolina militia, on the hike.
He returned the greetings of the boys with sundry nods of his head, and urged his old nag along by several whacks from the hickory rod he held in his hand in lieu of a whip. So ramshackle vehicle and scared driver vanished around the bend which had concealed the scouts from his view until it was too late to run.
"Looked like he'd seen a ghost!" suggested Step Hen, with a chuckle.
"Well, you can't blame him, if he sawyouroll your eyes, and make that face of yours look like thirty cents," remarked Bumpus, cuttingly.
"He had mountain dew hidden under that straw," remarked Bob White; "I remember the old fellow right well, and I'm glad he was that frightened he didn't think to take at look at me. Nate Busby is his name. He always was connected with Old Phin, and the others who make the moonshine stuff further up in the hills. Right now, you can believeme, suh, he's on his way with that load, to hide it where somebody from town can find it."
"He don't know what to make of us, seems like?" suggested Giraffe.
"That is the truth," added Thad. "I thought his eyes would drop out, he stared so hard. Seemed to me as if he actually expected some of us to surround him, and examine his load. How he did whip that old nag of his. The beastkickedup his heels, and galloped, perhaps for the first time in years."
All of them laughed as they went on, talking by the way. Boys can discover a ludicrous side to almost anything. Good health, absence of worry, and plenty of food are about all they require; and the world looks its brightest.
Sometimes, when Thad glanced toward the Southern boy, he wondered whether Bob had taken them wholly into his confidence on the last evening when he told them about his life amid the mountains and valleys of the Blue Ridge Range. It struck him that Bob frowned too often to indicate a clear conscience.
"There's something else on his mind, and that's certain," Thad was saying to himself. "He keeps looking in my direction every little while, and I wouldn't be surprised if he came over pretty soon to tell me something he's been keeping back. But it don't matter; we'll stand behind Bob all the time.He's a fine fellow, as true as gold; and one scout should always help another in trouble."
His reflections were interrupted by Bumpus, who edged over nearer the patrol leader to impart the information that, happening to look back, he had discovered some one thrusting his head out from behind a rock, as though he might be following in their wake!
A temporaryhalt had been called, and the scouts were consulting as to what this new development might mean.
"Sure you saw a man, are you, Bumpus?" asked Giraffe, as though he had an idea the stout boy might have deceived himself. "Twa'n't a rolling stone, now, I take it? Or it couldn't have been a frisky little 'coon' or 'possum,' I suppose?"
"Well, what d'ye think I've got eyes for, if I don't know a biped when I see one?" retorted Bumpus, indignantly. "He was as plain as anything; and makin' from one pile of rocks to another. You go with me back there, and I'll show you, Giraffe. Then you'll believe me when I say a thing."
The two boys made a move as if to carry out this project, only the scoutmaster put a stop to it.
"Don't think of doing that, fellows," Thad said, quickly. "These mountaineers are a thin-skinned lot as far as I've been able to learn; and they won'tstand for any poking of your nose into their business. Besides, if it was a man, the chances are he would be armed, and you might bring a hornet's nest down about our ears."
"Oh! he did have a gun, all right," remarked Bumpus, carelessly.
"You didn't mention that before," broke in Step Hen, with an intaking of breath that betrayed excitement.
"'Cause nobody asked me; and every one wanted to have something to say," retorted the other. "It was a gun, and anawfulwicked looking one too, about as long as my staff, seemed to me."
"Could it have been Old Phin?" suggested Allan.
"How about that, Bumpus; was he an old man with a gray beard?" asked Thad.
"Nixey; that is I don't know how old he might a been; but I'm dead sure he didn't have any beard at all, just a smooth face. But he was a regular mountaineer, all right, Thad, with the dingy old faded brown homespun clothes, the slouch hat, and the ragged pants that never came near his brogans. He saw me lookin' at him, for he put on a little spurt, and dodged behind that pile of rocks, where like as not he's squattin' right now, waitin' to see what we're agoin' to do about it, and ready to speak to us with that trusty weapon if we try to rush his fort."
"Well, we're going to do nothing of the kind, just remember that," said Thad, resolutely. "It'sonly natural that the men of these mountains should feel a whole lot of curiosity about us. I suppose now they never heard of the Boy Scouts; and these uniforms make them think we're connected with the army. Now, we don't want to stir them up any more than we can help. They're an ugly lot, Bob here says, if you rub the fur the wrong way. We didn't come down here to bother these moonshiners one whit; and if they'll only let us alone, we want to keep our hands off their affairs. Let the fellow dodge after us if he wants to; he'll find that we're only a bunch of happy-go-lucky boys, off for a holiday."
"Pity we can't meet up with that same old Phin, and tell him as much," Smithy went on to say.
"Perhaps it might be managed easy enough," Allan observed, and all of them immediately turned toward him, feeling that he had some scheme to communicate.
"Open up, and tell us what it is, Allan," urged the impatient Bumpus.
"Yes, don't keep us guessing any more than you can help," added Step Hen. "We've sure got enough to worry us, what with the troubles of Giraffe getting stuck in that quicksand; and Davy here, falling over every old precipice he can find, without you making us puzzle out a problem. How could it be done, Allan?"
