CHAPTER XIX.
THE SILENT VIDETTE.
"SHALL we go back the same way we came up?" asked Thad, as they made astart toward returning to the camp down below.
"I think I'd like to try another route," Bob replied. "Some of thoseplaces we hit were pretty tough climbing; and you know it's alwaysharder going down, than up a mountain. Seems to me we'll strike aneasier way over to the right here."
"My opinion exactly," Thad declared, ready to fall in with anythingwhich the other proposed, because he was interested heart and soul inthe work Bob had cut out for himself--trying to bring more of happinessinto the life of little Bertha, his cousin; and finding out whether hislong-lost father was still in the land of the living.
They had gone about half of the way, and found that, just as Bobguessed, it was much easier than the other route would have proven, whenThad 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 tobe a trifle in advance of his companion at the time.
"Over yonder, on that rock, and of course with a rifle in sight; for younever see one of these mountaineers without that. I wouldn't besurprised to hear that some of them go to bed with their guns in theirarms. Do you see him now, Bob?"
"Yes, and can understand why he's sitting there like that," replied theother, rather bitterly.
"Looks like he might have a touch of the fever and ague, and that with aspell of the shakes on, he wanted to sun himself," suggested Thad;though he knew full well the true explanation was along other linesentirely.
"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 cameover?"
"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 whyhe was placed there by Old Phin Dady."
"I suppose they're all around us," remarked the Southern boy, "and as Isaid last night, they've sure got us marooned, all right. We can't movewithout they're knowing it. Oh! what sort of chance would I have to gethim out of this awful country, even if it should turn out to be myfather who is the prisoner of the moonshiners? Thad, I reckon it's aforlorn 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 newsalone. And when things get to coming your way the style they've beendoing lately, believe me, you can hope for the best. Keep your spiritsup, 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 todo her a favor, could you beat it? Reckon you're right, Thad; and I'mfoolish for letting myself look at the dark side, when things arebreaking so splendidly for me."
"That fellow doesn't seem to pay much attention to us, though I'm surehe knows we're going to pass him by," Thad continued, in a lower voice.
"I used to know a good many of the men around here, and this might beone of the lot; so I hadn't better take any chances of his seeing me tooclose in the daylight," and with this remark Bob drew the brim of hishat lower over his face.
The man never so much as moved, though the two descending boys passedwithin thirty feet of where he reclined on the rock, his face turnedtoward 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 othersign of life from that sphinx-like figure stretched out at length on thesunny rock. Should they have given the mountaineer cause for displayingany activity, no doubt he would be quick to take action.
Thad certainly did not want to strike up a conversation with so morose aman; and especially when his chum wished to keep aloof from him. So theycontinued along down the side of the mountain, and soon lost sight ofthe vidette.
Still, the circumstance left a bad feeling behind. It was far frompleasant for the boys to realize how completely they had put themselvesin the power of these mountain moonshiners. Just as Bob had so bitterlydeclared, Old Phin ruled with an iron hand among the men who lived hereamong the uplifts; and once he had placed sentries on duty to watch themovements 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 todraw near the camp again; as though he had been wrestling with somesubject, 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 oneI've been hoping to get my hands on; and she comes to me to-night; howcan I carry her away, and at the same time stay here to find out aboutthe news Polly will bring me?"
"Now, I'm glad you spoke of that, Bob," Thad declared; "because I'vebeen trying to puzzle out that same thing myself. And I really believeI'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 athing that way, he must feel pretty confident he had the right solutionin hand.
"Just as you say, it would be next to impossible to take Bertha awayfrom here, and at the same time carry out your plans in connection withthat 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 isunhappy she says, and he treats her wretchedly; but then he is notreally cruel to her. Tell me your plan, Thad, and I'll be ready to standby it."
"Suppose, then, she brings you that paper, and it turns out to be allyou hope for? You can take it away with you, and when we get back toAsheville place it in the hands of some reliable lawyer, who will haveReuben summoned to court with the girl. Then she will never be allowedto go back with him again; and he may consider himself lucky if he getsoff without being sent to jail for having withheld a lawful document,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 totry it. Why, for me to take the law in my hands would be silly, when thecourts will save me all the risk. And while I hate to disappoint poorlittle Bertha, who believes I'm down here to carry her off, in spite ofold Reuben, she'll understand, and be willing to wait a bit. Thank youover 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 toostrongly that this mysterious prisoner of the moonshiners will turn outto be your father. There were some other revenue men who havedisappeared in the last few years, men who started into the mountains tolearn things, and never came out again. It might be one of these afterall. And I guess you'd be awfully disappointed if you set too much storeon that thing."
"I keep trying all I know how not to hope _too_ much, Thad," replied theother, with a big sigh; "and tellin' myself that it would be too greatnews; yet, seems like there was a little bird nestlin' away down inhere, that goes on singin' all the while, singin' like a mockingbirdthat brings good news," and Bob laid a trembling hand on his breast inthe region of his heart, as he spoke.
"Well," said Thad, warmly, "I'm just hoping that everything'll come outthe way you want, old fellow. We're going to back you up the best weknow how; and if we fail to do what we aim for, it won't be from lack oftrying."
"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 everythingseems to be going along all right at the old stand. I can see Step Henlying on his back, with his hat over his eyes as if he might be taking anap; Smithy is of
course brushing his coat, because he has discoveredsome 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 ofpine, to beat the band."
"Getting kindling ready to start up the fire, when supper time comesaround," said Bob, with a chuckle, as though some of these familiarsights began to do him good, in that they served to take his thoughtsaway from the things that distressed and worried him.
When the two scouts arrived in camp they were immediately surrounded bytheir comrades, who demanded to know what they had seen and done. Tojudge from the variety of questions that showered upon them, one mightthink 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 sharpclaws, gave evidence as to the truth of their wonderful story. And allof the stay-at-homes united in the fervent hope that Polly Dady might begrateful 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 nobacon. They did secure a couple of fowls, however, which were even thenplucked, and ready for the pot.
As evening settled down soon afterward, the scouts prepared to makethemselves as comfortable as the circumstances allowed.
And certainly not one among them so much as dreamed that other peculiarevents were on the calendar; ready to take their places upon the stage;and advance the interests of the fellow scout, whose yearning to lookagain on the familiar scenes of his younger years had influenced theothers to hike through the Blue Ridge Range.