<h2>CHAPTER XIX.</h2>
<h3>THE SILENT VIDETTE.</h3>
<p>"<span class="smcap">Shall</span> we go back the same way we came up?"
asked Thad, as they made a start toward returning
to the camp down below.</p>
<p>"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<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</SPAN></span>
going down, than up a mountain. Seems to me
we'll strike an easier way over to the right here."</p>
<p>"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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>"There's a man, Bob!" he exclaimed, suddenly.</p>
<p>"Where?" demanded the other, turning his head
around; for he happened to be a trifle in advance
of his companion at the time.</p>
<p>"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?"</p>
<p>"Yes, and can understand why he's sitting there
like that," replied the other, rather bitterly.</p>
<p>"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.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</SPAN></span></p>
<p>"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?"</p>
<p>"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."</p>
<p>"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."</p>
<p>"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."</p>
<p>"It <i>was</i> 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."</p>
<p>"That fellow doesn't seem to pay much attention<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[163]</SPAN></span>
to us, though I'm sure he knows we're going to pass
him by," Thad continued, in a lower voice.</p>
<p>"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.</p>
<p>The man never so much as moved, though the
two descending boys passed 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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>Still, the circumstance 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<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[164]</SPAN></span>
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.</p>
<p>"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.</p>
<p>"As what?" inquired his comrade.</p>
<p>"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?"</p>
<p>"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."</p>
<p>"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.</p>
<p>"Just as you say, it would be next to impossible
to take Bertha away from here, and at the same<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[165]</SPAN></span>
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."</p>
<p>"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."</p>
<p>"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 document, and replacing it with a false will,
or one that was older."</p>
<p>Bob uttered a cry of delight.</p>
<p>"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.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[166]</SPAN></span>
I'm feeling a thousand per cent better, suh, after
what you said."</p>
<p>"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."</p>
<p>"I keep trying all I know how not to hope <i>too</i>
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.</p>
<p>"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."</p>
<p>"I know that, and I'll never, never forget it as
long as I live!" declared the other, almost choking
in his emotion.</p>
<p>"There's the camp," remarked Thad, five minutes
later, "and everything seems to be going along all<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[167]</SPAN></span>
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."</p>
<p>"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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>Several of the boys had been dispatched to the
cabins across the valley, where they managed to purchase<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[168]</SPAN></span>
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.</p>
<p>As evening settled down soon afterward, the
scouts prepared to make themselves as comfortable
as the circumstances allowed.</p>
<p>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.</p>
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