"Why, we'll send Old Phin a letter," replied the other, calmly.
"Show me your messenger, then!" demanded Bumpus.
Allan picked up a stick, and deliberately split one end so that he could open it up. This he thrust into a crevice in the rocks close to the wretched road, and in such a position that it was certain to meet the eye of the tracker when he again started to follow them.
"Now, I'll write a few lines, and leave it here, addressed to Phin Dady," he went on. "I'll print the words in capitals, in the hopes that the old mountaineer may be able to read as much as that. If he can't, then some other of the clan may; and if all else fails, they'll have some boy or girl make it out. How's that, Thad?"
"Splendid, I should say," replied the scoutmaster, smiling. "Here, Bumpus, turn around, and bend over."
"What you goin' to do to me?" demanded the short scout, suspiciously, as he hesitated before complying.
"Is that the way you obey orders?" scoffed Giraffe. "A true scout should never ask questions. S'pose them dragoons at the battle of the Six Hundred had begun to want to know the whys and wherefores of everything, d'ye think we'd ever hadany chance to declaim that stirringpoem? Shame on you, Bumpus, take a brace, and obey blindly."
"Oh! I only want the use of your broad and steady back for a writing desk, so Allan can get his message written," Thad at this interesting juncture remarked, easing the strain, and dissipating all the fat boy's suspicions.
When Allan had made out to complete his "message" he read it aloud, and also let them all have a look at it. Just as he had said he would do, he had written it in the most primitive way possible, by making capitals of each letter. This was what he had done:
"Phin Dady—We are a patrol of Boy Scouts, come down from the North to see the Carolina mountains. We do not mean you, or any one, harm; but want to be friends. We carry no arms but a single shotgun."
"That ought to answer the purpose," remarked Thad, approvingly.
"I didn't want to say too much, you see," observed the author of the message, as he fastened it in the crotch of the riven stick, where it must attract the attention of any one passing. "First, I had a notion to mention Bob's name, as a former resident; and then I remembered that he said he didn't want it known he'd come back. So I left that out."
"And I'm glad you did," said the one in question,hastily; "it would have done no good, suh, believe me; and might have brought us into much trouble."
Again Thad saw him send that expressive glance his way; and his suspicions concerning Bob having another secret which he had not as yet told, received further confirmation.
"This, you know, fellows," remarked Allan, "is the way the Indians communicated in the old days; only instead of writing it out as we do, they used to make signs that stood for men, camp-fires, rivers, woods, animals, trails and such things. You remember, Thad here gave us some talk about that awhile back. Now, are we going on again, since we've left our wonderful message for Old Phin?"
"Yes, and perhaps we'd better keep somewhat closer together than we've been doing up to now," the scoutmaster suggested.
"How'd it do for Giraffe here to stay behind, and watch to see if that feller back of the rock pile gets the letter?" Bumpus proposed. "After we turned that bend ahead he could drop down, and creep back. Then, after he'd seen all he wanted, why it wouldn't be any great shake for such a long-legged feller to overtake the rest of the bunch."
But Giraffe evidently did not like the idea of being left all by himself after that fashion. He looked worried as he waited to see what Thad would say; and was considerably relieved when the other shook his head, remarking:
"No need of that, Number Three. It wasn't such a bad idea though, come to think of it, and does you credit. I'm glad to see that you're waking up, and beginning to work your brain more. But that message will get into the hands of Old Phin, all right, there's no doubt of that."
"D'ye reckon he'll take our word for it; or believe it's only one more clever dodge of the revenue men to get him when he's napping?" asked Davy Jones.
The scoutmaster turned to Bob White.
"How about that, Bob?" he asked.
"Old Phin is narrow minded, as you can easily understand," the Southern boy replied. "Besides, he's had so many smart dodges played on him, that he'll never believe anybody's word. Now, he may make up his mind that because we're only boys heneedn'tbe afraid we expect to capture him; but all the same, we might poke around here, meaning to destroy his Still, suh. You can depend upon it that Old Phin'll never make friends with any one that wears a uniform. That stands for an enemy in his eyes. But I'm hopin' suh, that he'll just conclude to let us alone, and go to one of his mountain hide-outs, to stay till we leave the neighborhood."
They were by now tramping along again. Trying to forget the ugly part of the affair, Thad was picturing in his mind what the home of Reuben Sparks might be like. He was a rich man, Bob had said, and in close touch with the moonshiners; thoughthe Government had never been able to connect him with any of the illicit Stills that had been raided from time to time during the last dozen years. And so it was only natural to believe that he must have surrounded himself with some of the comforts of civilization, while remaining in this wild region. Words let fall by Bob had given Thad this impression; as though they were going to be surprised when the home of little Cousin Bertha was come upon.
"I'd like to have a little talk with you, Thad!"
The scoutmaster was not very much surprised when he heard these words, and realized that Bob White had caught up with him as he strode along at the head of the little squad of boys in khaki.
"He just couldn't hold in any longer," was what Thad whispered to himself; "and now he's bound to let down the bars all the way, so somebody will share his secret with him."
