f-way decent after its recent
rough usage. "Anybody with one eye could see that I was bein' sucked
down like fun; and for him to just watch Bumpus here, blowin' his
bugle, and shoutin' for help, without offerin' to lend a hand,
wasn't--well, decent, that's what. P'raps some day it'll be my turn to
grin at him when he's in trouble."

"But you wouldn't do it, you know that, Giraffe," said Thad, smiling.
"You don't forget that a true scout must return good for evil. And if
the time ever comes when old Phin Dady needs help that you can give, I'm
dead sure you wouldn't hold back."

Giraffe grumbled some more, but the scoutmaster knew that at heart he
was not an ungenerous boy, though a little inclined to hold a grudge.

"What are you thinking about, Bob White; you look as sober as though you
didn't just like the looks of things any too much?" asked Allan, turning
upon the other.

"That's just right, suh, I can't say that I do," replied the Southern
lad. "You see, I was wondering what old Phin would think about us. He's
the most suspicious man in the mountains, and with reason, suh. Foh
years, now, he's been hunted high and low by the revenue agents. They've
done all sorts of things trying to capture old Phin, and raid his secret
still; but up to now it's never been done. He likes a revenue man like
he does a rattlesnake; and I give you my word for it, suh, the next
thing on his list of hates is the uniform of a soldier!"

Thad uplifted his eyebrows to indicate his surprise.

"I think I get your meaning, Bob White," he remarked, slowly and
seriously. "Our uniforms might give this old moonshiner the idea that in
some way we must be connected with the army; perhaps a detachment of
scouts sent in here to get him in a corner, and knock his old moonshine
Still, to flinders. Is that it, Bob?"

"You hit the nail on the head when you say that, suh," replied the
other. "When I lived down this way, I used to hear a heap about Old
Phin; and I reckon he'd know who I was if you mentioned my name to him.
That's the main reason why he just sat and laughed to see the wearer of
the hated uniform now used by the United States army stuck in the
quicksand. I reckon he only thought that it would mean one the less
enemy for the Blue Ridge moonshiners to go up against."

"It seems to me," spoke up Smithy at this juncture, "that in justice to
ourselves we ought to seek an early opportunity to secure an interview
with this gentleman, and exp