CHAPTER XXVI.
THE "STILL" IN THE MOUNTAIN CAVE.
"HIT'S sum climb," said Polly, doubtfully.
"But think what is at the end of it," answered the eager Bob. "Why, tosee my father again, I'd go all night, and then some. Please don't sayyou won't, Polly, after giving me your promise."
"I'm gwine tuh leave hit tuh him," said the girl simply, and both ofthem understood that she meant Thad; for doubtless Polly had guessedbefore now that he was the leader of the boys in uniform, and that whathe said was authority.
Thad knew there was no such thing as trying to restrain his chum, nowthat the fever was in his veins; nor did he have any desire to do so.
"He'll make it, all right, I think, Polly," he remarked, quietly.
"Sure I will; so let's start," declared the other.
Polly, of course, was willing. She did not seem to give one thought toherself; and yet Thad remembered how swollen her ankle had seemed, aftersuch a bad twisting in the cleft of the rock that same afternoon, whenthe angry wildcat threatened to jump at her. But then Polly had beenreared among the mountains that seem to meet the sky; and she was a girlaccustomed to standing all manner of pain as well as any grown man couldhave done.
They started to climb upward.
One thing favored them, for which Thad was really glad. Polly knew everyfoot of the rough country like a scholar might the printed pages of abook. She could lead them along trails that they never would havesuspected existed at all, hidden as they were from the eye of astranger, by the artful moonshiners. And while possibly the climbingmight be difficult, it was never as bad as the boys had found it whenascending the mountain in the day time.
Bob for a wonder kept quiet. Of course he needed all his wind to carryhim through. Then again, he was naturally turning over in his mind theamazing thing that had just come to him, and trying to realize hiswonderful good fortune.
The thought that he was about to see his dear father shortly was enoughto fill his mind, to the exclusion of all else. And so he continued tofollow close after the nimble girl, while Thad brought up the rear.
They paused to rest several times. No doubt it was more on account ofthese two boys, quite unaccustomed to such harsh labor as climbing amountain, that compelled Polly to pause; because otherwise, she couldhave kept straight on, without any rest.
"We's gittin' thar now," she remarked, finally, as they halted for thefourth time, with Bob fairly panting for breath, and Thad himselfsecretly confessing that this mountain climbing after a surefooted girlwho had shown herself as nimble as a goat, was no "cinch."
"I'm glad to hear that news, Polly," Bob admitted candidly; but then itmay have been on account of the fact that he was nearer the meeting withhis long-lost father, rather than an admission that he was tired.
"Jest wun moah stop, an' shore we'll be thar; p'raps we cud make herright smart from hyah, ef so be yuh felt fresh enuff," Polly explained.
"Let's try, anyhow," declared Bob; "you don't know how much I can stand.Why, I used to climb these same mountains as well as you ever could; andit'd be queer if I'd forgot all I ever knew."
"Thet sounds jest like a Quail," remarked the girl, with a chuckle, asshe once more took up the work.
The last part of the climb was certainly the roughest of all. Old Phinhad hidden his secret Still in a quarter of the rocky uplift where norevenue man thus far had ever been able to look upon it of his own freewill.
But finally they heard Polly say that it was close by. Thad also noticedthat the girl had changed her manner more or less. She climbed nowwithout making the slightest noise; just as though some instinct, bornof her life in the zone where warfare always existed between her peopleand the Government agents, had caused her to exercise caution.
Thad saw that they were approaching what must be a rocky gully, leadingto some sort of cave. He remembered that Polly had, while speaking,happened to mention the fact that her father's famous Still was locatedin a cave, which could never be found by the smartest agent theauthorities had ever sent to look for such illegal distilleries.
"Look out yer don't slip!" came in a low but thrilling whisper from theguide at this juncture; and from this Thad assumed that they must bepassing along the edge of some dizzy precipice, that had to do with thesafety of the manufactory, the existence of which had so long tauntedthe Government.
Now and then Polly would give a slight pause. At such times Thadbelieved she must be looking cautiously around, to make sure that theguard had not returned to the place since she left there some timebefore.
Then he realized that he could no longer see the stars overhead. Fromthis he judged they must have passed underground; and that this was afact he presently learned when, by stretching out his hand, he felt thecold rock close by.