Turning upon the other, he said, pleasantly:
"Why, as many as you like, Bob; what's bothering you now; for I've seen you looking my way quite some time, as though you wanted to speak. I guess you'll feel better when you've had it out."
"Perhaps I may, suh, though I'm ashamed to have kept it from you so long," answered the Southern boy, shame-facedly. "Fact is, I tried to deceive myself into thinking that it couldn't interest or concern any of my chums. But now, since I'vebeen thinking it all over, and we've run across Old Phin, it looks different to me, and I'm of the opinion I had ought to have mentioned this before I took the lot of you down into these danger mountains!"
Thad knew then that it could be no trifling thing that would agitate the other as this seemed to do, and he steadied himself to meet the disclosure.
"WhatI want to tell you about is—my father," said Bob, swallowing something that seemed to be sticking in his throat; as though the mere mention of his dead parent had the power to affect him so.
"Yes?" Thad said, encouragingly, wondering at the same time how one who had passed to the other side several years now, could have any sort of connection with the mission of the scouts to this region.
"You'll perhaps understand, suh," continued Bob, getting a firmer grip on himself; "when I mention the fact that my father, for a year or so before he was taken, had filled the office of United States Marshal for this district."
"Oh!" exclaimed Thad, beginning to see light now.
"He was induced to take the office by the President himself, who was a personal friend of my father," the boy went on, proudly; "and having given his word, nothing could make him back out.Up to then we had lived at peace with everybody in these mountains; but of course that was bound to come to an end after he had sworn to do his duty; which was to send out his agents to destroy all the secret Stills, and bring in the law breakers, if they could be found."
"He must soon have had the enmity of Old Phin, and every other moonshiner about the Big Smokies," Thad remarked, the other having paused, as though to give him a chance to express an opinion.
"That is just what happened, suh," Bob went on, hurriedly, as, having broken the ice, he wanted to get through as speedily as possible. "After he had led several successful raids in person, the mountaineers saw that they had a different man to deal with from the other old marshal. They sent him terrible warnings of what was going to happen to him if he kept up his work; but my father was a Quail; and he didn't know the meanin' of the word fear, suh."
"Were you and your mother living near here all that time, Bob?" asked the scoutmaster. "Because, I should have thought she might have been worried for fear some of those desperate men tried to stop your father's work by burning down his home, or doing something like that?"
"There were threats made, suh, to that effect; and my father moved his family to Asheville to feel that we would be all safe. Then there came adreadful day for us, when my father never came back, after he had gone into these mountains to arrest another batch of moonshiners, whose Still had been located. One of the men who had accompanied him told us he had seen him shot down. They were surrounded by bushwhackers, and the rifles were popping all about, so they had to leave him there. He was surely dead, they claimed, before they fled from the spot, and of course, suh, they could not burden themselves with his body."
Again Bob White paused to gulp down the obstacle in his throat.
"Now, you are wondering, suh, how it happened that when we came to Cranford there was a gentleman with us who was called Mr. Quail, and supposed to be my father. That was my father's twin brother, living in Philadelphia. He kindly offered to stay with my mother, who never goes out at all, until we became settled. Her mother, my grandmother, had left me a heap of stock in the bank and mills of Cranford; and as it was very unpleasant for my mother down this aways, after father went, she had determined to locate up yondah."
"And does she know about you coming down here?" asked Thad, suspiciously, as if he feared that the other might have deceived the only parent he had left; this bringing a tragedy of the grim mountains so close home to them had given the scout leader considerable of a thrill, for after all,despite his courage and grit, Thad was only a boy.
Bob drew himself up proudly, and his black eyes flashed.
"I would sooner cut off my right hand, suh, than deceive my mother," he said. "And, so you may understand the whole thing, I must tell you what a strange longin' I've been hugging to my heart these two years back. It is this. What if, after all, my father wasnotdead at the time his men saw him fall; what if these moonshiners have kept him a prisoner somewhere in these mountains all this while, meanin' to punish him because he had given them all so much trouble!"
"That's a stunning shock you've given me, Bob," said Thad, drawing a long breath; "but see here, is it just a wild wish to have it so; or have you any reason to believe such a thing; any foundation for the theory, in fact?"
"I'll tell you, suh," Bob went on, feverishly. "A man came to me one day, and said he had been sent by one of the revenues who had been with my father that sad time, to tell me what he had picked up in the mountains. There were rumors going around that somewhere deep in the mountains, at one of the secret Stills, the moonshiners kept a prisoner at work. Some said it must be one of the revenue men who had disappeared; and that the moonshiners were bent on making him work up the mash, as a sort of punishment for having done them so muchdamage when he was in the employ of the Government."
"I see; and of course you jumped to the conclusion that it might be your own father, alive and well, though held a prisoner of the moonshiners?"
"Both my mother and myself believed there might be just a little chance that way. She was in bad health, and put it all in my hands. We have never said a word about it to anybody in Cranford. While I have been going to school with the rest of the boys in Cranford, all the time I was in correspondence with one of the Government revenue agents, and paying him to be on the constant watch for any positive signs. He died six months ago, and just when he had begun to think he was getting on a warm scent."
