te positions, some even
lying on their backs; and then with a smile the patrol leader lay down
upon the rude bed he had made for himself, out of such material as
offered.

In five minutes he was asleep, and forgetful of all the strange events
that had marked their strenuous hike into the mountains of the Old North
State.

CHAPTER XVI.

CLIMBING THE MOUNTAIN.

"HEY! what's all this mean; morning, and nobody woke me up, to let me
stand my trick at the wheel! I don't think you're treatin' me fair,
that's what, fellers!" and Bumpus Hawtree sat up, rubbing his eyes as he
looked around him in wonder.

The fact of the matter was it had been decided that they could get on
very well without calling on the fat boy to stand sentry duty. Most of
them knew how unreliable Bumpus was when it came to such things, no
matter how sincere his desire to please might be; and Thad had secretly
arranged to leave him out.

And so Bumpus had not known a single thing of what was going on until,
smelling the delightful fumes of boiling coffee, he had opened his eyes
to find most of his comrades moving about, and breakfast well on the
way, under the supervision of Giraffe and Allan.

"The whole blessed night gone, and me a sleepin' for all get-out,"
complained the stout member of the patrol, as he climbed to his feet,
and stretched. "Well, it looks good, anyway. Nothin' happened, after
all. Nobody ain't been kidnapped by the moonshiners, have they, because
I can count--what, there don't seem to be only seven here! Somebody's
gone, and yet I don't miss any familiar face."

"Oh! you only forgot to count yourself, Bumpus," laughed Thad.

"Well, that goes to show how modest I am, you see," chuckled the other,
as he started toward the spring to get the sleep out of his eyes by the
use of some cold water.

"Yes, as modest as a spring violet," sang out Step Hen; "but how about
that President Cornelius Jasper Hawtree business? Seems to me any feller
that hopes to assume that high office ain't so very retiring after all."

But Bumpus refused to be drawn into any discussion of his merits as a
candidate, at least so early in the morning. He came back presently,
asking for a towel, which he had forgotten to carry along with him. But
as breakfast was announced just about that time, everything else was
forgotten in the pleasant task of appeasing their clamorous appetites.

While they ate they talked, and many were the schemes invented by s