All around them was pitch darkness at first, and the girl had made Bobtake hold of her dress, while Thad in the rear kept a hand on his chum'sback as they moved slowly along.
Presently the watchful scoutmaster made a little discovery that affordedhim pleasure. There must be a light ahead somewhere, for he began tocatch a faint glow, such as might come from a lantern.
This illumination grew gradually stronger, until they could actuallymanage to see dimly around them.
"Wait hyah foh me, till I see ef ther coast is clar," whispered thegirl.
The two scouts saw her slip away. It struck Thad that possibly he andhis chums had much to learn ere they could pass along as noiselessly asthis mountain girl.
How the seconds dragged. Each one must have seemed torture to pooranxious Bob, knowing as he did that the one he had long mourned as deadwas so near at hand. They heard nothing save a dripping sound, whichmight have been caused by water. Evidently the secret Still was not inoperation just then; and words dropped by Polly gave Thad the impressionthat possibly it had ceased work for all time, because of some reasonthat brought about a change in the conditions.
Polly could not have been gone more than five minutes before she camegliding back again to where she had left the boys.
"Hit's all right, an' thar don't 'pear ter be any guard 'round."
She plucked at Bob's coat sleeve, as if to let him understand that hecould come on now; as if the boy needed a second invitation.
They turned a bend in the narrow passage ahead, and Thad drew a longbreath as he looked upon one of the most remarkable scenes it had everbeen his fortune to see.
The cave was a natural grotto, rock-ribbed, and as firm as theeverlasting foundations of the mountains themselves. The moonshiners hadfitted it up for their purpose; and there, for the first time Thad sawwhat a Still looked like. After all, it did not amount to much, the wormbeing the most interesting part of it. But then the fact that he was nowgazing upon the very Still that revenue men had for years tried in vainto discover and wreck, gave the scoutmaster a sensation akin to awe.
But all this he saw with one sweeping glance. There was more. A clankingas of a chain drew his attention to a figure that had arisen from abench, and was pushing the long hair from his eyes to watch theirentrance. Evidently Polly during her short absence must have whisperedto the prisoner that Bob was close by.
There was, of course, no such thing as holding Bob back any longer. Hesaw that ragged and altogether uncouth figure, which of course bore notthe least resemblance to the father he remembered so well; but he alsohad discovered a pair of extended arms, and toward their shelter the boyfairly leaped.
Another instant and Bob Quail was wrapped in the embrace of the parenthe had not seen in more than two years, and whose fate it had been toremain here a prisoner among the moonshiners who hated him sothoroughly, while his dear ones mourned him as dead.
After a few minutes Thad moved closer, and gave a little cough, wishingto let his chum know that he had a comrade tried and true near by. Withthat Bob started up, and gripped him by the arm.
"This is my best friend, Thad Brewster, father," he said.
Thad shook hands with the emaciated man who had been confine
d in thisunderground retreat so long. In spite of the long beard and strangelooks of the other, he realized that Mr. Quail was no ordinary man. Butthen Thad had guessed that already, from what he had heard about theone-time marshal.
"This is a mighty big piece of luck for Bob!" Thad remarked. "It seemsnearly too good to be true; and he'll be the happiest boy in the Stateswhen he takes you back home with him, sir."
"Home!" repeated the prisoner; "how strange that word sounds, afterbeing shut up here so long. And how queer the outside world will seem tome. But I hope the promise Old Phin Dady made me, still holds good; forI've no longer the desire to hold out against his will. In my own mindI'm no longer on the pay-roll of the Government, for he tells me everyone believes me dead; so I can take the vow with a clear conscience.Yes, I'm hoping to go home with my boy."
Thad felt that all now remaining for them to do was to get incommunication with the moonshiner, and have Mr. Quail set at liberty.Surely after what he and Bob had done for the family of Phin Dady, thelatter could not refuse to let his prisoner go; especially since he nowprofessed his willingness to make the promise that up to this time hehad absolutely declined to subscribe to.
They were still talking in this strain when a sound like a cough drewtheir attention, and looking up, Thad discovered a grim figure leaningon his gun not twenty feet away. There was no need to ask who the manwas, for every one of them had already recognized the moonshiner, PhinDady!