"I see," said Thad, as the other paused, overcome with emotion; "and ever since then you've been longing to get down here again, to find out for yourself if itcouldbe true. I don't blame you the least bit, Bob. And I only hope that you'll be able to learn the truth, even if it dashes all your hopes. Whatever we can do to help, you can count on. Scouts have to be like brothers, you know. It's a part of our regulations to help any one in trouble; and that applies stronger than ever when it's a fellow scout."
"Oh! thank you, Thad!" exclaimed the warmhearted Southern lad, as he squeezed the hand ofhis companion almost fiercely. "I had no right to influence you to come down here. It is a dangerous place. Right now I ought to beg you and the rest to back out, and leave me to fight my battles alone. But somehow I just can't find the grit to do that. I reckon, suh, I'm too selfish. I'm right ashamed of myself at this minute to feel such satisfaction in the grip of your hand."
"Of course," continued wise Thad, "this old moonshiner, Phin Dady, might still have it in for you, as one of the Quail family."
"As far as that is concerned, suh, I'm not bothering my head, I assuah you. I'd just as lief face Old Phin, and snap my fingers under his nose. My idea in wanting to keep him from seeing me was along another line, suh. He would be apt to think 'like father, like son;' and that I had hired out to the Government to find where his Still lay, so it could be raided. No man has ever done that; Old Phin declares they never will."
"If these mountaineers begin to get bothersome it might interfere some with that other little affair you spoke about?" suggested Thad, as they continued to walk on in company.
"That's what I'm afraid of, suh," replied Bob White; "but I'm hoping for the best."
Some of the others happening to push up about that time brought the confidential conversation to aclose. But surely the young scout leader had plenty to ponder over as he walked on.
The hike through the Blue Ridge, which they had looked forward to simply as a test of endurance, and to develop their knowledge of woodcraft, threatened to turn into a tragic affair. At least, it was no child's play; and if they came out of it without any serious accident happening to any of their number, they would be deserving of great credit.
But if Thad and Bob White were in a serious frame of mind, the same could hardly be said of several other members of the patrol. Giraffe, Step Hen and Bumpus seemed to be fairly bubbling over with good humor. Some boys can no more control their spirits than they can their appetites.
As usual Step Hen suddenly discovered, while they were halting for a breathing spell, that he was minus something. The evil spirits had evidently been at work again, when he was off his guard, and succeeded in abstracting part of his personal property. It really was a shame how they beset that unlucky fellow.
"If it don't just beat the Dutch what happens to me?" he was heard to loudly wail, looking around him in a helpless way.
"What's the matter now, Step Hen?" asked Allan; although he knew full well what sort of an answer he must receive.
"They've been and done it some more," replied the disturbed scout, helplessly.
The trouble was, that whenever he missed anything Step Hen always ran around looking in all the places that no sensible person would ever dream of examining. When Giraffe declared that he was like an old hen with its head taken off, it just about fitted the case.
"What's gone this time?" continued the boy from Maine, with a smile at the way Step Hen was turning over small stones, and stirring the leaves with his foot, as if he really expected a miracle to be wrought, and to find a bulky object that way.
"That little kodak I fetched along; you know I had it wrapped so carefully in a waterproof cloth, and tied with top cord. Now it's gone! Needn't spring that old story on me, and say I was careless. P'raps I have been a few times; but right now I'm dead sure the fault ain't mine. Somebody's playing a joke on me. Mind, I ain't mentioning no names; but I've got my suspicions."
He looked hard at Giraffe, and the accusation could hardly have been given in plainer language than that. But Giraffe was used to being unjustly accused. There were occasions when he did seize upon a golden opportunity to hide something belonging to his comrade, because it had been left carelessly around; and Giraffe believed it a part of his duty to break the other of such shiftless habits.But on this occasion he held up both hands, declaring solemnly:
"Give you my word for it I never touched any camera. This time you've either been and dropped it on the road; or else the Gold Dust Twins have nabbed it on you."
Just then Bumpus, who had been wandering aimlessly about after drinking at the cooling waters of the little spring that had been the main cause of this temporary halt in the march, gave utterance to a loud exclamation.
He had tripped over something that lay in the grass, and a splash announced that with his usual hard luck the fat boy had managed to go headlong into the spring. Scrambling out, with the water streaming from his red face, he turned indignantly on the balance of the patrol, now convulsed with laughter.
"What sort of—horse play d'ye call that—I'd like to know?" he sputtered, trying to wipe his streaming face with a handkerchief that looked far too small for the task. "Can't a feller—just stroll around camp—without some silly putting out a foot, and tripping him up? Tell me that, now?"
"I'm beginning to think we must have some sort of a hoodoo along with us," remarked Smithy, anxiously. "All sorts of things seem to be happening, and in the most mysterious way possible. We all know that there wasn't a single fellow anywherenear Bumpus when he pitched forward. Yet he sayssomebodyput out a foot, and he tripped over it. I think it a remarkable phenomenon, for a fact, and worth investigating."
"Well, somethin'didtrip me, and that's sure," grumbled the other, possibly thinking that he had been too sweeping in his accusation.
