e could be
no reason for keeping his identity a secret.

"Course I got a name, too, even if it ain't _quite_ so scrumptuous as
yours. But Obed Grimes suits me just as well, and it ain't never kept me
from eatin' three square meals a day--when I could get 'em," he told
them, soberly, though that odd little gleam in his eyes mystified Max
somewhat.

"I suppose you live around this section, then, Obed?" he remarked, as he
cleaned out the frying-pan that had contained the ham and eggs--the
latter having been carried all the way from the last small village they
passed through, and which supply would doubtless be the last they might
enjoy for a long time to come.

"Oh! yes, thar's a plenty of Grimeses up this way," the other replied,
promptly. "Fact is, the Grimeses are a big family, all told. Thar's
Grandad Grimes to start with, and he's going on ninety now; then there's
Uncle Hiram, Uncle Silas, Uncle Job, Uncle Sephus, Uncle _Nicodemus_,
and a whole lot more; besides Aunt Rebecca, Aunt Sophia, Aunt Hetebel,
and--glory to goodness, I could sit here for ten minutes and string out
the names of the grimeses there are in the mountains; but say I'm
_awful_ hungry, and you'll excuse me if I get busy with this fine grub.
The other names will keep till next time, I reckon."

"Whew! it must feel funny to belong to such a big family," remarked
Steve, who did not happen to have any close relatives himself.

"Oh! shucks! none of 'em ever bother about _me_ any," said the boy, as
well as he could with his mouth stuffed of the ham and bread, which he
presently washed down with a copious draught of hot coffee. "They just
know that Obed he c'n take good care o' hisself."

Bandy-legs began to show a rising interest in the other. His suspicions
were beginning to give way under the genial ways of the said Obed. That
smile on the dusky face of the visitor in the camp had commenced to get
its work in. By degrees perhaps Bandy-legs might even come to like Obed
Grimes; though, truth to tell, he had always despised that last name,
for a boy answering to it had once treated Bandy-legs in a most
humiliating fashion, and this still rankled in his memory, although
years had fled since the occurrence.

"Do you mean from that, Obed," he went on to remark "that you're all
alone up here in the woods near old Mount Tom? Haven't you any of the
other Grimeses along with you?"

The boy shook his head in the negative, and grinned again. Max was
trying