"Suppose you look in that bunch of grass, and find out if the little evil spirit that's playing all these pranks on you is lying there?" suggested Thad, with a twinkle in his eye, as though he could give a pretty shrewd guess what the result of the said exploration would turn out to be.
So Bumpus, always willing to oblige, especially since his own curiosity must have been aroused, proceeded forthwith to get down on his hands and knees, and begin an examination of the tangle in question.
Half a minute later he gave a loud cry. At the same time he was seen to hold up some strange black object.
"Look! Bumpus has caught his little evil genius!" cried Giraffe. "And ain't it a hard lookin' subject though. Caught him right by the ankle, and threw him straight into our spring. Lucky we'd had all the drink we wanted before he started to wash there!"
"Why, blessed if it ain't my kodak!" ejaculated Step Hen faintly, as though it shocked him to thinkhow his lost camera should have been lying there in all that tangle of grass, where it had undoubtedly fallen as he prepared to take his turn bending over the water hole.
Of course everybody laughed, for they could guess what had happened. Step Hen's little failings were an everyday occurrence. As Giraffe had often declared, the careless one would have long since lost his head had not a kind Nature secured it to his body.
The march was resumed, with Thad lecturing Step Hen on his prevailing sin; and as usual Step Hen solemnly promising to be more careful the next time. But he had a very slippery mind, and the chances were that before nightfall he would be up to his old tricks again, accusing the rest of playing a prank by hiding some of his possessions.
"There's a man sitting on that rock up there, watching us!" said Davy Jones, in a tone that thrilled them all.
"A regular mountaineer too," added Smithy. "Just as I've pictured them often, with butternut jean trousers, a ragged woolen shirt open at the neck, and an old hat on his frowsy head. Boys, he seems to have a gun in his possession, too."
They were a little uneasy as they passed along; but the lone man seemed to simply watch the squad of uniformed scouts without making any hostile move.
"Chances are," remarked Davy Jones, after they lost sight of the man; "he was some sort of vidette or sentry, posted up there to keep an eye on the trail; and if any suspicious characters came along, to send word to the other moonshiners. I understand they can telegraph all right without the aid of instruments, or even the latest wireless outfit. How about that, Bob?"
"Yes, it is so," replied the Southern boy. "They do it by making smokes; or sometimes by sounds that are passed along from one station to another. It's queer how fast a message can be relayed in that way."
"Well," remarked Thad, "that's the method used by blacks in Africa; and they do say they can send news of a battle faster than white men can get it along by relays of telegraph stations, with breaks where a carrier has to be used."
"Are we getting anywhere close to the place you said old Reuben lived at, Bob?" asked Bumpus, who was showing signs of being tired.
"Another hour will take us to where we can look across the wonderful little valley and see the place," Bob answered. "You will all be surprised, for nobody would ever think so fine a house could be found among these wild mountains; but as I told you before, Reuben Sparks seems never to have been molested by the moonshiners. Most people believe he is a secret partner in the business."
"Say, would you look yonder, where that road comes around the spur back of us; to think of seeing a real buggy and a flesh and blood horse, and back of the animal a gentleman and lady! I'm sure dreaming!" remarked Giraffe, just then.
"Not a bit of it you ain't, because I see them myself," added Step Hen, eagerly.
"And unless my eyes deceive me, we've met that gentleman before," said Allan.
"Yes," remarked Bob, with trembling voice, "it's Reuben Sparks; and that must be my little cousin, Bertha!"
Itwas the most natural thing in the world for the detachment of scouts to come to a halt when they discovered the vehicle coming up in their rear. In the midst of such wild surroundings it was indeed quite a surprise to discover anything so civilized. So they lined up on either side of the road, resting on the stout staves which all of them carried as a means of assistance in their mountain climbing; just as tourists in the Alps do when ascending some peak.
Thad noticed how quickly Bob White pulled his broad-brimmed campaign hat down over his eyes; and at the same time managed to slip partly behind one of his companions. It would interfere somewhat with the cherished plans of the boy, should Reuben Sparks recognize him; and this was a catastrophe which Bob certainly wished to avoid, if possible.
The vehicle came on, and apparently the man must be telling his companion how he had met these young fellows before, for she was looking aheadwith a great deal of interest and curiosity; though hardly dreaming that her cousin could be among the lads, who were clad in neat khaki uniforms, with puttees for leggings, and the well-known hats that distinguish Boy Scouts in every clime under the sun.
Just as Thad had expected would be the case, Reuben Sparks drew in his horse as he arrived in the midst of the scouts. Evidently he wanted to have a few minutes' talk with them; and allow the girl a chance to catch for herself a fleeting glimpse of that outside world of which she knew so little.
"How are you, boys?" remarked the driver of the horse.
"Pretty fairly, sir," replied Thad, anxious to keep the attention of the other directed toward himself as much as possible, because of Bob's desire to remain unnoticed in the background. "We haven't been used to mountain work; but it's fine exercise, and our muscles are getting in shape by degrees."
Thad had before now, of course, flung a look at the girl who was sitting beside Reuben Sparks. He was more interested because of the fact that he knew her to be the little Cousin Bertha, of whom Bob White had been telling him.
She was a pretty little girl too, Thad could see that; and he also thought there was a wistful expression on her delicate face. If, as Bob declared, Bertha was really a prisoner in the care of a cruel guardian, when her whole soul longed to be awayfrom these wild mountains, and in the haunts of civilization, that expression would be easily understood.
And right then and there Thad Brewster found himself siding with his chum Bob White more than ever. He felt a hope beginning to grow strong within his heart that some way might be discovered whereby Bertha could be taken from the Blue Ridge, which country she detested, and transplanted to that Northern town where lived her own flesh and blood relatives, who yearned to care for her tenderly, if only the law would allow.
Thad saw that Bob was no longer in the same place. The scouts had moved forward a little, to cluster around the vehicle, while their leader held conversation with the gentleman. And Bob was gradually making his way around so as to come on the other side, where he might in some way attract the attention of the little maid without Reuben seeing him.
It was plain to be seen that he hoped to seize upon this golden opportunity to open communications with Bertha. Thad, while he continued to talk with Reuben, and interest him more or less in the object of a hike on the part of Boy Scouts, kept one eye in the direction of Bob White.
He saw the other take off his campaign hat, and wave it up and down with a movement that of course attracted the attention of the girl. Shestarted violently as she saw that well-known face of her cousin, of whom she had been so fond ever since she was a little tot.
Wise Bob instantly placed a warning finger on his lips, and the girl immediately turned her face the other way, while that campaign hat was drawn further down than ever over the boy's face. So that when Reuben glanced round, as if wondering what had caused his ward to give such a violent start, he saw nothing suspicious in the boy who was apparently bending over, fastening his shoestring.
Of course Reuben Sparks knew more or less about Boy Scouts, even though he may never have had the opportunity of meeting any of the great organization up to this time. No one who had the ability to read the papers could be without that knowledge. And Thad made it a point to mention any number of interesting features connected with their work, that rather opened his eyes, and kept him asking for more information.
Like many other people, Reuben Sparks had imagined that the movement had to do with drilling American boys, so that they could become soldiers as they grew up. He now learned, to his surprise, that there never could be a greater mistake. Instead of teaching boys to fight, the principles of the organization tend toward peace. The main thing advanced is to make boys more manly, self-reliant, courteous, brave, self-sacrificing, forgetting theirown comfort when they can do a good deed, and relieve distress; take care of themselves when in the woods; and perhaps save the life of a comrade, should he be wounded by a carelessly used hatchet; or come near drowning.
No wonder then that Reuben Sparks found himself intensely interested in what Thad was telling him. His eyes were being opened to facts that he had never dreamed could be connected with a simple organization of growing lads. And many another who has scoffed at the silly idea of trying to improve upon the breed of American boys, has been staggered when brought face to face with many wonderful results that have already sprung from this greatest of all upward movements.
Thad saw after a bit that his object had been accomplished. Bob White had not been so busy tying his shoestring as Reuben imagined. On the contrary he was scribbling something on a scrap of paper, which he held doubled up in his hand when he worked his way to the rear of the vehicle.
Undoubtedly the little missy who sat there so demurely beside Reuben must have been slily watching his actions. And moreover, she surely divined what Bob meant to do; for as Thad watched, he saw her left hand, being the one further away from her guardian, quietly slip back, until it came within easy touching distance of the scout who had sauntered up there.
No doubt impulsive Bob must have pressed that little hand even as he passed his note into its possession; for as he told Thad, he had always loved his small cousin like a sister.
Fearing detection, the boy quickly moved away; and it was fortunate he did, since Reuben in the midst of his questions glanced suspiciously around, a minute later.
There was now no longer any reason for detaining the owner of the vehicle; and Thad's eagerness in answering questions and giving information slackened.
Truth to tell, he was not at all favorably impressed with the looks of the gentleman. Reuben had keen, rat-like eyes, that seemed to burn a hole in one when they became focused. There was constant suspicion in his manner, as though with so many secrets to hide, he had always to be on guard. And besides, Thad believed that Bob must have struck a true chord when he declared the other to be cruel and unscrupulous by nature.
Perhaps he might be plotting to secure the little inheritance left to the child by her father. It seemed almost beyond belief that any one could be so mean as to want to injure so sweet looking a little girl as Bertha; but then, Old Reuben worshipped gold, and when a man becomes a miser he hesitates at few things in order to add to his stores.
But however the gentleman might have been interestedin learning more about the ways of Boy Scouts, Thad took particular notice that he did not invite the hiking Silver Fox Patrol to stop a day or so with him at his mountain home.
It might have been just natural meanness that caused this, since eight healthy young appetites would eat up all in his larder. But then again, there may have been other reasons for the lack of Southern hospitality. Possibly Reuben did not care to have inquisitive strangers prowling about his place. He may have occasional visitors, who brought cargoes which he would not want other eyes to see.
The boys fell in shortly after the vehicle had vanished around a bend of the road ahead; and the march was once more resumed.
Of course Bob took the earliest opportunity to forge alongside of Thad. He was feverishly excited, so that his black eyes sparkled, and his breath came faster than usual.
"What did you think of him, Thad?" he asked, the first thing.
"I must say I don't just like his looks;" replied the other; "but your little cousin is everything you said she was. But Bob, she doesn't look happy!"
"You could see that too, could you, suh?" exclaimed the other, gritting his teeth angrily. "I know he treats her badly. She is thinner in the cheeks than she was two years ago, though taller some. And Thad, there's a look in her eyes thathurts me. I'm glad I wrote what I did in that little note I slipped in her hand. Later on I'm going to tell you about it. But oh! it looks like there was a slim chance to do anything for poor little Bertha."
Thad hardly knew how to console his chum. Boy-like he was ready to promise anything that lay in his power.
"Well, there are eight of us, and that's not as bad as being here alone," he suggested, with a cheering pat of his hand on the other's shoulder.
"You'll never know how much comfort I get out of that, Thad," the Southern boy went on to say, in a broken voice. "You see, I've been believing for a long time that there must have been something crooked about the way Reuben Sparks came into possession of Bertha, and her property. But how to prove it, when my father failed, is what gets me now. But I'm full of hope; and what you keep saying gives me a heap of solid comfort. I'm going to try and learn the truth while I'm down here; and take her away from that man, if it can be done. I'm only a boy, and he's a cold scheming man; but all the same, Thad, something inside here seems to tell me my visit to the Old Blue Ridge isn't going to be useless."
Bob White seemed to be sensibly encouraged after his little chat with the patrol leader; for when he dropped back among the rest of the scouts he had allowed a winning smile to creep over his dark, proud, handsome face.
"We'regoing to pitch our camp right here, boys!" said the scout leader, some time later; "and remember, there's to be no shouting from this time on. We're in the enemy's country, and must observe the rules of caution."
"Oh! ain't I glad though," sighed Bumpus, who had been busily engaged between wiping his perspiring brow, and avoiding stumbles over obstacles that seemed to take particular delight in getting in his way, he thought.
"But I hope you're not going so far, Thad, as to keep us from having our regular camp-fire?" remarked Giraffe. "Without that, it'd be a sad business, I'm thinking. And what's supper, without a cup of coffee?"
Thad had been talking again with Bob White; and evidently the boy who was acquainted with the locality must have posted the patrol leader regarding things.
"Oh! we don't expect to do without that, makeyour mind easy, Number Six," he replied, with a laugh, knowing what a weakness Giraffe had in the line of eating; though it seemed to do him little good, since he was as "thin as a rail," plump little Bumpus used to declare.
With various exclamations of satisfaction the weary boys tossed their burdens aside, and followed by throwing themselves on the ground. After a short rest, of course preparations for passing the night would be in order; but a little breathing spell, first of all, was in order.
Thad walked away, in company with Allan and Bob White.
"Now, what in the wide world d'ye think they're going to do?" demanded Step Hen, when the three had vanished from sight among the brush that lay around.
"There you go," broke out Bumpus, "as curious as any old maid in all Cranford, always wantin' to know the reason why. A pretty scout you'll make, Step Hen; and it'll be a long time before you win any medals, or pass an exam, for the proud position of a first-class scout. But I wonder what theydomean to do?"
The others laughed at this.
"After this, Bumpus, take themoteout of your own eye before you try and get a fence rail from mine. But they're up to some dodge, take it from me. And it'll be mean if they don't let us into thedeal, sooner or later," and Step Hen shook his head dismally as he spoke; for he was most unhappy when he believed there was anything going on without his being told all about it.
"Great country this," remarked Smithy, lying there on his back, and looking up at the lofty peaks that were bathed in the glow of the setting sun. "About as wild as anything I ever saw. Don't surprise me to know that the men who were born and brought up here can defy the clumsy officers of the Government, when they attempt to capture them. In my humble opinion they'll just keep on making that moonshine stuff here in the Big Smokies until the year three thousand, if the Washington people hold that big tax on the real brand, so as to make it worth while."
"It sure is some ragged," remarked Davy Jones, yawning; for Davy did not happen to be possessed of a soul that could admire the grandeur of any rough scenery; and only thought what a nuisance it was to have to do so much climbing all the while.
"Hold on there, Step Hen," exclaimed Giraffe, as the other started to collect a handful of small sticks; "don't you dare think of starting that fire. That's my particular job; the patrol leader gave it over to me, you understand."
"Just to keep you good," sneered Step Hen, throwing the sticks down again. "You keep on itching to make fires so much, that he just had tobribe you to let up, or some day you'd set the river afire."
"Huh! no danger of you ever doing that, I guess," chuckled Giraffe.
All the same, he got up, and began to gather small tinder on his own account.
"Mind you," he observed a minute later, as though half regretting his action in squelching Step Hen so soon; "if anybody feels like lending a hand to gather fuel, why there ain't nothin' againstthat;and we'll have that bully old coffee all the sooner, you understand."
This sort of subtle persuasion seemed to at least stir Davy Jones into life, for getting slowly to his feet, he began to collect larger wood, and throw it down close to where the energetic fire-builder was starting to make his blaze.
Giraffe was a real fire worshipper. He dreamed of his pet hobby; and many times could be seen, apparently idly whittling a stick; when, if asked what he was doing, his reply would invariably be:
"Well, we might want to start a fire some time or other; and then these shavings'd come in handy, you see."
On several notable occasions this weakness of Giraffe's had managed to get him into more or less trouble; and the sagacious scout leader finally had to take him to task. So on this mountain hike it had been agreed between them that Giraffe wouldrefrain from attempting his favorite rôle of making miscellaneous fires at odd times, if allowed to build all the camp-fires of the trip.
And so far he had really kept his word, though there were times when the temptation nearly overcame his scruples.
When Thad and the other two came back, darkness had settled over the scene. This came all the sooner on account of the high walls that shut them in on either side; though just beyond the boys believed there must be some sort of an open spot, in the way of a valley.
"I'm glad to see that you made a fine fireplace for cooking, Number Six," remarked the patrol leader, as he looked around; "because we may spend a day or so right here, resting up a bit. Now, while supper is getting underway I'm going to tell you a few things that areaptto interest you some. They concern our comrade Bob White here, and he's given me full permission to say what I'm going to."
"There, Step Hen, what did I tell you?" cried Bumpus, gleefully. "Next time just get a throttle grip on that bump of curiosity of yours."
"I've heard my maw say people that live in glass houses hadn't ought to heave any stones," retorted the other, witheringly.
But the boys quickly forgot all their differences, once Thad started to tell of the strange things which he had heard from Bob White.
There was an intaking of the breath, such as would indicate great excitement, as they learned how Bob's father had been connected with the raids on the secret Stills of the mountain moonshiners. And when finally they heard how he had met so terrible a fate, while pursuing his sworn duty by the Government, glances of true brotherly sympathy were cast in the direction of Bob.
"Now," said Thad, in conclusion; "you've heard about all there is to tell; and I know you're tremendously astonished, because none of us had any idea that we were going to run up against such a thing as this when we asked Bob to let us go with him to his old home here among the Blue Ridge Mountains. But what is important to know, is your decision. Majority rules in everything of this kind; and if more than half of you think we ought to turn right back, and not keep on, why, there's nothing to be done but turn about, and go over the trail again."
"Well, not much!" exclaimed Giraffe, filled with a spirit of boyish comradeship toward the chum who had been so sorely afflicted, and whose sad story was now discovered for the first time.
"Put it up to a vote, Thad!" remarked Bumpus, trying to look grim and determined, though his round face was usually so merry that it was a hard proposition for him to seem serious.
"All in favor of returning to-morrow say aye," Thad suggested.
Just as he expected, there was absolute silence.
"All in favor of sticking to our chum through thick and thin, and doing all we can to help him over the rough places, say aye!" the leader continued.
A chorus of eager assents drowned his words. Bob White's fine dark eyes filled up with tears. He could not trust himself to speak; but the look he gave each and every one of those seven loyal comrades was more eloquent than any words could have been.
"After we've had supper," Thad went on warmly, "Bob means to go to keep his appointment with his little cousin, who expects to slip out of the house, and meet him where he wrote her he would be at a certain hour. There's the queerest valley you ever saw just ahead of us. Across it you can see the lights of Reuben Sparks' house, and several others that lie there in a bunch, a sort of hamlet, because it's hardly a village. And Bob says that Reuben really owns about the whole place. He can get over there in an hour or so, because he knows the ground so well. And while he's gone, we can take it easy here, making up our beds for the night; if so be there are any bushes to be cut, worth sleeping on."
"Hey, would you see how fine a fire-tender that Giraffe is; it's gone clean out, that's what?" cried Step Hen, just then.
"Well, would you blame him, when he was listening to such an interesting story as the one I had to tell?" asked Thad. "Get busy, Number Six, and have a blaze going in quick time."
"Ay, ay, sir," sang out Giraffe, who had wisely laid aside a surplus supply of fine stuff when making the fire, which now came in very handy.
And when the coffee was finally done, and they gathered around, sitting on rocks, logs, or even cross-legged, tailor-fashion, on the ground, the eight scouts made a very fine picture in their uniforms.
Apparently their appetites had been sharpened by that afternoon jaunt, judging from the way they pitched in. And perhaps, after all, Reuben Sparks had been a wise as well as prudent man when he failed to invite this squad of lads to stop over with him; for they would have made a sad inroad on the contents of his larder; and food costs money.
"Where's Bob?" demanded Bumpus, suddenly, after they had been about half an hour trying to lighten their supplies, and with wonderfully good success. "He was sitting over yonder only three minutes ago; and now he's gone. Reckon that bad spirit of yours is sneakin' around again, Step Hen, and must a took Bob by mistake; though I pity his eyes if he'd ever think so good lookin' a feller as Bob could be you!"
"Bob's gone to keep his appointment," remarked Thad, quietly.
And the boys said nothing more about it, knowing that the Southern lad laid considerable store upon this meeting with his little cousin Bertha; whom he expected to coax in to helping him try and see whether sly old Reuben Sparks might not have forgotten to destroy all evidence of fraud, in connection with his dealings with her father, the uncle of Bob.
So the conversation drifted to other topics; and soon they were laughing over some of the queerhappeningsin the past history of the Silver Fox Patrol.